literature review french

The French Review

Carine Bourget, University of Arizona

Journal Details

The French Review Author Guidelines

The Hopkins Press Journals Ethics and Malpractice Statement can be found at the ethics-and-malpractice  page.

Peer Review Policy

The  French Review  is the scholarly journal of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF). AATF membership is a prerequisite for the submission of articles and reviews.

Our journal uses a double-blind peer review system. Articles submitted to the  French Review  are first screened by the Editor in Chief, who determines whether the topic is suitable for our journal and meets our standards regarding length, anonymity, use of secondary sources, etc. Articles considered for publication are then sent to two evaluators who are recognized specialists in the relevant field. This process can take one to two months. In the case of a split decision, the author has two to three months to revise the article before it is sent to a third evaluator (and, if need be, to at least one of the initial evaluators). This second evaluation process can also take one to two months. In all cases, the evaluators’ comments and suggestions are forwarded to the author by the Editor in Chief. Articles are normally published within one year of acceptance.

Submitted articles may be in English or French. We only publish articles that have not appeared elsewhere (either in the original or in translation). We do not accept simultaneous submissions. In addition to scholarly articles, the  French Review  publishes reviews of books, films, and teaching materials. These informal pieces are commissioned by their respective Review Editors, who review them for grammar, style, factual accuracy, and suitability for publication. They are not sent out for double-blind peer review.

The French Review Editorial Board

Abstracting & Indexing Databases

• Language Teaching (Online)
• Arts & Humanities Citation Index
• Current Contents
• Web of Science
• Dietrich's Index Philosophicus
• IBZ - Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zeitschriftenliteratur, coverage dropped
• Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlicher Literatur, coverage dropped
• Biography Index: Past and Present (H.W. Wilson), vol.56, 1983-vol.84, no.3, 2011
• Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), Jun.1995-
• Current Abstracts, 7/1/2003-
• Education Abstracts (H.W. Wilson), 10/1/1980-
• Education Index (Online), 1983/04-
• Education Index Retrospective: 1929-1983, 11/1/1935-3/1/1983
• Education Research Complete, 7/1/2003-
• Education Research Index, Jul.2003-
• Education Source, 11/1/1935-
• Humanities Abstracts (H.W. Wilson), 10/1/1995-
• Humanities Index (Online), 1995/06-
• Humanities International Complete, 7/1/2003-
• Humanities International Index, 7/1/2003-
• Humanities Source, 10/1/1995-
• Humanities Source Ultimate, 10/1/1995-
• International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text, 10/1/2000-
• Library & Information Science Source, 12/1/1945-12/1/1945
• MLA International Bibliography (Modern Language Association)
• OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson), 4/1/1983-
• Poetry & Short Story Reference Center, 7/1/2003-
• RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale)
• Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies
• TOC Premier (Table of Contents), 7/1/2003-
• Scopus, 2002-2015
• Advanced Placement Fine Arts and Music, 02/1975-05/2017
• Book Review Index Plus
• Gale Academic OneFile
• Gale Academic OneFile Select, 02/1996-
• Gale General OneFile, 02/1996-
• Gale OneFile: Educator's Reference Complete, 02/1996-
• Gale OneFile: Fine Arts, 02/1975-
• InfoTrac Custom, 2/1996-
• ArticleFirst, vol.63, no.3, 1990-vol.84, no.1, 2010
• Personal Alert (E-mail)
• International Bibliography of Art, Selective
• Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (Online), Selective
• Periodicals Index Online, 10/1/1997-5/1/2000

Abstracting & Indexing Sources

• Children’s Book Review Index   (Active)  (Print)
• Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities   (Ceased)  (Print)
• MLA Abstracts of Articles in Scholarly Journals   (Ceased)  (Print)
• Social Planning - Policy & Development Abstracts   (Ceased)  (Print)

0.1 (2022) 0.1 (Five-Year Impact Factor) 0.00022 (Eigenfactor™ Score) Rank in Category (by Journal Impact Factor): Note:  While journals indexed in AHCI and ESCI are receiving a JIF for the first time in June 2023, they will not receive ranks, quartiles, or percentiles until the release of 2023 data in June 2024.

© Clarivate Analytics 2023

Published four times a year (October, December, March, and May)

Readers include: Scholars and students French and Francophone literature, cinema, culture, linguistics, and pedagogy.

Print circulation: 420

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Also of Interest

Ramesh Mallipeddi, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Penny A. Pasque, The Ohio State University; Thomas F. Nelson Laird, Indiana University, Bloomington

Dominic Rainsford, Aarhus University, Denmark

Megan Corbin, West Chester University

Arien Mack, The New School for Social Research

Quill Kukla, Ph.D., Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University

Virginia M. Brennan, PhD, MA, Meharry Medical College

Richard J. Golsan, Texas A&M University

Elizabeth Ho, University of Hong Kong

Joseph Michael Sommers, Central Michigan University

Mária Minich Brewer and Daniel Brewer, University of Minnesota

Rosa Andújar, King's College London

William Dobson, National Endowment for Democracy and Tarek Masoud, Harvard University

Clare Anderson, University of Leicester

Meghan O’Rourke

Anjali Nerlekar, Rutgers University, and Stephen Ross, Concordia University

Eyal Amiran, University of California, Irvine and  Mathias Nilges, St. Francis Xavier University

