French Literature Reviews - 2026

An Inquiry into the Novel. 50 Contemporary French Writers Respond...
Novel and Narrative Prose

Arnaud Bordes, Stéphan Carbonnaux, Serge Takvorian

Enquête sur le roman. 50 écrivains français d'aujourd'hui répondent

Paris, Le Grand Souffle, February 2007

384 pages
Size 16 cm x 21 cm
ISBN 291649216X
EUR: 18.80

The novel is inescapable. Omnipresent in both editorial and literary output, it appears to be an almost ultimate, almost unsurpassable genre—shall we call it major? Literature itself seems to be reduced exclusively to this single mode of expression.

For many, reading or buying a book means turning to a novel. Yet whereas the creator of the Goncourt Prize, Edmond de Goncourt, stated that "(...) the novel is a worn-out, hackneyed genre that has said everything it had to say (...)", today no major literary award fails to honor a novel, and there is no promotion or renown to be achieved except through the publication of a novel.
It was high time to examine this state of affairs.

This inquiry into the novel raises critical questions regarding its evolution, its mediatization, the fictional imagination, and literary creation. More broadly yet no less essentially, it questions what the novel is today.

Through a questionnaire, writers, publishers, and journal editors from diverse backgrounds and perspectives respond with total candor, offering analyses of varying simplicity or complexity, engaging in polemics, and sharing their fascinating insights.

BOOK AWAITING A REVIEWER FOR ACTA Fabula.

The status of the novel as the dominant form of modern literary expression has long been a subject of debate within French letters. While the genre is frequently celebrated as the primary vehicle for contemporary fiction, its centrality has also prompted skepticism regarding its perceived exhaustion. This volume gathers perspectives from a diverse range of practitioners, including novelists, publishers, and editors, to explore the tension between the novel's commercial ubiquity and its evolving function. Readers interested in the current landscape of French publishing may find this collection of testimonies relevant.

This inquiry raises questions regarding the evolution of the novel, its mediatization, the fictional imagination, and literary creation. The volume documents the responses of writers, publishers, and journal editors regarding what the novel is today. It maps the different ways in which contemporary figures interpret the challenges and possibilities inherent in the act of writing prose.