A new and reconceived work rather than a revision of the old Companion to French Literature. In 3,000 entries, it provides a guide to ten centuries of work produced in France and, more recently, in other French-speaking countries around the world. It highlights not only poets, novelists, and dramatists, but also historians, statesmen, and philosophers. Among the new features are substantial essays that reflect current scholarship on topics such as literary movements and genres, historical subjects such as chivalry, intellectual movements, linguistic topics, coverage of the sciences, and the arts and media, including opera, cinema, and journalism. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.