Vasti Torres, Indiana University

Ian Gilchrist, Julio Wang, Sandeep Kumar, and Sam Subramanian

Jeraldine Kraver, University of Northern Colorado; Peter Kratzke, University of Colorado, Boulder

Georgia L. Irby, College of William & Mary

David F. Bell, Duke University; Pierre Cassou-Noguès, Université de Paris 8; Églantine Colon, California Institute of the Arts; Marion Froger, Université de Montréal; Paul A. Harris, Loyola Marymount University; Éric Méchoulan, Université de Montréal; Thangam Ravindranathan, Brown University; and Rebecca Walkowitz, Rutgers University

Robert P. Marzec, Purdue University

Charles Henry Rowell

Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang, Malmö University, Sweden

Adriana Craciun, Boston University

Nicholas Morrow Williams, Arizona State University

Katharina Gerstenberger, University of Utah

Benjamin Fraser, The University of Arizona

Elisabeth Anker, George Washington University and Hagar Kotef, SOAS , University of London

Mari Yoshihara, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Patti Duncan, Oregon State University

Hopkins Press Journals

French Language & Literature Library Guide: How To Do A Literature Review

• How To Follow References
• French E-Resources Demonstration and Resources
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French Literature

• Book Reviews

Getting Started

• Full-Text Sources by Time Period
• Reference Sources
• Francophone Libraries
• Writing Resources

Do you want to know how a book was received by scholars? Are you trying to determine the quality of a particular book? Or, are you just interested in knowing if a book is worth reading? Book reviews are a great place to start. This guide provides guidance on finding two types of book reviews, those for a general audience and those for a scholarly audience.

Reviews for a General Audience

Literature and popular works (memoirs, travel writing, manuals, etc.) are often reviewed by journalists or fellow authors upon publication in newspapers or magazines. Use the following databases to find reviews in these publications.

• Book Review Index This link opens in a new window & more less... A comprehensive online guide to book reviews with over five million review citations from thousands of publications.
• Book Review Digest Plus This link opens in a new window & more less... Book Review Digest is a reference database that provides review excerpts and book summaries for current English-language fiction and non-fiction books. Limit of 1 simultaneous user.
• Book Review Digest Retrospective This link opens in a new window 1903-1982 & more less... Indexes and abstracts reviews of English language adult and juvenile fiction and non-fiction titles. Reviews are selected from journals in the humanities, sciences, social sciences and library review media.

Other Sources for Book Reviews

Many reviews are published in newspapers and magazines. Use the guides below to find the best databases to search for reviews in these publications.

• How do I find magazines? by Ask a Librarian Updated Feb 17, 2024 387 views this year
• How do I find newspapers? by Ask a Librarian Updated Apr 3, 2024 5810 views this year

Reviews for a Scholarly Audience

Scholarly books are reviewed in academic or peer-reviewed journals and are written by academics. As these reviews place the work in the context of current scholarship, they can take several years to appear after the book was published.

Starting Points

• JSTOR This link opens in a new window Recommended Starting Point . Use Advanced Search and limit to "Reviews". You can also limit by discipline. & more less... A database of back issues of core journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. All issues of each journal are included in full-text except for the most recent 2-to-5 years.
• IBR Online This link opens in a new window & more less... Multilingual and interdisciplinary index to book reviews, chiefly in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
• Web of Science This link opens in a new window Conduct your search for book or author, and then limit to "Book Reviews". & more less... Authoritative, multidisciplinary content covers over 10,000 of the highest impact journals worldwide, including Open Access journals and over 110,000 conference proceedings. You'll find current and retrospective coverage in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities, with coverage available to 1900. Includes the Science Citation Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Web of Science is especially useful for its citation linking.
• Periodicals Index Online This link opens in a new window & more less... Part of Nineteenth Century Index. Indexes the contents of thousands of periodicals in the humanities and social sciences from 1665 to 1995, including many European titles. Includes links to some full-text articles. Dates of full-text coverage vary by title.
• Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective This link opens in a new window & more less... Database corresponds to International Index, 1907 - March 1965; Social Sciences & Humanities Index, April 1965 March 1974; Humanities Index, April 1974 March 1984; and Social Sciences Index, April 1974 March 1983

Other Databases for Book Reviews

We strongly recommend searching the article database or index that covers the academic literature in a specific field for reviews. Use the Advanced Search option and limit to "Book Reviews" or "Reviews".  Find the best database for book reviews in your field by using our subject guides.

• Library Subject Guides

Book Review Indexes in Print

Below are a few print sources for finding book reviews.

• Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals, 1802-1974 & more less... 10 vols. Ed by Evan Ira Farber. Woodbridge: Research Publications, 1982-1984. Covers 150 literature, philosophy, classics, folklore, linguistics & music journals, from England and the US Organized by primary authors or editors and then by book titles.
• Literary and Historical index to American Magazines, 1800-1850 & more less... Ed by Daniel A. Wells & Jonathan Daniel Wells. Westport: Praeger, 2004.

