French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Montandon (dir.), Dictionnaire littéraire de la nuit
Other Literary Studies
Dictionnaire littéraire de la nuit
Edited by Alain Montandon
Honoré Champion, collection "Dictionnaires et Références, 24", 2013.
EAN13: 9782745324238.
2 vols., hardback, 1640 pp.
190 EUR
Publisher's overview:
This literary dictionary opens up numerous perspectives, drawing on poetry, drama, and the novel to explore the multifaceted nature of the night from antiquity to the present day. Focusing not only on French and Francophone literature, but also on major European literature as well as Arabic, Iranian, and Chinese writers, it likewise incorporates references to cinema, painting, music, and photography, as nocturnal reveries intersect and feed into other artistic forms. Across some one hundred articles, the contributors analyze themes ranging from the bestiary to myths, poetics to the fantastic, realism to eroticism, silence to music, and colors to the darkness of pitch-black or starry nights. These nights of tenderness or terror serve as a major source of inspiration and creation for poets, playwrights, and novelists alike.
Alain Montandon, who edited this volume, is Professor Emeritus of General and Comparative Literature at Blaise Pascal University (CELIS), a member of the Institut Universitaire de France, and a former fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
An article on this work can be read on nonfiction.fr.
Contributors:
Wolfgang Asholt, Ingrid Astier, Pascale Auraix-Jonchiere, Sylvie Ballestra-Puech, Kelly Benoudis Basilio, Claude Benoit, Simone Bernard-Griffiths, Bernard Böschenstein, Céline Bricault, Elisabeth Bronfen, Anne-Gabrielle Brunet-Rochelle, Silviano Carrasco Yelmo, Christiane Connan-Pintado, Francis Claudon, Chloé Conant-Ouaked, Françoise Court-Perez, Silvia d’Amico, Kirsten Dickhaut, Béatrice Didier, Bernard Dieterle, Anna Dolfi, Isabelle Durand-Le Guern, Yolaine Escande, Alain Faudemay, Victoire Feuillebois, Céline Flécheux, Ioana Galleron, Christine Kossaifi, Agnès Lafont, Hugues Laroche, Giovanni Lombardo, Christian La Cassagnère, Hélène Laplace-Claverie, Gérard Laudin, Stefano Lazzarin, Alissa Le Blanc, Yvon Le Scanff, Sylvain Ledda, Miriam Llamas Ubieto, Éric Lysøe, Jean Marigny, Daniel Ménager, André Miquel, Marco Modenesi, Alain Montandon, Bahman Namvar Motlagh, Fritz Nies, Liana Nissim, Patricia Oster, Vérane Partensky, Dominique Peyrache-Leborgne, Joëlle Prungnaud, Jean Pruvost, Emmanuel Reibel, Éléonore Reverzy, Angelica Rieger, Dietmar Rieger, Marie‑Amélie Robilliard, Lise Sabourin, Baldine Saint Girons, Olivier Schefer, Linda Simonis, Didier Souiller, Evanghelia Stead, Nicolas Surlapierre, Anne Tomiche, Frédérique Toudoire-Surlapierre, Valls-Russell, Valtat, Jessica Wilker, Friedrich Wolfzettel, Zeno Zelinsky.
Table of contents:
Preface - List of entries: - Arachne - Dawn/Daybreak - Ballet - Bambochade - Baroque - Marvel of Peru (Belle-de-nuit) - Lullaby - Nocturnal bestiary (decadent and symbolist) - Nekyia and descent into the underworld (katabasis) - Catasterism and theoria - Nightmare - Bat - Ragpicker - Cemetery - Nocturnal conspiracy - Tales - Colors - Twilight - Crime - Mourning - Diana - Dictionary - Lighting - Eclipse - Night effects - Roman erotic elegy - Ink - Spouses (the couple's night) - Eros - Star - Ethnopoetics (the example of George Sand) - Fantastic - Ghosts - Femme fatale - Film noir - Grail - The Great Nights of Sceaux - Horizon - Hypnosis - The Imaginary (Gilbert Durand) - Reading - Leyla - Lilith - Moon - Magic - Magnetism - Margins - Melancholy - Sea - The Thousand and Second Night - Momus - Narration - Noctambulism - Nocturne - Dark light - Wedding night - Urban nights in Africa - Darkness - Shadow - Opera (18th century) - Opera (19th–20th centuries) - Nocturnal speech - Poets' words - Fear of the dark - Lighthouse - Photography - Detective fiction (polar) - Poles (polar night) - Night prayers - Pyramus and Thisbe - Misunderstandings - Queen of the Night - Renaissance - Dream - Rhetoric of darkness - Night curtain - Gothic novel – dark novel (roman noir) - Romanticism - Nightingale - Midsummer Night (Saint John's Eve) - Serenade - Sleep - The Sleep of Eve - Somnambulism - Witches - Sublime - Surrealism - Darkness (Ténèbres) - Romantic theater - Poetic crossings (Hölderlin – Rilke – Trakl – Celan) - Troubadours - Vampires - Voodoo - African evening gatherings - City - The veil of night - Walpurgis Night - Authors - Bibliography – Index.
This ambitious reference work belongs to the rich tradition of comparative literature and thematic criticism, which seeks to trace how shared human experiences and symbols transcend national borders and historical epochs. By examining the night not merely as a temporal setting but as a profound psychological and aesthetic space, the dictionary connects diverse artistic movements. From the dark shadows of the Gothic novel and the emotional intensity of Romanticism to the dreamscapes of Surrealism, the contributors map out how the nocturnal hours have served as a catalyst for creative expression and philosophical inquiry across centuries.
Scholars and students of comparative literature, cultural history, and interdisciplinary arts will find this dictionary an invaluable resource. It addresses fundamental questions about how different cultures and eras have conceptualized darkness, fear, dreams, and the supernatural. Whether exploring the classical roots of nocturnal myths, the development of film noir, or the poetic representations of twilight and dawn, readers are offered a structured yet expansive guide. By bridging the gap between text, music, and visual media, the volume provides a comprehensive framework for studying the enduring mystery of the night in the human imagination.