#fiction #family #relationships #hardcover #comingofage #french #thestranger #frenchliterature 

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Illinois

A Novel

After witnessing the suicide of a popular boy on a playground at night and doing nothing to stop him, a panicked teenager drags the body to the beach and buries it, becoming trapped in a guilt spiral.

Heatwave

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Victor Jestin

Michigan

Random Number Lit - Small Works List
Voltaire came to me, like Bana, from the small works list - just a name. I knew who Voltaire was. I had read Candide as a teenager and hated it. It is short and sometimes my attention span cannot hold ideas in my mind for very long so as you may notice the books I am familiar with are the shorter ones. Voltaire's name appeared on the World Lit - 1600 to 1800 list. I did not put a title forward then because I had read Candide which is also on the Big Book List because I wanted to do a little research. I thought that I would reread Candide to get a sense of the story because it had been so long since I read it before but then to try something else. The copy that I had also included Zadig which I read this time. I hated them both again. The words just fell out of my brain as soon as I read them. Voltaire is a funny writer but he is cold and ruthless in a way that I just cannot keep appraised of while engaging with.

Voltaire seeks to put forward his nihilistic view of life through humor which is endearing if you care for his viewpoint or laugh at his wit. He is unbelievably sharp and beats the read to the punch at each turn but because I do not resonate with his point of view the work seems hostile and unapologetic. He is contending with another prominent philosopher and thinker at his time, Leibniz who is remembered differently than Voltaire. I also read Micromegas, or I listened to it through the sort of sleep time reading of it which was bizarre and affecting in a beautiful way. This edition I have here has all three works of Voltaire: Candide, Zadig, and Micromegas in just the order you should read them in. 

There is also a Youtube Channel, Substack, Twitter and Instagram for this project: randomnumberlit.substack.com and @randomnumberlit – Simply Search for Random Number Lit on Youtube and my playlists will come up. 
 
Every book sold will come with a short reflection on my experience reading the text. I will also include a bookmark and sticker with each volume. Each book bought is an invitation to a conversation with me about your reading experience in whatever method and medium you would prefer. 
 
#classics #classicbooks #classicliterature #classiclit #frenchlit #frenchliterature #fiction #novel #paperback #satire

Candide and Other Writings

#fiction #family #relationships #paperback #hardcover #comingofage #french #thestranger #frenchliterature 

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Victor Hugo

Oversized Hardcover (4 to 6 lbs)

Colorado

In this major new rendition by the acclaimed translator Julie Rose, Victor Hugo's Les Misérables is revealed in its full, unabridged glory. A favourite of readers for nearly 150 years, this stirring tale of crime, punishment, justice and redemption pulses with life. Featuring such unforgettable characters as the quintessential prisoner of conscience Jean Valjean, the relentless police detective Javert and the tragic prostitute Fantine and her innocent daughter, Cosette, Hugo's epic novel sweeps readers from the French provinces to the back alleys of Paris, and from the battlefield of Waterloo to the bloody ramparts of Paris during the uprising of 1832. With an Introduction by Adam Gopnik, this Modern Library edition is an outstanding translation of a masterpiece that continues to astonish and entertain readers around the world.

Les Miserables

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4 dog eared pages, very slight spine lean

Two girls from France and Italy who possess uncanny respective abilities to communicate with nature and perform music at a preternatural level come into contact with magical and malevolent forces before meeting each other in world-changing ways.

The Life of Elves

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Wisconsin

A medical mystery/fantasy/love story that delves deeply into the nature of consciousness while raising many of the ethical and existential issues facing scientists today



A contemporary Frankenstein that defies expectations, this is a thrilling novel, couched in luminous, captivating prose about a journalist, Cédric Allyn-Weberson, who suffers a horrific accident, paralyzing him from the neck down. An ideal candidate for a body transplant, Cédric survives the surgery but has both physical and existential trouble with his recovery and adaptation: encountering his lover with a new body, discovering the life history of his donor, and attempting to understand the mind-body relationship as he lives it.



Haddad explores the confusion and insignificance of a single consciousness before experience and identity: What is a head without a body? What or who is a lover with another's body? The gruesome transplant (detailed in a manner that highlights the author's own diligent research and comprehension) parallels other ways humanity mutates nature globally; the novel is a provocative and timely allegory--a work of dystopian fantasy.

