French Literature Reviews - 2026

Victoria Pleuchot, Littérature romanesque et travail précaire (1918-1939)
Comparative and World Literature

Victoria Pleuchot

Littérature romanesque et travail précaire (1918-1939)

Paris, Classiques Garnier, coll. "Perspectives comparatistes", no. 157, "Modernités et avant-gardes" series, no. 25, 2026.

During the interwar period, lesser-known novels in French, Spanish, and English dealing with precarious labor explored the representation of insecure work and its formal effects, blurring canonical boundaries and revealing the ambiguities surrounding the reception of committed literature.

Table of Contents

Also available in a hardcover edition - EAN 9782406198208 - priced at 89 euros

During the interwar decades, the economic and social transformations of Western societies profoundly influenced literary production, prompting writers across Europe to engage with the realities of unstable employment. The period witnessed intense debates concerning the social function of art and the boundaries separating canonical works from popular or marginal writing. Within comparative literary studies, examining how multilingual texts address industrial and economic shifts illuminates the complex relationship between political commitment and aesthetic form during a time of widespread social crisis.

Victoria Pleuchot examines novels in French, Spanish, and English from 1918 to 1939 that focus on insecure work. The study explores the representation of precarious labor, analyzes its formal effects, and highlights the ambiguities surrounding the reception of committed literature during the interwar years. Readers interested in comparative approaches to interwar fiction and the literary representation of labor may find this volume relevant.