This book helps North Americans better understand the French by taking an in-depth look at French culture, and using history and cultural anthropology to illuminate the present. It offers an interpretation of some historical roots of French attitudes and institutions, as well as the changes in French society over the past three decades, to suggest and predict patterns of behavior. Offering a comparative outlook, this book provides a framework—for those with an advanced command of the French language—to describe France and the French in relation to others and to themselves. Chapter topics explore French points of view, family structures, the structure of society, religion, and more. For individuals with a good understanding of the French language—looking for a better understanding of everything else French.

Les Français (3rd Edition)

History

Brière, Jean-François

Wylie, Laurence

Europe

Pearson

This book helps North Americans better understand the French by taking an in-depth look at French culture, and using history and cultural anthropology to illuminate the present. It offers an interpretation of some historical roots of French attitudes and institutions, as well as the changes in French society over the past three decades, to suggest and predict patterns of behavior. Offering a comparative outlook, this book provides a framework—for those with an advanced command of the French language—to describe France and the French in relation to others and to themselves.   Chapter topics explore French points of view, family structures, the structure of society, religion, and more.   For individuals with a good understanding of the French language—looking for a better understanding of everything else French.

Les/Francais

Pearson College Div

This book helps North Americans better understand the French by taking an in-depth look at French culture, and using history and cultural anthropology to illuminate the present. It offers an interpretation of some historical roots of French attitudes and institutions, as well as the changes in French society over the past three decades, to suggest and predict patterns of behavior. Offering a comparative outlook, this book provides a frameworkâ€”for those with an advanced command of the French languageâ€”to describe France and the French in relation to others and to themselves. Chapter topics explore French points of view, family structures, the structure of society, religion, and more. For individuals with a good understanding of the French languageâ€”looking for a better understanding of everything else French.

Les Francais

In Search of France

Kindleberger, Charles P.

Hoffmann, Stanley

Duroselle, Jean-Baptiste

Goguel, François

Pitts, Jesse R.

Harvard University Press

A comprehensive description of the culture of a small French rural community in the 1950's

Village in the Vaucluse: Third Edition

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Product Description 
Thoroughly revised and updated to reflect changes in French society over the last generation, and now illustrated with full-color photos, the Fourth Edition of 
Les Français retains hallmarks of the pioneering work in cultural anthropology that distinguished Laurence Wylie's First Edition—work that has long since helped make 
Les Français the most illuminating French-language introduction to French society and culture for the needs of North American students. The Fourth Edition also remains rooted in the comparative approach of previous editions, analyzing outlooks and practices that undergird the social fabric of France from the perspective of those approaching them from a North American background. Ranging from discussions of distinctively French perspectives on time, space, human nature, and the body, to norms of childhood socialization and family life, to the key elements and entities of social and cultural life, 
Les Français illustrates ways in which the French are "made not born," all while pointing up contradictions and paradoxes in French life and reflecting the greatly diversified demographic and social makeup of today's France. 
 Review 
"Colleagues who teach courses on contemporary France in French departments will be very pleased by the much-anticipated arrival of the fourth edition of 
Les Français, co-authored by Jean-François Brière and Julie Fette. While the updated version reflects the profound changes that have taken place in French society since the publication of the third edition in 2001, among them the effects of the digital revolution and the increasingly visible roles of women and minorities, the book remains faithful to the spirit of the book’s original author, Laurence Wylie. Unlike other textbooks on contemporary France, Les Français does not merely catalog recent events in French history. Instead, it focuses on the ways in which the history and traditions of French society and culture have shaped current attitudes toward a variety of issues, from the debates on laïcité to the laws on 
parité and 
le mariage pour tous. This historical and comparative perspective, which gives American students the tools to understand why the French think and behave differently from Americans, constitutes the greatest strength of the book, making it the foremost French-language textbook on contemporary France." 
 —Venita Datta, Professor of French Studies, Wellesley College\n"France and the United States—‘exceptional’ models of revolutionary and universalist thought, ever allies yet seemingly always rivals—continue to invite spirited comparison in the twenty-first century. The authors of 
 Les Français offer a new, full-color edition that will spark debate and greater self-reflection among American undergraduates." 
 —Jonathan Gosnell, Professor of French Studies, Smith College\n" 
Les Français gives my students deep insights into French culture, into what a different cultural system really is about, and helps them understand—unlike any other book I know—why French and American people approach life at times so differently, while still sharing fundamental underlying values. The level of French is perfect for advanced undergraduate coursework and provides a critical introduction to French society, institutions, and political life. In this fourth edition, new perspectives are seamlessly integrated into timeless material, and judicious care is given to the language." 
 —Janet Horne, Associate Professor of French, University of Virginia 
 About the Author 
Julie Fette is Associate Professor of French Studies, Rice University.\nJean-François Brière is Professor Emeritus of French Studies, University at Albany, State University of New York.\nLaurence Wylie was C. Douglas Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France, Harvard University

Les Français (French Edition)

Fette, Julie

Focus

Laurence Wylie (1919-1995), a renowned scholar and teacher of French at Harvard, assembled this collection of French conventional gestures after studying at the Jacques Lecoq school of mime in Paris.  The more than 60 photographs of him portraying the gestures are not only a delightful introduction to French "body talk" but also a stimulating insight into French culture and an excellent way to engage students of French.  The Advanced Reasoning Forum is pleased to make available again this charming book first published in 1977.

Beaux Gestes

Advanced Reasoning Forum

Un village du Vaucluse

Gallimard]

Laurence Wylie's remarkably warm and human account of life in the rural French village he calls Peyrane vividly depicts the villagers themselves within the framework of a systematic description of their culture. Since 1950, when Wylie began his study of Peyrane, to which he has returned on many occasions since, France has become a primarily industrial nation--and French village life has changed in many ways. The third edition of this book includes a fascinating new chapter based on Wylie's observations of Peyrane since 1970, with discussions of the Peyranais' gradual assimilation into the outside world they once staunchly resisted, the flux of the village population, and the general transformation in the character of French rural communities.

Village in the Vaucluse

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