Desirable Body

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Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

New Hampshire

An English-language debut that reveals and subverts contemporary conceptions of normative sexuality, capitalist culture, and environmental degradation. Winner, Prix du Livre Inter, 2019 Shortlisted for the Prix Femina, Prix Medicis, Prix de Flore Longlisted for the Prix France-Culture, Prix Wepler Farah moves into Liberty House—an arcadia, a community in harmony with nature—at the tender age of six, with her family. The commune’s spiritual leader, Arcady, preaches equality, non-violence, anti-speciesism, free love, and uninhibited desire for all, regardless of gender, age, looks, or ability. At fifteen, Farah learns she is intersex, and begins to go beyond the confines of gender, as she explores the arc of her own desires. What, Farah asks, is a man or a woman? What does it mean to be part of a community? What is utopia when there are refugees nearby seeking shelter who cannot enter? Emmanuelle Bayamack-Tam delivers a magisterial novel, both a celebration and a critique of innocence in the contemporary world.

Arcadia

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New Jersey

Albert Camus

Oregon

Four thought-provoking masterworks for the theater by the Nobel Prize–winning author of The Stranger and The Plague, in a restorative new translation by Ryan Bloom that brings together, for the first time in English, Camus's final versions of the plays, along with deleted scenes and alternate lines of dialogue Though known for his novels that plumb the depths of absurdism, it was the theater stage that Camus called “one of the only places in the world I'm happy." After forming two troupes in his early twenties in Algeria, the prolific author moved to Paris for work, where between 1944-1949 he would go on to stage the four original plays gathered in this collection. Caligula, his first full-length work for the stage, begins with the infamous Roman emperor in the throes of grief at the death of his sister Drusilla and tugs at the same essential question that haunts so much of Camus’s work: Faced with the nullifying force of time, which snuffs out even our grandest emotions, how does one go on living? And is there a limit to the hardness of the human heart? Here too are The Misunderstanding, a murderous tangle of the longing for home and the longing for elsewhere; The Just, depicting the 1905 assassination of a Grand Duke in Moscow and testing the ethical limits of one’s belief in a political cause; and State of Emergency, an allegorical romp where The Plague itself appears as a central character, shedding new light on our current battles with viral disease and authoritarian regimes. These are engaging, often incendiary works, now in fresh English translations that beg to be performed.

Caligula and Three Other Plays

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Georgia

As explosive and immediate today as when it was originally published in 1933, Man's Fate (La Condition Humaine), an account of a crucial episode in the early days of the Chinese Revolution, foreshadows the contemporary world and brings to life the profound meaning of the revolutionary impulse for the individuals involved. As a study of conspiracy and conspirators, of men caught in the desperate clash of ideologies, betrayal, expediency, and free will, Andre Malraux's novel remains unequaled.

Translated from the French by Haakon M. Chevalier

Man's Fate

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Connecticut

The Reprieve

#reeling #lolalafon #frenchliterature #fiction #paperback #translatedliterature #translated #translatedfiction #europaeditions

Florida

Award-winning author, Lola Lafon continues her exploration of the psyches of young girls-their fragility, their resilience.

Fontenay, a Parisian suburb, 1984. Cléo is 12 when her parents prod her into taking ballet classes. She drops out after a long year of feeling lost, not classy nor graceful enough, and undoubtedly not as rich as the other kids.

By chance, she signs up for Modern Jazz class at a MJC-a state funded organization whose mission is to provide access to art and culture to all children.

Modern Jazz is her calling, and soon Cléo is transformed, working out constantly, dreaming of becoming a professional dancer. That's when she catches the attention of Cathy, an elegant middle-aged woman, who is a talent scout for Galatée-a foundation that gives fellowships to exceptionally gifted teenagers.

Fascinated by Cathy and the many gifts with which this providential "godmother" is showering her, Cléo introduces her to her parents, receiving their blessing to spend more and more time with her, ultimately falling prey to Galatée's trap.






Reeling

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This book is in #French. It is a paperback edition from 1940 in excellent condition. #paperback #play #drama #Claudel #FrenchLiterature #classic #literature

New York

L'Annonce Faite A Marie

Bundle of 4 francophone plays. Specific titles include: Les belles-soeurs by Michel Tremblay, Incendies by Wajdi Mouawad, Le square by Marguerite Duras, and Chatterton by Alfred de Vigny. Perfect for high school or college students wanting to explore francophone literature from French-speaking countries around the globe. Condition varies from good to like new, since some of the books have minor wear/ academic notes in the margins. Message me for further details or if you would like to purchase only part of the bundle. #paperback #french #frenchlanguage #plays #drama #frenchliterature #francophone

French Play Bundle

1950s edition. Has several flaws, cover damage and wear consistent with age, and a spine break on the cover page, pictured, and small tears scattered throughout.  Also has some crayon marking at the beginning. Readable condition but delicate.

