Lawrence Kritzman, professor of French and comparative literature, won the Jeanne Scaglione Prize for French and Francophone Literary Studies from the Modern Language Association of America last month for his book, The Columbia History of Twentieth Century French Thought.
The compilation, which was chosen from 600 admissions, has won two other awards.
The book is a collection of more than 200 articles written by leading Anglo-Saxon and French scholars. It covers a wide array of topics on France, ranging from Jean-Paul Sartre to Anti-Semitism in France. The book spans 800 pages with double columns and is divided into four sections: movements and currents, themes, individuals and dissemination.
Kritzman, who spent ten years editing and compiling all the articles, said the book is the only one of its kind on French culture, and that the compilation is not meant to be an encyclopedia, textbook or light reading.
He wanted it to contain a diverse selection of opinions and topics that encompass numerous fields of French study, he said.
"The book is not meant to be a cookie-cutter history," Kritzman said. "It's meant to be open-ended, meant to raise questions. Go beyond boundaries -- things are not just self-contained."
Kritzman wrote the book both for French and Anglo-Saxon audiences. It has been reviewed in the prestigious French newspaper Le Monde, and is carried in many bookstores in the United States.
Krtizman's interest in France began as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin when he took a course on French history. He has since devoted his life to the study of French culture and history.
"[France] gave me something I fell in love with, and I still love it today," Kritzman said. "When I go to Paris I still drop my bags and run to the nearest bookstore."
Kritzman said he hopes his book will show the rest of the world, particularly the United States -- which Kritzman said holds an anti-French sentiment -- the contributions France has made to intellectual thought.
"A colleague of mine once said, some people believe in God, Larry Kritzman believes in France," he said.
"I guess I do believe in France."
