FRANCE, COLLGE DE

state-supported research institution and centre for adult education in Paris. Founded in 1530 by Francis I, it was originally the Collegium Trilinguae (College of Three Languages). It offers lectures by scholars chosen for eminence in their particular fields without reference to academic qualifications. Professorial chairs are not necessarily permanent, and fields of instruction are emphasized somewhat according to the trend of the times. The college does not grant degrees or certificates and requires neither matriculation nor fees. Distinguished lecturers, among others, have been Jules Michelet, Ernest Renan, Henri Bergson, Paul Valry, and Claude Lvi-Strauss. Cultural life Cultural milieu The main gallery of the Orsay Museum, Paris, France. Formerly the Gare d'Orsay, a major railroad French culture is derived from an ancient civilization composed of a complex mix of Celtic, Greco-Roman, and Germanic elements. Monuments, especially from the period of Roman occupation, are numerous and include the amphitheatre at Arles, the arnes in Paris, and the aqueduct at Pont du Gard. During the Middle Ages a rich culture developed, fostered in particular by scholars in monasteries and in universities and encouraged well into the 18th century by a system of royal and aristocratic patronage. From the early 1700s and with the development of a middle class, the bourgeoisie, culture became more generally accessible. This period, extending into the 18th century, was the age of the Enlightenment, of inquiry and question. Cultural activity remained largely centred on Paris, though certain provincial cities such as Aix-les-Bains or Lyon had an active life of their own. With free primary education compulsory by the late 19th century, basic literacy ensured that the general cultural level was raised. This was further aided by the increase in the number of newspapers and, later, by the development of radio, television, cinema, and video recording. After World War II the decision to make free secondary education compulsory up to the age of 16 and the increase in financial support for the less well-off contributed substantially to the intellectual and social development of the lower-income groups. Newspaper circulations rose, lending libraries were provided (though used by only about 15 percent of the population in the late 20th century), and in 1954 the paperback (livre de poche) revolution was launched. This last development met with enormous success and enabled people of all ages and all classes much greater access to the classics of world as well as of French literature and to all types of specialized knowledge. Whether this substantially increased the absolute number of readers, however, has been a matter of debate. Even though communications have improved in the 20th century, the cultural map of France remains firmly centred around Paris. Yet while serving, often self-consciously, the interests of the whole nation, the capital is aware of its own internal differences. Most of the city's arrondissements have groups actively researching their history and traditions, and local art exhibitions and concerts are encouraged. In the rest of the country, however, provincial culture is strong and often fiercely defended. In Brittany, parts of the south, and Alsace, for example, much time and money is spent in support of local culture. More recently French culture has felt the impact made by immigrants, especially those from North Africa since the 1960s. The Muslim communities that have formed, notably in Paris and Marseille, have not escaped social, political, and religious difficulties, but there is a growing acknowledgment of the contributions they have made in painting, music, dance, and literature. Justifiably included as part of French culture, too, is its cuisine. Although French cuisine has a reputation as a national feature, regional differences are marked; some local dishes have achieved international fame, even if they are often poorly imitated. Among these are the seafood soup, bouillabaisse, from Marseille; andouillette, a form of sausage from Lyon; choucroute, pickled cabbage from Alsace; and magret de canard, slices of breast of duck from Bordeaux. And to accompany these delicacies are the wines from some of the world's great vineyards of Burgundy, Bordeaux, and the Rhne valley. The arts Literature French literature has a long and rich history. Traditionally it is held to have begun in 842 with the Oath of Strasbourg, sworn to by Louis the German and Charles the Bald. The Middle Ages are noted in particular for epic poems such as La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland), the Arthurian romances of Chrtien de Troyes, and lyric poetry expressing romantic love. In the 16th century the Renaissance flourished, and figures such as the poet Pierre de Ronsard, the satirist and humorist Rabelais, and Michel de Montaigne, credited with inventing the essay, were to become internationally acknowledged. French Neoclassical drama reached its apotheosis during the next hundred years in the tragedies of Pierre Corneille and Racine. During the same period, Molire displayed his vast and varied talents in the theatre, particularly as a writer of comedies; Jean de La Fontaine produced moralistic verse in his Fables; and Mme de La Fayette created the classic La Princesse de Clves, generally considered the first French psychological novel. Voltaire, Denis Diderot, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau dominated the 18th century, especially with their philosophical writings, but they contributed in a major way to all genres, Voltaire's novel Candide being singularly notable. Other authors of the period included the playwright Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, for works such as Le Mariage de Figaro, and Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, for his epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Acquaintances). The 19th century witnessed the emergence of a series of writers who substantially influenced the development of literature worldwide; these included the novelists Honor de Balzac, Stendhal, Gustave Flaubert, and mile Zola and the poets Charles Baudelaire, Stphane Mallarm, and Arthur Rimbaud. Added to these was the Romantic writer Victor Hugo, whose creative energy expressed itself in all literary forms, as well as in painting. French literature in the 20th century carries on the earlier traditions. The complexity of French poetry has continued in the work of Paul Valry, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Claudel (also a major dramatist), Saint-John Perse, Paul luard, Louis Aragon, Ren Char, and Yves Bonnefoy. The novel and the art of novel writing having been given new direction by Marcel Proust, in la recherche du temps perdu (Remembrance of Things Past), the first half of the century produced such notables as Andr Gide, Franois Mauriac, Andr Malraux, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre, the last being probably the chief exponent of the philosophy of existentialism. Their work was followed in the 1950s by the nouveau roman (new novel), and there appeared writers such as Alain Robbe-Grillet, Nathalie Sarraute, Michel Butor, Claude Mauriac, Claude Simon, and Samuel Beckett, whose works have now been given their place in the canon of literature. Since the 1970s Michel Tournier and Patrick Modiano have appeared as leading novelists, and a group of feminist writers including Hlne Cixous, Annie Leclerc, Jeanne Champion, and Marie Cardinal have made significant contributions. In the theatre three important currents can be discerned. Traditional playwriting was carried on largely by Jean Anouilh, Claudel, Jean Giraudoux, Henry de Montherlant, and Camus, but experimentation with both form and content has developed. Before World War II Jean Cocteau in particular made his mark (and so to a lesser degree did Claudel), but innovation came with Fernando Arrabal, Arthur Adamov, Beckett, Jean Genet, and Eugne Ionesco. Since the 1950s, producers have also made an important contribution to theatre; Roger Planchon, Jean-Louis Barrault, Peter Brook, and Ariane Mnouchkine in particular have shared both in creating new works and in revitalizing traditional ones. Philosophy and criticism have always played a central part in French intellectual and cultural life. The Surrealist movement, led by Andr Breton, among others, flourished in the 1920s and '30s; existentialism in both Christian and atheist forms and championed by (in addition to Sartre) tienne Gilson, Gabriel Marcel, and Camus was a powerful force in mid-century. More broadly, Roman Catholicism and Marxism in orthodox or revised forms have influenced a large number of creative writers, including the Roman Catholic Georges Bernanos and Sartre, who was a Marxist. Since the 1950s, new criticism, which began with structuralism, itself largely inspired by the anthropological work of Claude Lvi-Strauss in Mythologiques and Tristes tropiques (A World on the Wane), has challenged the monopoly of the historical approach to works of art and especially literature. The most popular manifestation of this was perhaps the work of Roland Barthes, including Mythologies, but his work was fragmented into various brancheslinguistic, genetic, psychobiographical, socioculturaleach with its exponents and disciples increasingly embroiled in academic, and often abstruse, debate.