INTERNET RESOURCES
French studies: Resources for students, scholars, and general readers
C&RL News, June 2007
Vol. 68, No. 6
by Kristin W. Andrews
France has made important contributions to Western history, literature, culture, and politics, from the Middle Ages to the present. In the realm of literature, names such as Chrétien de Troyes, Molière, Flaubert, and Sartre are well known. France is particularly famous for its artists—including Delacroix, Renoir, Monet, Rodin, and Matisse. Montesquieu, Descartes, and Rousseau were leaders in Western philosophy. Charlemagne, Louis XIV, Charles de Gaulle, and François Mitterand influenced the evolution of France and of Europe in general. French colonialism contributed to new Francophone literatures and cultures in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.
The Internet widens the field of materials available to the student, scholar, and general reader. Meta sites, gateways, and reference tools offer a starting point for finding general information. Indexes and catalogs help locate more specialized sources, and digital libraries provide access to texts and images that users might otherwise have trouble locating. Discussion lists and professional organizations facilitate communication.
The resources in this article are intended for students, researchers, librarians, and general readers who have some knowledge of French. They are organized by type of resource, from general to specific. Discussion lists and professional organizations are located at the end of the article for further information.
Reference
• French Studies Web: Reference Shelf. The reference shelf contains links to reference tools on the Web that provide information about France and French culture. It is organized by type of tool and/or type of information. Access: lotus.libs.uga.edu/erms/wess/ref.htm.
• Le Quid. An almanac/encyclopedia with information about both France and the world at large. The section with statistics and maps of French regions and départements is particularly useful. Access: http://www.quid.fr.
Meta sites and gateways
• Le Quartier français du village planétaire. A gateway to news sites, museums, government information, reference tools, and cultural topics, among others. A gold star next to a link indicates a highly recommended site. It is available in both French and English. Access: http://www.urich.edu/~jpaulsen/gvfrench.html.
• Literature and Culture of Francophone Africa and the Diaspora. This site, maintained by the Brown University Library, features Internet resources on Francophone African culture, including literature, theater, and the visual and performing arts. There are also links to African studies programs. It is searchable by region, resource type, subject, and language. Access: http://dl.lib.brown.edu/francophone/.
• Portals to the World—France: Selected Resources. Maintained by the Library of Congress, this site provides links to Web sites covering a wide range of subject areas from general resources to government information to science. Access: http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/european/france/fr.html.
• Tennessee Bob’s Famous French Links. An extensive gateway with links to resources related to literature, history, culture, current events, and more, this site is maintained by a professor of French at the University of Tennessee and described as part of a “10,000-Link Globe-Gate Supersite.” Access: http://www.utm.edu/departments/french/french.html.
• WESSWEB: French Studies Web. WESSWEB is maintained by ACRL’s Western European Studies section. Selective content focuses on scholarly Web resources and sites for librarians. Access: http://lotus.libs.uga.edu/erms/wess/.
Digital libraries
• ABU: La Bibliothèque Universelle. ABU is a digital library of French texts in the public domain. It includes 288 texts by 101 authors. Access to specific works is available through a keyword search as well as alphabetical author and title indexes. Access: http://abu.cnam.fr/.
• Athena. Provides full-text access to works in French by French and Francophone authors, and translations of foreign works into French. Access: http://un2sg4.unige.ch/athena/html/francaut.html.
• France in America/France en Amérique. A “bilingual digital library made available by the Library of Congress. It explores the history of the French presence in North America from the first decades of the 16th century to the end of the 19th century.” Access: http://international.loc.gov/intldl/fiahtml/.
• Gallica (Bibliothèque Nationale de France). A vast digital library project of the French national library, Gallica provides access to 90,000 texts, 80,000 images, and hours of audio files. It covers a time period ranging from the Middle Ages to the 19th century and a complete range of subjects, including history, literature, science, philosophy, law, economics, and political science. The intended audience is broad, including high school students, the general public, and university students and scholars. The user can access documents either by using a search interface or by browsing thematic categories. Access: http://gallica.bnf.fr/.
• Poésie Française. A site with more than 6,000 French poems from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. The collection is searchable by author, title, century, country, and keyword. The site also features a poème au hasard (random poem) option as well as a page of links to various sites related to French poetry or specific poets. Access: http://poesie.webnet.fr/.
Indexes and catalogs
• Bibliothèque Nationale de France. The homepage of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, which provides access to various resources, including its online catalog (Catalog BN OPALE-PLUS). Access: http://www.bnf.fr/.
• Cultures Sud: Revue des littératures du sud. This is an online index to Cultures Sud, a journal that covers Francophone literature from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Indian Ocean. The index covers articles from 1969 to the present and is searchable by author, work studied, country, article title, and issue. Article is not available in full text. Access: http://www.adpf.asso.fr/librairie/index-articles00.html.
• Persée. Established by the Ministère de l’éducation nationale, Persée provides full-text access to the back files of French journals in the social and human sciences. The interface is available in both French and English. Access: http://www.persee.fr/.
• Revues.org. Like Persée, Revues.org provides full-text access to French journals in the social and human sciences. It is possible to search all journals or a specific title. The entry for each journal title includes a timeline of dates for which only abstracts are available and dates for which full text is available. Access: http://www.revues.org/.
Discussion lists
• Afrique. French language discussion list about African literature. Access: to subscribe, e-mail listserv@univ-lyon1.fr. Message: “SUBSCRIBE Afrique firstname lastname.”
• Francofil. A bilingual general discussion forum based in the United Kingdom. It is intended for scholars and teachers of French and Francophone studies. Topics include social issues, linguistics, history, and philosophy, as well as teaching. Access: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/francofil/.
Professional organizations
• American Association of Teachers of French (AATF). “The largest national association of French teachers in the world with nearly 10,000 members.” It is intended for both secondary and post-secondary teachers. Access: http://www.frenchteachers.org.
• Association des Bibliothécaires de France (ABF). ABF, founded in 1906, is the oldest library association in France. Its members come from all types of organizations. Access: http://www.abf.asso.fr/.
• Modern Language Association (MLA). MLA is the major national organization for students, teachers, and scholars of modern languages and literatures. Access: http://www.mla.org/.
Kristin W. Andrews is research librarian for French, Italian, and classics at the University of California-Irvine, e-mail: kandrews@uci.edu
© 2007 Kristin W. Andrews