French Literature Reviews - 2026
Sugar in Literature
Other Literary Studies
Book awaiting a reviewer for the journal Acta Fabula
Du sucre
Proceedings of the study day Sugar in Literature (Pau, January 21, 2005)
Edited by Véronique Duché-Gavet and Gérard Lapacherie (in collaboration with Frédérique Marty-Badiolo)
Atlantica-Séguier 2007
Series: "Sur le goût de la langue"
ISBN: 978-2-7588-0027-9
232 pages
Publisher's overview:
Continuing the research initiated during the conference "Salt in Literature" (University of Pau, November 2003), this volume pursues the exploration of literary flavors by focusing on sweetness. While salt bites and awakens a bland text, sugar melts and coats discourse, producing gentleness and harmony—sometimes to the point of nausea. Inseparable from honey, which long served as humanity's primary source of sweetness, sugar also evokes the image of the bee and the famous Platonic comparison between the poet and the bee. The study day held on January 21, 2005, at the University of Pau brought together scholars to shed light on the various aspects and representations of sugar in literature across the centuries, from antiquity to the present day, spanning philosophical treatises, poetry, novels, and culinary guides. A brief excursion into the pictorial arts rounds out the investigation.
This collection emerges from a broader scholarly inquiry into the sensory dimensions of literary language, following a previous investigation into the role of salt. The volume examines the representation of sugar in literature, contrasting its capacity for creating harmony and gentleness with its potential for excess. It situates these representations within a tradition of culinary and philosophical symbolism, tracing the evolution of sweetness from its historical association with honey and the Platonic figure of the poet-bee to its manifestations across diverse genres.
The essays survey a chronological and generic range, including philosophical treatises, poetry, novels, and culinary manuals, while also incorporating a brief analysis of the pictorial arts. The contributors investigate how these representations of sugar have been utilized by authors throughout history. Readers interested in the intersection of sensory experience and literary history may find this exploration of the aesthetics of taste and its cultural associations relevant.