Ask a Librarian

Publications with Book Reviews

• London Review of Books Library has on microfilm 1979 - present.
• New York Review of Books This link opens in a new window & more less... New York Review of Books reviews contemporary books in all subject areas.
• New Yorker Library has in print 1925 - present.
• Publishers Weekly Library has in print and microfilm 1873 - present. Recent issues available online via Find It!
• TLS: Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive This link opens in a new window & more less... Covers 1902-2006. This easy-to-navigate, fully-searchable resource is a witness to the cultural revolutions of the last 100 years and offers unparalleled opportunities for tracking the views of influential opinion-makers, the response of their peers, the controversies of the day and how they developed. --Publisher's website
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French Literature and Culture: 800 CE to Present

• Middle Ages and Renaissance
• Early Modern Period
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• Modern Period
• Literature Review
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How to Write a Lit Review

• Write a Literature Review A guide from the University Library of UC Santa Cruz. Major headings: Introduction Components Definition and use/purpose
• Review of Literature A brief guide from the Writing Center of the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Major headings: What is a review of literature? Writing the introduction Writing the body Writing the conclusion
• The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It A guide from the University of Toronto's Writing Centre. Major headings: What is a review of the literature? Ask yourself questions like these Ask yourself questions like these about each book or article you include Final Notes
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Librarian/Curator for European Studies

Introduction

This guide is an introduction to the literature of France, excluding Francophone materials. It features books, journals, media, and databases accessible through the UCLA Library. Organized by genre, each section contains a selection of literary works and scholarly resources. Titles both in French and in English translation are included. Search the UCLA Library Catalog  by author and/or title to check for other available editions in both languages. This guide is not intended to be comprehensive. Resources may be added or removed over time. If you need research help on this subject, contact  Shannon Tanhayi Ahari , the Librarian/Curator for European Studies. Refer to the French Studies  guide for library resources related to French history, language, and culture.

Selected Images

This illustration by the French artist Gustave Doré (1832–1883) depicts Little Red Riding Hood in bed with the wolf. The illustration appears in  Les Contes de Perrault (1862), a collection of Charles Perrault's fairy tales.

Available in  Wikimedia Commons . Public domain. 

This illustration by the French-British artist Edmund Dulac (1882–1953) is from the French fairy tale "The Blue Bird," which was published in Edmund Dulac's Fairy Book: Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations  (1916).

Available in  Wikimedia Commons . Public domain.

Originally published in Joseph Jacobs’s Europa’s Fairy Book (1916), this image shows Beauty and the Beast as drawn by the English artist John D. Batten (1860–1932). 

Available in The Project Gutenberg E-Book of Europa's Fairy Book . Public domain. 

This cover of the first volume of the Fantomas series from 1911 features the titular character standing over Paris. The artist is unknown. 

Available in Wikimedia Commons . Public Domain.

This oil-on-panel painting by Julie Philipault (1780–1862)— Racine Reading Athalie Before Louis XIV and Madame de Maintenon (1819) — is currently housed at the Louvre in Paris, France. It depicts the French playwright, Jean Racine, reading his play Athalie , to King Louis XIV and his wife, Madame de Maintenon. 

Drawn by Georges-Antoine Rochegrosse (1859–1938) and engraved by Eugène Decisy (1866–1936), the image above is a wood-engraved portrait of the French poet Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) surrounded by ghosts. It is the frontispiece to a 1917 edition of  Les Fleurs du mal.

Available in  Wikimedia Commons.  Public domain.

The French comic strip heroine Bécassine, illustrated by Joseph Porphyre Pinchon (1871–1953), is pictured here on the cover of  Les Cent Métiers de Bécassine (1920).

Available in  Wikimedia Commons . Public domain. 

This illustration of Teresa by an unknown artist first appeared in the 1887 second volume of Alexandre Dumas's (1802–1870) adventure novel The Count of Monte Cristo (1844). 

The artwork above is Le phare des Casquets (1866) by Victor Hugo (1802–1885). The medium is brown ink and wash, black crayon, black chalk, and white gouache on paper.

Pictured is a program for the premiere of the play  Ubu Roi  (1896) by Alfred Jarry (1873–1907). The medium is lithograph on tan paper, folded sheet.

This illustration of a deer eating from a small tree by Clinton Peters (1865–1948) appears in the story "The Hind in the Wood" in  The Fairy Tales of Madame d'Aulnoy: Newly Done Into English (1892). 

Available in  The Fairy Tales of Madame d'Aulnoy: Newly Done Into English . Public domain. 

The image above is a theatrical poster for the 1923 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame . The artist is unknown. 

Available in Wikimedia Commons . Public Domain. 

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• Last Updated: Apr 23, 2024 10:47 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.ucla.edu/frenchliterature

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Front Cover : Picture (Bonifacio, Corse) by Catherine Ousselin

The French Review

In this issue.

• Volume 95, Number 1, October 2021

Dedicated to the teaching of French and Francophone studies, The French Review is the official journal of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF). The French Review publishes articles and reviews written in both French and English that are devoted to the interests of teachers of French. Accepted submissions include original, unpublished articles and reviews on French and Francophone literature, cinema, culture, linguistics, and pedagogy. The French Review is published four times a year in October, December, March, and May. Special issues are published every two years. The AATF has entered into an agreement with John Hopkins University to publish both online and print versions of The French Review on its behalf.

published by

Viewing issue, table of contents.

