Classic French/Spanish-language literature that is also short
January 17, 2021 11:24 PM   Subscribe

I want to read more books from the French/Spanish-language literary canons, but I don't have the stamina to read something like Les Misérables. Which books are on the shorter side? 300 pages-ish or less?
posted by iamsuper to Education (18 answers total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'm reaching way back to my A-Level French syllabus from 25 years ago, but I remember doing La Symphonie Pastorale by Andre Gide, Les Jeux Sont Faits or Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sartre, and Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan - all of those are short and very readable.
posted by damsel with a dulcimer at 12:03 AM on January 18, 2021 [2 favorites]


Mario Benedetti La tregua, 208 pgs

Miguel de Unamuno La tía Tula, 176 pgs

Mario Vargas Llosa El hablador, 272 pgs

Ernesto Sabato El Túnel, 160 pgs

Manuel Puig El beso de la mujer arana, 288 pgs

Albert Camus L'Exil et le Royaume, 185 pgs

Denis Diderot La réligieuse, 304 pgs
posted by bertran at 1:13 AM on January 18, 2021


Borges has the advantage of writing short – sometimes very short – stories.
posted by vincebowdren at 1:54 AM on January 18, 2021 [4 favorites]


Guy de Maupassant wrote mostly short stories and they are extremely readable.
posted by elgilito at 3:06 AM on January 18, 2021 [5 favorites]


Colette wrote short stories (and short novels.) She is a criminally underrated writer and her work is both beautifully constructed and easy to read.
posted by mani at 3:23 AM on January 18, 2021 [2 favorites]


Le Grand Meaulnes is short and also has fun connections to The Great Gatsby and On The Road.
posted by johngoren at 4:16 AM on January 18, 2021 [1 favorite]


Seconding Maupassant.
posted by kevinbelt at 4:20 AM on January 18, 2021


Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Laclos's Les Liaisons Dangereuses clock in at just under 300 pages in most editions. Camus's L'Étranger is under 200.
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:54 AM on January 18, 2021


Marcel Pagnol. We did La Gloire de mon père in school (memoir), but he was very prolific, including plays (Marius, Topaze), and novels (Jean de Florette, Manon des Sources). All of his work is very centered on life in Provence at the turn of the century, very strong sense of place and time and class. He reminds me a bit of Faulkner in that way, although a lot more readable!

We also read Une si longue lettre in AP French Literature, which has stuck with me years later. It's like, 100 pages? But packed. I think it was the first work by a non-Metropolitan French author I'd read, and also the first time example of intersectional feminist writing (which is kind of embarrassing to admit now). I don't know if it's considered part of the canon or writing against the canon, but you should read it!
posted by basalganglia at 4:57 AM on January 18, 2021 [2 favorites]


Oh, and of course: Voltaire's Candide is pretty damn short as well — I've seen editions under 100 pages.
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:04 AM on January 18, 2021 [2 favorites]


My first cover-to-cover book as a French learner was Jules Verne: Le Tour du Monde en Quatre-Vingt Jours. Very accessible, particularly since the plot and characters are familiar. Might apply to other Verne books as well.

Downside of this particular title would be some of the racial and colonialist attitudes of the time, which do pop up.
posted by gimonca at 7:51 AM on January 18, 2021


le petit prince
posted by aniola at 8:20 AM on January 18, 2021 [1 favorite]


We read La Peste in my AP French Class, which is not a relaxing book to read right now, but is not long and is quite good.
posted by ChuraChura at 9:25 AM on January 18, 2021


Cyrano de Bergerac (play) in original French.
posted by DoubleLune at 9:46 AM on January 18, 2021


Seconding Camus's L'étranger, and if you like Camus, "Le mythe de Sisyphe" is a brilliant essay and not long.
posted by lysimache at 10:45 AM on January 18, 2021


I've just gotten on an Anatole France kick, he is a sardonic genius! His famous pieces mostly hit around 300 pg or so: 'The Revolt of The Angels', 'Thais', 'The Isle of Penguins'

+ for Colette & Maupassant
posted by ovvl at 1:22 PM on January 18, 2021


Some 20th century French and Spanish literary classics under 200 pages:

Marguerite Duras - L'Amant (The Lover)
Patrick Modiano - Rue des Boutiques obscures (Missing Person)
Raymond Queneau - Zazie dans le métro (Zazie in the Metro)

Silvina Ocampo - La Promesa (The Promise)
José Donoso - El lugar sin límites (Hell Has No Limits)
Juan Rulfo - Pedro Páramo
posted by RGD at 3:12 PM on January 18, 2021


Garcia Marquez - Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Rulfo - Pedro Paramo
posted by lewedswiver at 3:45 PM on January 20, 2021


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