A Critique on the book History of French literature: the nineteenth century

Education of the history of French literature constitutes a fundamental part of the undergraduate degree programs in French language and literature in the universities of Iran. Currently, the history of French literature and the interpretation of texts from nineteenth century are offered in the framework of two courses, each corresponding to four credit units. The books written by French literature specialists are usually used in the educational curriculum. These books characteristically contain excerpts of literary texts, used for both training purposes and further detailed studies. The introduction of outstanding authors in a historical order enables us to study their works in the continuum of a dynamic literature. A French literature book without literary texts would be imperfect, as the discussions and questions arising from these texts may contribute to the development of the critical and analytical way of thinking. In this review, we have evaluated the book entitled “History of French literature: the nineteenth century”, written by Roya Letafati and Bita Moazzami Farahani. This book, which was published in 1388 by the Samt publication institute, allegedly entails the above-mentioned characteristics.The authors not only present the history of literature, but also provide the biography and works of selected writers, as well as discussions regarding the literary criticism and methodology. In addition to literary texts, the authors have provided summaries and complementary exercises, at the end of the chapters. However, this book contains several imperfections both in form and content. In this review, we attempt to address the question how far this book will meet the demands of the students of the undergraduate degree programs in French language and literature in our country.