Lexicon and Imagination in French Literature

Abstract

This paper examines the role of vocabulary in the development of French literature, from medieval epics to contemporary novels. Rather than treating words as static linguistic units, it considers them as vehicles of imagination, cultural memory, and stylistic invention. By analyzing the ways in which writers appropriate, transform, and reconfigure words, the study highlights how the literary lexicon becomes a site of aesthetic experimentation and a mirror of social change. The discussion also addresses the tension between tradition and innovation in literary language, showing how French authors have continually reshaped vocabulary to express new sensibilities and narrative forms.