The French New Novel

The most significant development in recent French fiction is the nouveau roman, the "new novel," which was first noticed in the mid-1950's and has subsequently become influential throughout the world. Characterized by a disregard for chronology, prominence given to objects and space, substitution of pattern for plot, unorthodox treatment of dialogue, and a new approach to character, it has intrigued, and occasionally antagonized, both critics and general readers in its repudiation of the traditional Balzacian novel form.

In this introduction for the American public, Laurent LeSage discusses the aims and aspirations of the "new" novelists in France and underlines their affinity to Anglo-American literary theory and German philosophy. He presents, according to Professor Georges May of Yale, "a complex literary phenomenon in a coherent and highly intelligible form." Included are translated specimens of the new writing, some of which appear for the first time in English. Biographical material and bibliographies of works and criticism have been compiled for each author.