Georges Ulysse Book order (chronological)

This is Edmond Rostand's immortal play in which chivalry and wit, bravery and love are forever captured in the timeless spirit of romance. Set in Louis XIII’s reign, it is the moving and exciting drama of one of the finest swordsmen in France, gallant soldier, brilliant wit, tragic poet-lover with the face of a clown. Rostand’s extraordinary lyric powers gave birth to a universal hero—Cyrano De Bergerac—and ensured his own reputation as author of one of the best-loved plays in the literature of the stage. This translation, by the American poet Brian Hooker, is nearly as famous as the original play itself, and is generally considered to be one of the finest English verse translations ever written.

Candide, or Optimism (1759) written by Voltaire, the shining star of the French Enlightenment, is a biting, hilarious and frequently outrageous satire that pokes philosophical fun at -- of all things -- the doctrine of optimism. Candide is a nave youth stubbornly adhering to the notion that "all is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds," despite being cast into a flood of misfortunes and picaresque misadventures that take him around the world. Whether Candide and optimism itself emerges unscathed in the end, hinges upon his own deceptively simple words: "let us cultivate our garden."

Paperback L'italien de A à Z by Hatier Publisher, 1998. ISBN 2218717999