This essay is about French Literature.

French Literature, the literature of France, from the mid-800s until the present. French literature is considered one of the richest and most varied national literatures, noted especially for its examination of human society and the individual's place within society. French literature does not include francophone literature--works written in the French language but originating in other countries, such as Canada or Senegal. French literature reflects the cultural and political history of France . Until the French …

…tive freedom and innovation, culminating in such 20th-century movements as dada, surrealism, existentialism, theater of the absurd, the new novel, and postmodernism. Paradoxically, despite these experiments and innovations, French literary traditions have endured, as have the values of the old order. Thus, the inventive and rebellious Albert Camus saw himself in the tradition of classical novelist Madame de La Fayette, and the 20th-century exponent of existentialism Jean-Paul Sartre claimed kinship with 17th-century playwright Pierre Corneille.