French sci-fi and fantasy.

February 6, 2007 11:19 PM

Give me some recommendations for French-language science-fiction or fantasy books.

I studied French in high school and college, and I'd like to improve my fluency. I'd prefer works that are fairly long and not too difficult, but all suggestions are welcome.

posted by Silune to media & arts (8 comments total)

Vingt mille lieues sous les mers and Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours... or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in 80 Days. Jules Verne in the original French!
posted by empyrean at 11:35 PM on February 6, 2007

Ravage by René Barjavel is one of the simpler books I have read in French. It is set in the future (was written in the 1940's) and deals with the chaos that occurs when electricity suddenly disappears.
posted by jontyjago at 1:17 AM on February 7, 2007

Bernard Werber is a popular French sci fi author. To be honest, I've never actually read any of his books, but it's a place to start at least. I'd second the Jules Verne recommendation and depending on your command of the language there are abridged versions as well.

Solaris by Stanislaus Lem is a possibility. The current English version comes from the French translation of the original Polish. So in theory, by reading the French version you'd be somewhat closer to the original. It might not be the easiest to start with, however.
posted by timelord at 2:06 AM on February 7, 2007

The second link is Around the World in 80 Days adapted and abridged from the original text.
posted by timelord at 2:13 AM on February 7, 2007

Planet of the Apes.
posted by ztdavis at 2:41 AM on February 7, 2007

Les Fourmis by Bernard Weber is very interesting. It's a story that takes place in an ant colony, but also interacts with the real world and humans. Very original.

I personally suggest "Livres dont vous êtes le héro".
When I was a kid I used to play them all the time. Basically you start off on paragraph one, and from there on after every paragraph, you get a choice wich make you turn to another paragraph, depending on your choice. It's like an RPG.
Check out this site for info on the books, click Series for a list of them. http://gamebook.free.fr/index.html
posted by PowerCat at 5:27 AM on February 7, 2007

Valerian and Laureline comics.
posted by Mocata at 11:03 AM on February 7, 2007

I wouldn't touch Jules Verne because that's 19th century vocabulary and it's just not very interesting..

To be entirely honest, to improve your french I wouldn't read books, but BDs, those french cartoon-books that have a cult following. You can probably find a series to suit your tastes - my favourite is Thorgal, but that doesn't seem like your cup of tea.

As for science fiction/fantasy books, there's all the stuff by Jean-Christophe Rufin (ex-vice-head of Doctors Without Borders) like Globalia - most of his books are distopias.
posted by ruelle at 12:13 PM on February 7, 2007