Overview
The Yale University Library supports research and teaching in all aspects of literature in French. The French department at Yale offers the Ph.D. in French literature, criticism, theory, and culture from the early Middle Ages to the present as well as in the French-language literatures of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Maghreb. Yale’s extensive collections support the needs of undergraduates, MA and Ph.D. students, teaching faculty, post-docs, and other research affiliates.
Collection Highlights and Expanding Areas of Focus
Yale University Library has a long tradition of collecting materials in French language and literature. The main body of the French literature collection is in the Sterling Memorial Library. Virtually all periods of French literature are covered, including the vernacular literature before French, and the French literature from the Middles Ages to the present. Highly specialized or dated works are in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library with works ranging from medieval illuminated manuscripts of the Roman de la Rose, to incunabula, to first editions of masterpieces of modernism.
The library also holds a rich array of resources in print and electronic form related to the French language, including reference works, bibliographies, works on the origin and history of the language, lexicographical works, and comparative language studies. The collection also includes works on and in many regional languages, including Norman, Provençal, Basque, Corsican, Breton, Occitan, and Haitian French Creole.
Yale Library supports research in the linguistic and literary aspects of the discipline, including the teaching of basic and advanced language skills, and a detailed study of French literature, criticism, theory, and culture. Thorough coverage of the various aspects of the French language–its history, grammar, phonetics, morphology, syntax, rhetoric, style, composition, lexicography and philology–is maintained. Current collecting focuses on major literary francophone authors and their works from the early Middle Ages to the present.
Expanding Areas of Focus: Postcolonial francophone literature; migration, race, and diversity in France; literature of the Maghreb and Caribbean
Academic Departments and Programs Supported
- Department of Comparative Literature
- Department of French
- Department of Linguistics
- Program in Medieval Studies
- Program of Film and Media Studies
- Program of Theater Studies
- Program of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
- Because French language and literature have cross-disciplinary implications, these collections also offer support for research and teaching in other Western European language and literature departments (e.g., English, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, German) as well as area studies such as African and Caribbean Studies.
Selection Responsibilities
The Yale University Library’s general collection in French language and literature is managed by the Librarian for Western European Humanities. Curators in the Beinecke Library collect manuscripts and rare works. French feature film is collected by the Film Studies Archive. Documentary films are collected upon request.
Subjects Collected
- Fiction
- Poetry
- Drama
- Literary criticism and theory
- Literary history
- History of the French language
- French language grammar, linguistics, and syntax
Formats Collected
- print books
- e-books
- print journals
- electronic journals
- online databases
- streaming audiovisual material selectively (when part of a larger package)
- DVD/Blu-ray collected selectively on request
- comics and graphic novels collected selectively
- microform collected selectively
- reference materials: dictionaries, handbooks, encyclopedias, and bibliographies are collected electronically when available, otherwise in print
Languages Collected
Primary (literary) texts are collected first in French and, if available, in English translation. For selected writers, editions are acquired in other major European languages. Criticism and theory are collected in French and in English, with important contemporary critical works also acquired in other languages, especially German, Spanish and Italian.
Chronological and Geographical Focus
Current materials are emphasized, with out-of-print materials purchased to replace damaged or lost copies of significant works, or in response to faculty or student requests. In terms of time periods covered in the materials themselves, the collections range from medieval to contemporary.
Titles are collected from across the French-speaking world, including Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and North America.
Exclusions
In general, the following formats and genres are not collected:
- children’s literature
- cookbooks
- genre fiction: romance, fantasy, thrillers, horror
- manuscripts
- popular fiction
- preprints
- self-published works
- software
- textbooks and workbooks
- young adult literature
External Collaborations
As an institutional member of the Center for Research Libraries, the Yale Library participates in CIFNAL, the Collaborative Initiative for French Language Collections.
Subject Librarian
Michael Printy
Head, Humanities Group and Librarian for Western European Humanities
Department: Area Studies and Humanities
(203)436-9215