• From the Editor's Desk
• Edward Ousselin
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0191

• The Year 2020 in Poetry: World Enough and Time
• Maryann De Julio
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0190
• Bloc-notes culturel 2020: annus horribilis
• Matthieu Dalle
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0189
• Confinement in Literature and Life: The Novel in 2020
• William Cloonan
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0188
• Intégrer les cartes digitales SIG en classe de FLE: théorie et pratique
• Emily A. Hellmich, Aurélia Mouzet
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0187
• Humour et compétences interculturelles et symboliques en cours de français langue étrangère (FLE)
• Corinne Étienne, Sylvie Vanbaelen
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0186
• Politics and Culture: Childhood Memories from the Mid-1960s in Moussa Sène Absa's Ça twiste à Popenguine
• Thérèse De Raedt
• pp. 113-130
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0185
• Léonora Miano's Les aubes écarlates : An Africa-Centered Memorial to Victims of the Middle Passage
• Janice Spleth
• pp. 131-145
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0184
• Un aller simple , or Rewriting L'immoraliste in Reverse
• Carl Cornell
• pp. 147-162
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0183
• Two Tales, One Return: Rewriting Relation in Dany Laferrière's Pays sans chapeau and L'énigme du retour
• Rebecca Grenouilleau-Loescher
• pp. 163-175
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0195
• Théophile Gautier et la science sous la plume de l'art pour l'art
• Ji Eun Hong
• pp. 177-189
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0194
• Le misanthrope malgré lui : Rousseau's Vision of Alceste
• Joshua Kraut
• pp. 191-205
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0193
• Deux romans au féminin: vers un nouveau modèle philosophique pour l'amour
• pp. 207-217
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0192
• Éloge du mauvais lecteur par Maxime Decout (review)
• Warren Motte
• pp. 221-222
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0213
• Dictionnaire Colette éd. par Guy Ducrey et Jacques Dupont (review)
• Stephanie Schechner
• pp. 222-223
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0214
• Germaine de Staël et George Sand en dialogue avec leurs consœurs polonaises par Corinne Fournier Kiss (review)
• Françoise Ghillebaert
• pp. 223-224
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0215
• Corporeal Archipelagos: Writing the Body in Francophone Oceanian Women's Literature by Julia L. Frengs (review)
• Alison Rice
• pp. 224-225
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0216
• La peste à la Renaissance: l'imaginaire d'un fléau dans la littérature au XVI e siècle par Brenton Hobart (review)
• Mary Claire Chao
• pp. 225-226
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0217
• Marie-Jeanne Riccoboni's Epistolary Feminism: Fact, Fiction, and Voice by Marijn S. Kaplan (review)
• Jeanne Hageman
• pp. 226-227
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0218
• Ecocritics and Ecoskeptics: A Humanist Reading of Recent French Ecofiction by Jonathan F. Krell (review)
• Abbey Carrico
• pp. 227-228
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0219
• Le code en toutes lettres: écritures et réécritures du Code civil au XIX e siècle éd. par Marion Mas et François Kerlouégan (review)
• Sharon P. Johnson
• pp. 228-229
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0220
• Parcours littéraires caraïbes: études et essais par Daniel-Henri Pageaux (review)
• Gloria Kwok
• pp. 229-230
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0211
• Still: Samuel Beckett's Quietism by Andy Wimbush (review)
• Federica Signorini
• pp. 230-231
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0212
• Algeria on Screen: Society, Politics, and Culture in the Films of Merzak Allouache by Nabil Boudraa (review)
• Christa Catherine Jones
• pp. 232-233
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0198
• Remnants of the Franco-Algerian Rupture: Archiving Postcolonial Minorities by Mona El Khoury (review)
• Benjamin Sparks
• pp. 233-234
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0199
• Une farouche liberté par Gisèle Halimi et Annick Cojean (review)
• Michel Gueldry
• pp. 234-235
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0200
• Les abandonnés: histoire des "cités de banlieue" par Xavier de Jarcy (review)
• Derek Schilling
• pp. 235-236
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0201
• Peuples autochtones et politique au Québec et au Canada: identités, citoyennetés, et auto-détermination éds. par Stéphane Guimont Marceau, Jean-Olivier Roy et Daniel Salée (review)
• Gavin M. Furrey
• pp. 236-237
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0202
• Identités françaises: banlieues, féminités et universalisme par Mame-Fatou Niang (review)
• pp. 237-238
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0203
• La puissance des mères: pour un nouveau sujet révolutionnaire par Fatima Ouassak (review)
• Virginie Ems-Bléneau
• pp. 238-239
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0204
• European Adventurers in North India, 1750–1803 by Uma Shanker Pandey (review)
• Sakul Kundra
• pp. 239-240
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0205
• La rafle des notables par Anne Sinclair (review)
• Khadija Khalifé
• pp. 240-241
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0196
• Le magasin du monde: la mondialisation par les objets du XVIII e siècle à nos jours éd. par Pierre Singaravélou et Sylvain Venayre (review)
• John Greene
• pp. 241-242
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0197
• L'homme qui pleure de rire par Frédéric Beigbeder (review)
• pp. 242-243
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0239
• La femme de travers par Nicolas Bouyssi (review)
• Nathalie Degroult
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0238
• Yoga by Emmanuel Carrère (review)
• Marie-Agnès Sourieau
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0237
