[PDF] Les Rois Maudits eBook

Author : Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 32,78 MB
Release : 2009-05-15
Category : History
ISBN : 0226145271

GET BOOK

Replete with shady merchants, scoundrels, hungry mercenaries, scheming nobles, and maneuvering cardinals, The Man Who Believed He Was King of France proves the adage that truth is often stranger than fiction—or at least as entertaining. The setting of this improbable but beguiling tale is 1354 and the Hundred Years’ War being waged for control of France. Seeing an opportunity for political and material gain, the demagogic dictator of Rome tells Giannino di Guccio that he is in fact the lost heir to Louis X, allegedly switched at birth with the son of a Tuscan merchant. Once convinced of his birthright, Giannino claims for himself the name Jean I, king of France, and sets out on a brave—if ultimately ruinous—quest that leads him across Europe to prove his identity. With the skill of a crime scene detective, Tommaso di Carpegna Falconieri digs up evidence in the historical record to follow the story of a life so incredible that it was long considered a literary invention of the Italian Renaissance. From Italy to Hungry, then through Germany and France, the would-be king’s unique combination of guile and earnestness seems to command the aid of lords and soldiers, the indulgence of inn-keepers and merchants, and the collusion of priests and rogues along the way. The apparent absurdity of the tale allows Carpegna Falconieri to analyze late-medieval society, exploring questions of essence and appearance, being and belief, at a time when the divine right of kings confronted the rise of mercantile culture. Giannino’s life represents a moment in which truth, lies, history, and memory combine to make us wonder where reality leaves off and fiction begins.

Author : Philippe Rège
Publisher : Scarecrow Press
Page : 1488 pages
File Size : 37,89 MB
Release : 2009-12-11
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 081086939X

GET BOOK

Cinema has been long associated with France, dating back to 1895, when Louis and Auguste Lumi_re screened their works, the first public viewing of films anywhere. Early silent pioneers Georges MZli_s, Alice Guy BlachZ and others followed in the footsteps of the Lumi_re brothers and the tradition of important filmmaking continued throughout the 20th century and beyond. In Encyclopedia of French Film Directors, Philippe Rège identifies every French director who has made at least one feature film since 1895. From undisputed masters to obscure one-timers, nearly 3,000 directors are cited here, including at least 200 filmmakers not mentioned in similar books published in France. Each director's entry contains a brief biographical summary, including dates and places of birth and death; information on the individual's education and professional training; and other pertinent details, such as real names (when the filmmaker uses a pseudonym). The entries also provide complete filmographies, including credits for feature films, shorts, documentaries, and television work. Some of the most important names in the history of film can be found in this encyclopedia, from masters of the Golden Age_Jean Renoir and RenZ Clair_to French New Wave artists such as Fran_ois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.