page_title: Francophone literature
hierarchical_section_title: Francophone literature
context_page_description: Francophone literature is literature written in the French language. The existence of a plurality of literatures in the French language has been recognised, although the autonomy of these literatures is less defined than the plurality of literatures written in the English language. Writings in the French language from Belgium, Canada and Switzerland were recognised as belonging to distinct traditions long before writings from colonial territories of France. Writing in French by Africans was formerly classified as "colonial literature" and discussed as part of colonial studies for its ethnographical interest, rather than studied for its literary merit. Any texts in French from the colonies and territories that were considered to have merit were subsumed under the classification of French literature. The nature and importance of Francophone literature in various territories of the former French Empire depends on the concentration of French settlers, the length of time spent in colonial status, and how developed indigenous languages were as literary languages.
context_section_description: Francophone literature is literature written in the French language. The existence of a plurality of literatures in the French language has been recognised, although the autonomy of these literatures is less defined than the plurality of literatures written in the English language. Writings in the French language from Belgium, Canada and Switzerland were recognised as belonging to distinct traditions long before writings from colonial territories of France. Writing in French by Africans was formerly classified as "colonial literature" and discussed as part of colonial studies for its ethnographical interest, rather than studied for its literary merit. Any texts in French from the colonies and territories that were considered to have merit were subsumed under the classification of French literature. The nature and importance of Francophone literature in various territories of the former French Empire depends on the concentration of French settlers, the length of time spent in colonial status, and how developed indigenous languages were as literary languages. It was only following the Second World War that a distinction started to be made in literary studies and anthologies between French literature and other writing in French. In 1960 Maurice Bémol published Essai sur l'orientation des littératures de langue française au XXe siècle; the plural in the title emphasised the study's new approach of examining the level of autonomy of the languages.
  Paris remains the most powerful centre of Francophone publishing, although important publishers have developed elsewhere, notably in Quebec where influential publishing houses have long attracted Francophone writers from across the world.
  The term has historically been used to refer only to literature from Francophone countries outside France, but modern usage includes any literature written in French. Francophone literature therefore applies to the whole French-speaking world in the broadest sense of the term.
  Francophone literature may refer to aspects of:
  Literature of French-speaking European countries
  Literature of France
  Literature of Belgium
  Literature of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
  Literature of Switzerland
  Literature of Canada
  List of French Canadian writers from outside Quebec
  Literature of Quebec
  List of Quebec authors
  Literature of Louisiana
  Literature of the French Caribbean countries and dependencies
  Literature of Guadeloupe
  Literature of Haiti
  Literature of Martinique
  Literature of Francophone Africa
  Literature of Algeria
  Literature of Benin
  Literature of Burkina Faso
  Literature of Burundi
  Literature of Cameroun
  Literature of the Central African Republic
  Literature of Chad
  Literature of the Comoros
  Literature of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
  Literature of the Republic of the Congo
  Literature of Côte d'Ivoire
  Literature of Djibouti
  Literature of Gabon
  Literature of Guinea
  Literature of Madagascar
  Literature of Mali
  Literature of Mauritania
  Literature of Mauritius
  Literature of Morocco
  Literature of Niger
  Literature of Rwanda
  Literature of Réunion
  Literature of Senegal
  Literature of the Seychelles
  Literature of Togo
  Literature of Tunisia
  Postcolonial literature
  List of African writers (by country)
  Francophone literature of countries in Asia
  Literature of Lebanon (see: Écrivains libanais francophones)
  Literature of Cambodia
  Literature of Laos
  Literature of Vietnam
caption: The Serments de Strasbourg, the oldest preserved text in the French language.
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