• Meta donna par Suzanne Dopelt (review)
• Louis Bousquet
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0236
• Le soleil est battu par Rochelle Fack (review)
• Patrick H Moneyang
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0235
• Une adoption particulière par Chantal de Grandpré (review)
• Laurence Clerfeuille
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0259
• La discrétion par Faïza Guène (review)
• Lydia Belatèche
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0258
• Chavirer par Lola Lafon (review)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0257
• Histoire du fils par Marie-Hélène Lafon (review)
• Annie Bandy
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0256
• Une ombre qui marche par Tiphaine Le Gall (review)
• Jean-François Duclos
• pp. 252-253
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0255
• Nos frères inattendus par Amin Maalouf (review)
• pp. 253-254
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0254
• Rumeurs d'Amérique par Alain Mabanckou (review)
• Denis R. Pra
• pp. 254-255
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0253
• Elle habitait à Sandwich par Pauline Mouhanna Karroum (review)
• Kate M. Bonin
• pp. 255-256
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0252
• Le palais des orties par Marie Nimier (review)
• Jeanne-Sarah de Larquier
• pp. 256-257
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0251
• Marc Aurèle, le premier des hommes par Pierre Nogrette (review)
• Jane E. Evans
• pp. 257-258
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0250
• Impact by Olivier Norek (review)
• Roxane Petit-Rasselle
• pp. 258-259
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0249
• L'Ivoirienne par François-Marie Pons (review)
• Didem Alkan
• pp. 259-260
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0248
• L'homme aux trois lettres: dernier royaume XI par Pascal Quignard (review)
• Eilene Hoft-March
• pp. 260-261
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0247
• D'un été à un été par Najib Redouane (review)
• Nacer Khelouz
• pp. 261-262
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0246
• Le pont de Bezons par Jean Rolin (review)
• pp. 262-263
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0245
• Pour qui je me prends par Lori Saint-Martin (review)
• Kelle L. Marshall
• pp. 263-264
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0244
• Corps rassemblé par Esther Tellermann (review)
• Aaron Prevots
• pp. 264-265
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0243
• Il était deux fois par Franck Thilliez (review)
• Nathalie G. Cornelius
• pp. 265-266
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0242
• AmericCamus 1959: Albert Camus en Amérique maccarthyste par Alek Baylee Toumi (review)
• E. Nicole Meyer
• pp. 266-267
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0241
• Désirée Congo par Évelyne Trouillot (review)
• Jason Herbeck
• pp. 267-268
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0240
• Parlez-vous (les) français? Atlas des expressions de nos régions par Mathieu Avanzi (review)
• Samira Hassa
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0223
• Diversité sociolinguistique et ordre social: confrontations éd. par Philippe Blanchet (review)
• Émilie Urbain
• pp. 270-271
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0224
• Phrase, logique, discours, figement par Giovanni Dotoli (review)
• Olivier Bertrand
• pp. 271-272
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0225
• Les maux francophones: essai pour la flexibilité de la langue française par Renaud Dumont (review)
• Amanda Dalola
• pp. 272-273
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0221
• Indéfinis et partitifs en français par Claude Muller (review)
• Charles A. Mignot
• pp. 273-274
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0222
• On tourne! French Language and Culture Through Film by Véronique Anover and Rémi Fournier Lanzoni (review)
• Jessica S. Miller
• pp. 274-275
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0208
• Brave New Digital Classroom: Technology and Foreign Language Learning by Robert J. Blake and Gabriel Guillén (review)
• pp. 275-276
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0209
• ÉditoPro: français professionnel B1 par Alexandre Holle et al. (review)
• Camille Meritan
• pp. 276-277
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0210
• Perspectives on Teaching Language and Content by Stacey Katz Bourns et al. (review)
• Ann Williams
• pp. 277-278
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0206
• Français.com: français professionnel, niveau débutant A1–A2 par Jean-Luc Penfornis (review)
• pp. 278-279
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0207
• Les étoiles vagabondes réal. par Syrine Boulanouar et Nekfeu (review)
• Mariah Devereux Herbeck
• pp. 279-280
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0228
• La fille au bracelet réal. par Stéphane Demoustier (review)
• François Massonnat
• pp. 280-281
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0229
• Contes des mille et un Rohmer par Françoise Etchegaray (review)
• pp. 281-282
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0230
• Le "cinéma de banlieue": représentation des quartiers populaires? Enjeux d'un cinéma entre réalité et fantasme par Manon Grodner (review)
• pp. 282-283
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0231
• Jusqu'au déclin réal. par Patrice Laliberté (review)
• pp. 283-284
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0232
• Felicità réal. par Bruno Merle (review)
• Marius Conceatu
• pp. 284-285
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0233
• Été 85 réal. par François Ozon (review)
• Levilson C. Reis
• pp. 285-286
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0234
• Paris in the Dark: Going to the Movies in the City of Light, 1930–1950 by Eric Smoodin (review)
• Alexander Hertich
• pp. 286-287
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0226
• Une fille facile réal. par réal Rebecca Zlotowski (review)
• Anne Cirella-Urrutia
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tfr.2021.0227

