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Focus Student editions: French
The Focus Student Editions are designed for French language courses in literature and culture. Prepared with non-native French speakers in mind, these editions include an introduction (in French), the complete work, and linguistic and cultural notes in French, a current bibliography and study questions.
The following have edited volumes in this series.
Myrna Bell Rochester has degrees from the University of Chicago (Romance Languages) and the University of California, Los Angeles, where she received her Ph.D. in French. She studied at the Université de Genève during a four-year stay. Dr. Rochester has taught at UCLA and at Stanford University. Co-author of college textbooks and educational materials, she also lectures and publishes on topics in modern literature.
Natalie Schorr teaches at Phillips Academy, Andover, where she has served as chair of the language division. She received a diplôme d’études supérieures, mention bien, from L’Université d’Aix-Marseille and served as lectrice at L’Ecole Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-aux-Roses. Her most recent book is Tune Up Your French: The Top Ten Ways to Improve Your Spoken French.
Eileen M. Angelini received her B.A. in French from Middlebury College and her M.A. and Ph.D. in French Studies from Brown University. She is Professor of French and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages at Canisius College. Dr. Angelini has won research grants from the U.S., French, and Canadian governments. She is a frequent presenter at national and regional conferences and the author of publications on literary analysis, and on pedagogy, focusing on the professions and cross-cultural communication. Dr. Angelini is a Question Leader for the AP French Language Examination and a College Board Consultant.
Dr. Angelini recently was awarded the 2008 AATF Dorothy Ludwig National Award for Outstanding Teacher of the Year.
Camara Laye: L'enfant noir
2005 • 1-58510-153-2 • paper • 232 pages • 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 • $14.95
Contents. Table des matières Introduction Poème: A ma mère Texte, accompagné de notes linguistiques et culturelles Activités Mise en train Questions à choix multiple Réflexions Essais Termes littéraires Bibliographie
All in French, with notes, this is a student edition of the novel by Camara Laye, an African writer born in Guinea. Published in 1953, it was his first novel, an autobiographical story which narrates in first person a journey from childhood in Kouroussa, through challenges in Conakry, to France. The book won the Prix Charles Veillon in 1954.
Molière: L’École des femmes
2006 • 1-58510-154-0 • paper • 164 pages • 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 • $14.95
Contents. Introduction. Notes stylistiques. Chronologie. Épître de Molière. Préface de Molière. L'École des femmes
This is a French language text of L'École des femmes of the theatrical comedy written by the seventeenth century French playwright Molière and considered one of his finest achievements. It was first staged at the Palais Royal theatre on 26 December 1662. The central character is so intimidated by femininity he makes clumsy advances to marry his young, naïve ward.
Guy de Maupassant: Pierre et Jean
2007 • 978-1-58510-183-2 • paper • 258 pages • 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 • $14.95
Contents. Introduction. Notes stylistiques. Chronologie. La vie maritime: Vocabularie et exercices. Le Roman: essai de Guy de Maupassant. Carte de la côte Normandie. Pierre et Jean
Pierre et Jean is a naturalist work written by Guy de Maupassant in 1887. It tells the story of a middle-class French family whose lives are changed when a deceased family friend, leaves his inheritance to Jean. This provokes Pierre to doubt the fidelity of his mother and the legitimacy of his brother.
Voltaire: Candide ou l'Optimisme
2008 • 978-1-58510-247-1 • paper • 232 pages • 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 • $14.95
Contents. Introduction. Notes stylistiques. Chronologie. Les voyages de Candide: Carte. Candide ou l'Optimisme. Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne, avec sa Préface.
A French language text with notes, Candide ou l'Optimisme is a French satire written in 1759 in the Age of Enlightenment. It describes Candide's disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences the hardships of the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, "we must cultivate our garden", a counterpoint to the optimism that "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds".
Corneille:
Le Cid
2010 • 978-1-58510-296-9 • paper • 191 pages • 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 • $14.95
Contents. Introduction. Notes stylistiques. Chronologie. L'Espagne du XIe siècle: Carte. A Madame de Combalet, dédicace de Corneille. Le Cid. Examen du Cid (160/1682) de Corneille.
Le Cid is a tragicomedy written by Pierre Corneille and published in 1636. It is based on the legend of El Cid.
"By far the easiest and most helpful edition for American students to follow. Students enjoyed reading the background information and didn't find |the questions a chore. Although I've used other editions of Maupassant's Pierre et Jean and Moliere's L'Ecole des femmes in the past, I now have all my students use this edition only."
Deanna Scheffer at Episcopal High School, Jacksonville, FL
From NECTFL Review #62 (Spring/Summer)
"These editions are meant to provide students with a smooth transition from the study of language to the study of literature. As a matter of fact, they oftentimes provide a bridge that leads imperceptibly from one to the other (this is particularly true in the case of L’enfant noir, the story of a boy’s youth told with meticulous contextualization, considerable repetition, and constant rephrasing — characteristic techniques of the oral storytelling tradition).... [T]he Focus Student Edition of L’enfant noir is currently the best available. It has great merit. AP and non-AP teachers of Francophone literature should not hesitate to adopt it."
~ J. Vincent H. Morrissette, Fairfield University
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