 #hardcover #decoratorsbooks #decorativebook #gustaveflaubert #classics #frenchliterature #classicliterature #english #vintagebook #vintage 

Madame Bovary 

Scattered annotations; small tear to cover #french #frenchliterature


Egarements du Coeur

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Scattered pen annotations #french #frenchliterature

Ferragus. Suivi de Pierre Grassou. This book, "Ferragus," by Honore de Balzac, is a replication of a book originally published before 1900. It has been restored by human beings, page by page, so that you may enjoy it in a form as close to the original as possible.

Ferragus / la Fille aux Yeux d'Or

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Scattered pencil annotations #french #frenchliterature

Enfant trouv , fascin par la carri re des armes, Hyacinthe dit Chabert s'est illustr aux premiers rangs de la Grande Arm e. Laiss pour mort Eylau, puis miraculeusement sauv , il tentera quelques ann es plus tard de retrouver sa place dans une France bourgeoise qui veut oublier ses h ros, aupr s d'une femme qui lui doit tout, qui l-a d pouill et qui le rejette.
Nul destin, peut- tre, n' claire mieux que le sien l'envers de la com die humaine , dans cette trag die domestique doubl e d'un drame social o le sublime c toie constamment le sordide.

Nous n'oublierons jamais l'entr e pitoyable de Chabert l' tude Derville clair e au gaz le matin, avec le d jeuner, r chauff sur la chemin e, des clercs, des clercs rieurs, insolents et clabaudeurs, Chabert avec ses rides blanches, son vieux carrick, Chabert m pris , ali n de cette patrie et de cette femme qu'il continue aimer, d nonc de cette soci t o , bien qu'enfant trouv , il s' tait, si difficilement, fait un nom... Chabert a sa place dans toutes les m moires, c t du cousin Pons et du p re Goriot, et sur le m me rang.
Le Colonel Chabert, admirable histoire de revenant.
Paul Morand.

Edition de St phane Vachon.





Colonel Chabert

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Dogeared pages throughout the book. Please see pictures.

Ohio

Translated from the French by Stuart Gilbert

The subsequent imprisonment after a man commits a murder leads only to complete alienation from life existence.

The Stranger

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Utah

#paperback #fiction #classics #classic #vintage #alexandredumas #historical #france #adventure #frenchliterature 

Pennsylvania

The Three Musketeers (4th Pyramid Edition Printing, 1977)

Molière

Maya Slater

Massachusetts

Art, Music, Drama/Theater

Translation by Maya Slater

'Why does he write those ghastly plays that the whole of Paris flocks to see? And why does he paint such lifelike portraits that everyone recognizes themselves?' Moliere, The Impromptu at Versailles This volume brings together four of Moliere's greatest verse comedies covering the best years of his prolific writing career. Actor, director, and playwright, Moliere (1622-73) was one of the finest and most influential French dramatists, adept at portraying human foibles and puncturing pomposity. The School for Wives was his first great success; Tartuffe, condemned and banned for five years, his most controversial play. The Misanthrope is his acknowledged masterpiece, and The Clever Women his last, and perhaps best-constructed, verse piece. In addition this collection includes a spirited attack on his enemies and a defence of his theatre, in the form of two sparkling short plays, The School for Wives Criticized and The Impromptu at Versailles. Moliere's prose plays are available in a complementary Oxford World's Classics edition, Don Juan and Other Plays.

The Misanthrope, Tartuffe, and Other Plays

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#paperback #fable #frenchliterature #goodandevil #murielbarbery #poweroflove 

Save this search

Victor Jestin

Heatwave

Victor Jestin

Heatwave

Voltaire

Candide and Other Writings

Victor Jestin

Heatwave

Victor Hugo

Les Miserables

Muriel Barbery; Alison Anderson (Translator)

The Life of Elves

Hubert Haddad; Alyson Waters (Translator)

Desirable Body

Emmanuelle Bayamack-Tam

Arcadia

Victor Hugo

Les Miserables

Albert Camus

Caligula and Three Other Plays

André Malraux

Man's Fate

Jean-Paul Sartre

The Reprieve

Lola Lafon; Hildegarde Serle (Translator)

Reeling

CLAUDEL, Paul

L'Annonce Faite A Marie

Michel Tremblay, Wajdi Mouawad, Marguerite Duras, Alfred de Vigny

French Play Bundle

Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary

Crebillon

Egarements du Coeur

Honore de Balzac

Ferragus / la Fille aux Yeux d'Or

Honore de Balzac

Colonel Chabert

Albert Camus

The Stranger

Victor Hugo

Les Miserables

Alexandre Dumas

The Three Musketeers (4th Pyramid Edition Printing, 1977)

Molière; Maya Slater; Molière

The Misanthrope, Tartuffe, and Other Plays

Muriel Barbery; Alison Anderson (Translator)

The Life of Elves