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Rose Deller

February 20th, 2017, book review: the french revolution: from enlightenment to tyranny by ian davidson.

2 comments | 8 shares

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

In The French Revolution: From Enlightenment to Tyranny , Ian Davidson offers a new examination of the diverse factors that converged to spark and propel this crucial historical event. While the breadth of the book is occasionally overwhelming and characterised more by description than explanation, its rich detail highlights the intricacies of the French Revolution without centralising the role played by any one trend, figure or group, finds Roberto A. Castelar . 

This book review is inspired by  LSE’s Space for Thought Literary Festival 2017 , which runs from Monday 20 February – Saturday 25 February 2017. This year’s theme is Revolutions – not only marking the centenary of the Russian Revolution, but also other anniversaries of revolutions in literature, international relations, politics, religion and science. Tickets to events are free and available here . 

The French Revolution: From Enlightenment to Tyranny . Ian Davidson. Profile Books. 2016.

This new history of the French Revolution avoids immersing readers in the complex scholarly debates that have long characterised the subject, instead seeking to offer the best of what is currently known about this crucial historical process. Ian Davidson’s narrative should be praised for its eclecticism: there is no central trend or salient figure around which the events unfold, no one hero or group of heroes. Each part aspires to give fair treatment to a large number of relevant factors and personalities and to illustrate their complex interrelations. The cost of this breadth is that the alternation between different aspects might make the reading experience difficult for some, but this risk is compensated by the richness of details offered by the book.

Various historical factors are described in the context of a general theme: namely, the process by which the political events of 1789 descended into tyranny and the ‘reign of terror’ of 1793. Davidson describes how the democratic institutions established at the beginning of the Revolution were quickly overturned by the revolutionaries when circumstances proved particularly difficult for their political projects. Davidson’s narrative is more orientated towards description than to explanation, however, and the book does not propose reasons for understanding why the turn towards tyranny and terror happened. Rather, he is interested in establishing how the main events progressively moved away from what he calls ‘a framework of legality’ with less focus on what concretely explains this shift.

The book generally succeeds, nevertheless, in describing with clarity how events developed and interacted. Davidson highlights how the revolutionaries were unable to achieve broad support throughout the country and proved incapable of attaining comprehensive legitimation of their actions. The problems attached to the currency (‘ assignats ’) introduced by the National Assembly, the strictly Parisian boundaries of the popular movement and the direct confrontation with the Catholic Church are all described as salient factors that contributed to the estrangement of the revolutionaries from the majority of the French population, predominantly religious and peasant. This exacerbated discontent and generated many popular rebellions, such as that of Vendée, all of which were brutally repressed by the revolutionaries.

Image Credit: Metro Bastille, Paris ( FaceMePLS CC BY 2.0 )

The complex relations between the sans-culottes of the popular movement in Paris and the bourgeois revolutionaries of the National Assembly and the National Convention, as well as the main aspects of such crucial events as the fall of the monarchy, the September Massacres, the fall of the Girondins, the cult of the Supreme Being, the anti-Christian campaign and the establishment of the Committee of Public Safety, are well depicted. At times, however, the roots of some events and processes are not sufficiently explained. A more detailed account was needed, perhaps, to show why the National Assembly consented so easily to the demands of the sans-culottes in the latter’s insurrection in 1792 as well as to illustrate how the power relations within the National Assembly and the National Convention were configured, and how Robespierre manoeuvred to consolidate his political authority within them.   

Given the variety of the topics covered, the central theme of the book might also escape the reader at certain points. But perhaps the problem is that it is considerably difficult to portray the events of the Revolution in a methodical manner. Their complexity makes the Revolution look like an erratic storm constantly changing direction and intensity in unpredictable ways. Its violence targeted the royalists who defended the king before his dethronement, the Republicans after the attempted escape by and acquittal of the king, the resistant peasants, the sans-culottes and a large number of the revolutionaries themselves, including leading figures Danton and Robespierre. One of Davidson’s major points is that four in ten of the main individuals involved in any of the Revolution political factions or groups suffered a violent death.

A strong feature of The French Revolution is its reliance on a wide array of relevant literature, including ‘classic’ historians of the Revolution such as Michelet, Mathiez and Tocqueville, as well as some of the most important contemporary authors. Davidson is particularly indebted to the work of François Furet, perhaps the most widely known of recent historians of the French Revolution. However, he approaches his work and the wider literature with a critical disposition, often diverging from what is normally taken as the safer interpretation. For instance, one of the most intriguing aspects about which scholarly opinions widely split, and for which Davidson proposes new explanations, is Robespierre’s manifold positions and attitudes, whose underlying motives are often hard to determine with the available evidence.

Some features concerning Davidson’s method, however, are not entirely satisfactory. In historiography, the risk of looking at past events through contemporary suppositions is always present, and Davidson’s narration sometimes exhibits this. For example, in the initial chapters Davidson makes wide use of the concept of the Ancien Regime as it is understood today to explain the onset of the Revolution. But a careful reader might ask if the major figures involved in these events, even while having radical aspirations, truly possessed the idea of a drastic separation between historical ages that it is implied by the modern concept of Ancien Regime or if they understood the idea of revolutionary action in today’s sense. It is not implied here that these categories are unhelpful for understanding the events; rather, the intentions and perceptions of the actors are best appreciated in the context of their own conceptual framework.

What is important to keep in mind in this narration, as well as in any history of the Revolution, are the differences between the symbolic and intellectual impact of the Revolution both inside France and abroad, its actual outcomes and what the revolutionaries intended to do: distinctions which Davidson makes to some extent clear in the epilogue of the book. These three elements are part of the history, but it is difficult to integrate them in a single historical perspective on account of their respective complexity. Deep explorations of each of them, however, are helpful steps towards the building of this comprehensive perspective, and the importance of Davidson’s book is its capacity to make known with clarity the intricacies of the historical outcomes of the Revolution.

