Introduction xi Rene Descartes (1596--1650) Discourse on the Method (1637) 2(4) Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613--1680) Epigrams (1678) 6(4) Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sevigne (1626--1696) Letters (1670s) 10(4) Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (1627--1704) Funeral Oration for Henrietta Maria (1669) 14(4) Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, comtesse de La Fayette (1634-1693) The Princess of Cleves (1678) 18(4) Jean de La Bruyere (1645--1696) The Characters (1694) 22(4) Anthony Hamilton (c. 1646-1720) Memoirs of the Count of Gramont (1713) 26(4) Alain-Rene Lesage (1668-1747) Gil Blas de Santillana (1715) 30(4) Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (1688--1763) The Newly Rich Peasant (1734) 34(4) Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu (1689--1755) Persian Letters (1721) 38(4) Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet, 1694--1778) Zadig (1748) 42(4) Antoine-Francois, abbe Prevost (1697--1763) Manon Lescaut (1731) 46(4) Marie Leprince de Beaumont (1711--1780) ``Beauty and the Beast'' (1756) 50(4) Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) The New Heloise (1761) 54(4) Denis Diderot (1713--1784) Rameau's Nephew (c. 1760) 58(4) Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717--1783) ``Secondary Education'' (Encyclopaedia, c. 1764) 62(4) Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737-1814) Paul and Virginie (1788) 66(4) Pierre-Ambroise-Francois Choderlos de Laclos (1741--1803) Dangerous Connections (1782) 70(4) Germaine Necker, madame de Stael (1766-1817) Corinna (1807) 74(4) Benjamin Constant (1767--1830) Adolphe (1816) 78(4) Francois-Rene, vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768--1848) Rene (1805) 82(4) Stendhal (Henri Beyle, 1783--1842) The Red and the Black (1830) 86(4) Alfred de Vigny (1797--1863) Constraints and Grandeur of the Military Life (1835) 90(4) Honore [de] Balzac (1799--1850) The Lily in the Valley (1836) 94(4) Victor-Marie Hugo (May 1802--1885) The Wretched of the Earth (1862) 98(6) Alexandre Dumas pere (July 1802--1870) The Three Musketeers (1844) 104(4) Prosper Merimee (1803--1870) Carmen (1852) 108(4) George Sand (Aurore Dupin, baronne Dudevant, July 1804--1876) The Devil's Pool (1846) 112(4) Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve (December 1804--1869) Sensual Pleasure (1834) 116(4) Gerard de Nerval (Gerard Labrunie, May 1808--1855) ``Sylvie'' (The Fire Maidens, 1854) 120(4) Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly (November 1808--1889) That Which Does Not Die (1883) 124(4) Alfred de Musset (1810--1857) The Confession of a Child of the Age (1836) 128(4) Theophile Gautier (1811-1872) Captain Fracasso (1863) 132(4) Eugene Fromentin (1820--1876) Dominique (1862) 136(4) Charles Baudelaire (April 1821--1867) The Spleen of Paris (1869) 140(4) Gustave Flaubert (December 1821--1880) Madame Bovary (1857) 144(4) Alexandre Dumas fils (1824--1895) The Lady with the Camellias (1848) 148(4) Jules Verne (1828-1905) Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) 152(4) Jean-Marie-. . . , comte de Villiers de I'Isle-Adam (1838--1889) ``Duke of Portland'' (Cruel Tales, 1883) 156(4) Emile Zola (April 1840--1902) Therese Raquin (1867) 160(4) Alphonse Daudet (May 1840--1897) ``The Last Class'' (Monday Tales, 1873) 164(4) Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848-1907) Against the Grain (1884) 168(4) Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) ``Denis'' (Miss Harriet, 1884) 172(6) Henri Bergson (1859-1941) Creative Evolution (1907) 178(4) Jules Renard (1864-1910) Carrot Top (1894) 182(4) Andre Gide (1869--1951) The Pastoral Symphony (1919) 186(4) Marcel Proust (1871-1922) Swann's Way (1913) 190(4) Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873--1954) Claudine's House (1922) 194(2) Roger Martin du Gard (March 1881--1958) The Gray Notebook (1922) 196(4) Valery Larbaud (August 1881--1957) Fermina Marquez (1911) 200