Which book best captures the English-French relationship?

Question

Every Briton knows the "special" relationship that the British and the French share (perhaps best described as a certain degree of animosity).
Which book(s) best capture this feeling? Perhaps a novel detailing the experiences of a Briton in France, or something more historical.

Answer 1

Theodore Zeldin. I spent a year as one of his researchers and he is one of the most charming educated and intelligent men. His book The French is excellent. (So is his Intimate History of Humanity).
Also try Les Anglais by Philippe Daudy - very readable and interesting. Available in English.
And yes, Julian Barnes - Flaubert's Parrot was a gem.
And also try Edmund White, an American gay man who lived in Paris for many years - The Flaneur.
There is one of Sebastian Faulk's novels which captures this relationship but it is late and I just cannot remember the title, sorry.

Answer 2

Something to Declare by Julian Barnes is an excellent collection of pieces on France. It's perfect for dipping in to and a great guide to the French English relationship.

Also for a more in depth look, I'd recommend That Sweet Enemy by Robert and Isabella Tombs. It's an entertaining and exhaustive study of the subject.

Answer 3

It became Jack Kerouac, besides the undeniable fact that the word became first coined in 1948, and dropped on the standard public in a brand long island circumstances magazine article pronounced as "that's the Beat technology" by making use of John Clellon.

Answer 4

'Parlez Vous Franglais - Miles Kington
Captures French intransigence, British arrogance very well

Answer 5

Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is the only one i can think of at mo

Answer 6

Being French myself, I would ignore the above answerer (please don't hate me!!!) and recommend a book by a great lover of France, Theodore Zeldin, simply called The French:

http://www.amazon.com/French-Kodansha-Globe-Theodore-Zeldin/dp/1568361572/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/002-1574727-1045600?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179089759&sr=8-3

Answer 7

This one...