Roberto A. Castelar is a graduate student at Central European University in Budapest, specialising in Political Theory. He previously studied Russian and Eastern European History at University of Glasgow and University of Tartu (Estonia). Read more by Roberto A. Castelar .

Note: This review gives the views of the author, and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, or of the London School of Economics.

About the author

• Pingback: EUROPP – Book Review: The French Revolution: From Enlightenment to Tyranny by Ian Davidson

The French Revolution by Ian Davidson is one of my favorites. I recently read “The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Revealed!” and found it amazing how the French Revolution is approached, both for those keen to learn or simply have fun. Worth it.

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How To Structure Your Literature Review

3 options to help structure your chapter.

By: Amy Rommelspacher (PhD) | Reviewer: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | November 2020 (Updated May 2023)

Writing the literature review chapter can seem pretty daunting when you’re piecing together your dissertation or thesis. As  we’ve discussed before , a good literature review needs to achieve a few very important objectives – it should:

• Demonstrate your knowledge of the research topic
• Identify the gaps in the literature and show how your research links to these
• Provide the foundation for your conceptual framework (if you have one)
• Inform your own  methodology and research design

To achieve this, your literature review needs a well-thought-out structure . Get the structure of your literature review chapter wrong and you’ll struggle to achieve these objectives. Don’t worry though – in this post, we’ll look at how to structure your literature review for maximum impact (and marks!).

But wait – is this the right time?

Deciding on the structure of your literature review should come towards the end of the literature review process – after you have collected and digested the literature, but before you start writing the chapter. 

In other words, you need to first develop a rich understanding of the literature before you even attempt to map out a structure. There’s no use trying to develop a structure before you’ve fully wrapped your head around the existing research.

Equally importantly, you need to have a structure in place before you start writing , or your literature review will most likely end up a rambling, disjointed mess. 

Importantly, don’t feel that once you’ve defined a structure you can’t iterate on it. It’s perfectly natural to adjust as you engage in the writing process. As we’ve discussed before , writing is a way of developing your thinking, so it’s quite common for your thinking to change – and therefore, for your chapter structure to change – as you write. 

Need a helping hand?

Like any other chapter in your thesis or dissertation, your literature review needs to have a clear, logical structure. At a minimum, it should have three essential components – an  introduction , a  body   and a  conclusion . 

Let’s take a closer look at each of these.

1: The Introduction Section

Just like any good introduction, the introduction section of your literature review should introduce the purpose and layout (organisation) of the chapter. In other words, your introduction needs to give the reader a taste of what’s to come, and how you’re going to lay that out. Essentially, you should provide the reader with a high-level roadmap of your chapter to give them a taste of the journey that lies ahead.

Here’s an example of the layout visualised in a literature review introduction:

Your introduction should also outline your topic (including any tricky terminology or jargon) and provide an explanation of the scope of your literature review – in other words, what you  will   and  won’t   be covering (the delimitations ). This helps ringfence your review and achieve a clear focus . The clearer and narrower your focus, the deeper you can dive into the topic (which is typically where the magic lies). 

Depending on the nature of your project, you could also present your stance or point of view at this stage. In other words, after grappling with the literature you’ll have an opinion about what the trends and concerns are in the field as well as what’s lacking. The introduction section can then present these ideas so that it is clear to examiners that you’re aware of how your research connects with existing knowledge .

2: The Body Section

The body of your literature review is the centre of your work. This is where you’ll present, analyse, evaluate and synthesise the existing research. In other words, this is where you’re going to earn (or lose) the most marks. Therefore, it’s important to carefully think about how you will organise your discussion to present it in a clear way. 

The body of your literature review should do just as the description of this chapter suggests. It should “review” the literature – in other words, identify, analyse, and synthesise it. So, when thinking about structuring your literature review, you need to think about which structural approach will provide the best “review” for your specific type of research and objectives (we’ll get to this shortly).

There are (broadly speaking)  three options  for organising your literature review.

Option 1: Chronological (according to date)

Organising the literature chronologically is one of the simplest ways to structure your literature review. You start with what was published first and work your way through the literature until you reach the work published most recently. Pretty straightforward.

The benefit of this option is that it makes it easy to discuss the developments and debates in the field as they emerged over time. Organising your literature chronologically also allows you to highlight how specific articles or pieces of work might have changed the course of the field – in other words, which research has had the most impact . Therefore, this approach is very useful when your research is aimed at understanding how the topic has unfolded over time and is often used by scholars in the field of history. That said, this approach can be utilised by anyone that wants to explore change over time .

For example , if a student of politics is investigating how the understanding of democracy has evolved over time, they could use the chronological approach to provide a narrative that demonstrates how this understanding has changed through the ages.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help you structure your literature review chronologically.

• What is the earliest literature published relating to this topic?
• How has the field changed over time? Why?
• What are the most recent discoveries/theories?

In some ways, chronology plays a part whichever way you decide to structure your literature review, because you will always, to a certain extent, be analysing how the literature has developed. However, with the chronological approach, the emphasis is very firmly on how the discussion has evolved over time , as opposed to how all the literature links together (which we’ll discuss next ).

