Le groupe français 2016 - 2023 Les Voyageurs

[tomgosse]

Bonjour mes amis,

Here is a recording of Julie Barlow speaking about her book The Bonjour Effect. I highly recommend reading the book.

À bientôt,
Tom

[Carmody]

I am trying to understand the difference between two different French word usages that are similar when translated into English.

Exhibit #1

Il y avait là des femmes à la fin de l'adolescence.

There were ladies in their late teens.

Exhibit #2

Finalement et comme toujours, il y eut de remarquables propositions.

And there were, as always, wonderful suggestions made.

The above examples are excerpted from Linguee
http://www.linguee.fr/francais-anglais

Note:
I am currently reading Camus' La Peste and I find both usages being used in the book. So it is not simply a matter of one being Passé Simple and the other not.

The only conclusion I can come to is that Il y avait and il y eut are synonymous and that I should just get on with life. Right?

[bpasseri]

I am trying to understand the difference between two different French word usages that are similar when translated into English.

Exhibit #1

Il y avait là des femmes à la fin de l'adolescence.

There were ladies in their late teens.

Exhibit #2

Finalement et comme toujours, il y eut de remarquables propositions.

And there were, as always, wonderful suggestions made.

The above examples are excerpted from Linguee
http://www.linguee.fr/francais-anglais

Note:
I am currently reading Camus' La Peste and I find both usages being used in the book. So it is not simply a matter of one being Passé Simple and the other not.

The only conclusion I can come to is that Il y avait and il y eut are synonymous and that I should just get on with life. Right?

l'imparfait is still used in literature along with passé simpe, so the first is imparfait and the passé simple is roughly equivalent to passé composé in spoken speach, thus il y a eu

[MamaPata]

Does anyone have any recommendations of detective novels or history books in French? I am generally more interested in recent history, and overall, the less sexist the better! I am also looking elsewhere, but I figured this group would have some useful suggestions.

[blaurebell]

Does anyone have any recommendations of detective novels or history books in French?

I've enjoyed the Maigret novels I've read and also Jean-Christophe Grangé. Maigret is fairly easy light reading whereas Grangé is pretty harsh, brutal and has quite a bit of unusual vocabulary. Very good though! As for history: Proper French history books tend to be quite dense and full of stats / dates - the academic style in France is somewhat on the unnecessarily complicated side -, so that's not exactly enjoyable reading. I'm sure there are more popularised history books, but I haven't really explored any of that yet. But then there are quite a bunch of history BDs that are really interesting and enjoyable. If you're interested in that sort of thing I can recommend Le Sursis + Le Vol du Corbeau (2+2 tomes) and I also enjoyed the La guerre des amants (3 tomes).

[DaveBee]

Does anyone have any recommendations of detective novels or history books in French? I am generally more interested in recent history, and overall, the less sexist the better! I am also looking elsewhere, but I figured this group would have some useful suggestions.

1. I've just read James Michener's Pologne, which takes key moments from Poland's history, and works them into a novel, 1270>1983. I liked it. The copy I have is ISBN:202006961X.

2. Regine Pernoud's Alienor d'Aquitaine is a straight history, but a good page turner too.

[Arnaud]

The only conclusion I can come to is that Il y avait and il y eut are synonymous and that I should just get on with life. Right?

The difference is in the aspect, and how the action is considered by the author/speaker

[Carmody]

My thanks to everyone for their patient and comprehensive answers.

[MorkTheFiddle]

Does anyone have any recommendations of detective novels or history books in French? I am generally more interested in recent history, and overall, the less sexist the better! I am also looking elsewhere, but I figured this group would have some useful suggestions.

I second Blaurebell's recommendation of the Maigret novels. Simenon wrote dozens of them. I can also recommend the Bruno Cremer TV series Maigret (1991-2005). The sets I bought had English subtitles.
Fred Vargas is popular, too, but I am unfamiliar with her work.
Just a guess, but Agatha Christie seems to be a big hit on the continent, so probably translations of her work exist in French as well.
Finally, there is Sébastien Japrisot, who is IMHO quite a cut above most crime novelists and whose L'Été meurtrier remains one of my favorite novels, crime or otherwise. It does a riff on a world-famous novel by a world-famous writer, but I'm not going to say more. I don't recommend you start with this. There is a movie of this, too, but IMHO it is dreadful.

Edit 1 time to correct spelling.

[DaveBee]

Does anyone have any recommendations of detective novels or history books in French? I am generally more interested in recent history, and overall, the less sexist the better! I am also looking elsewhere, but I figured this group would have some useful suggestions.

Finally, there is Sébastien Japrisot, who is IMHO quite a cut above most crime novelists and whose L'Été meurtrier remains one of my favorite novels, crime or otherwise. It does a riff on a world-famous novel by a world-famous writer, but I'm not going to say more. I don't recommend you start with this.

The Culturethèque library have some of Mr Japrisot's books.