Option 2: Thematic (grouped by theme)

The thematic approach to structuring a literature review means organising your literature by theme or category – for example, by independent variables (i.e. factors that have an impact on a specific outcome).

As you’ve been collecting and synthesising literature , you’ll likely have started seeing some themes or patterns emerging. You can then use these themes or patterns as a structure for your body discussion. The thematic approach is the most common approach and is useful for structuring literature reviews in most fields.

For example, if you were researching which factors contributed towards people trusting an organisation, you might find themes such as consumers’ perceptions of an organisation’s competence, benevolence and integrity. Structuring your literature review thematically would mean structuring your literature review’s body section to discuss each of these themes, one section at a time.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when structuring your literature review by themes:

• Are there any patterns that have come to light in the literature?
• What are the central themes and categories used by the researchers?
• Do I have enough evidence of these themes?

PS – you can see an example of a thematically structured literature review in our literature review sample walkthrough video here.

Option 3: Methodological

The methodological option is a way of structuring your literature review by the research methodologies used . In other words, organising your discussion based on the angle from which each piece of research was approached – for example, qualitative , quantitative or mixed  methodologies.

Structuring your literature review by methodology can be useful if you are drawing research from a variety of disciplines and are critiquing different methodologies. The point of this approach is to question  how  existing research has been conducted, as opposed to  what  the conclusions and/or findings the research were.

For example, a sociologist might centre their research around critiquing specific fieldwork practices. Their literature review will then be a summary of the fieldwork methodologies used by different studies.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself when structuring your literature review according to methodology:

• Which methodologies have been utilised in this field?
• Which methodology is the most popular (and why)?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the various methodologies?
• How can the existing methodologies inform my own methodology?

3: The Conclusion Section

Once you’ve completed the body section of your literature review using one of the structural approaches we discussed above, you’ll need to “wrap up” your literature review and pull all the pieces together to set the direction for the rest of your dissertation or thesis.

The conclusion is where you’ll present the key findings of your literature review. In this section, you should emphasise the research that is especially important to your research questions and highlight the gaps that exist in the literature. Based on this, you need to make it clear what you will add to the literature – in other words, justify your own research by showing how it will help fill one or more of the gaps you just identified.

Last but not least, if it’s your intention to develop a conceptual framework for your dissertation or thesis, the conclusion section is a good place to present this.

Example: Thematically Structured Review

In the video below, we unpack a literature review chapter so that you can see an example of a thematically structure review in practice.

Let’s Recap

In this article, we’ve  discussed how to structure your literature review for maximum impact. Here’s a quick recap of what  you need to keep in mind when deciding on your literature review structure:

• Just like other chapters, your literature review needs a clear introduction , body and conclusion .
• The introduction section should provide an overview of what you will discuss in your literature review.
• The body section of your literature review can be organised by chronology , theme or methodology . The right structural approach depends on what you’re trying to achieve with your research.
• The conclusion section should draw together the key findings of your literature review and link them to your research questions.

If you’re ready to get started, be sure to download our free literature review template to fast-track your chapter outline.

Psst… there’s more!

This post is an extract from our bestselling short course, Literature Review Bootcamp . If you want to work smart, you don't want to miss this .

You Might Also Like:

27 Comments

Great work. This is exactly what I was looking for and helps a lot together with your previous post on literature review. One last thing is missing: a link to a great literature chapter of an journal article (maybe with comments of the different sections in this review chapter). Do you know any great literature review chapters?

I agree with you Marin… A great piece

I agree with Marin. This would be quite helpful if you annotate a nicely structured literature from previously published research articles.

Awesome article for my research.

I thank you immensely for this wonderful guide

It is indeed thought and supportive work for the futurist researcher and students

Very educative and good time to get guide. Thank you

Great work, very insightful. Thank you.

Thanks for this wonderful presentation. My question is that do I put all the variables into a single conceptual framework or each hypothesis will have it own conceptual framework?

Thank you very much, very helpful

This is very educative and precise . Thank you very much for dropping this kind of write up .

Pheeww, so damn helpful, thank you for this informative piece.

I’m doing a research project topic ; stool analysis for parasitic worm (enteric) worm, how do I structure it, thanks.

comprehensive explanation. Help us by pasting the URL of some good “literature review” for better understanding.

great piece. thanks for the awesome explanation. it is really worth sharing. I have a little question, if anyone can help me out, which of the options in the body of literature can be best fit if you are writing an architectural thesis that deals with design?

I am doing a research on nanofluids how can l structure it?

Beautifully clear.nThank you!

Lucid! Thankyou!

Brilliant work, well understood, many thanks

I like how this was so clear with simple language 😊😊 thank you so much 😊 for these information 😊

Insightful. I was struggling to come up with a sensible literature review but this has been really helpful. Thank you!

You have given thought-provoking information about the review of the literature.

Thank you. It has made my own research better and to impart your work to students I teach

I learnt a lot from this teaching. It’s a great piece.

I am doing research on EFL teacher motivation for his/her job. How Can I structure it? Is there any detailed template, additional to this?

You are so cool! I do not think I’ve read through something like this before. So nice to find somebody with some genuine thoughts on this issue. Seriously.. thank you for starting this up. This site is one thing that is required on the internet, someone with a little originality!

I’m asked to do conceptual, theoretical and empirical literature, and i just don’t know how to structure it

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