As Timothy Unwin points out in the opening chapter, one of the aims of this volume is to discuss not only 'great' French novels, but also fiction which has been marginalised by the literary-critical establishment - women's novels, thrillers, novels written in former French colonies. It is clear what kinds of prejudice may have operated in this marginalisation: sexism, snobbery, racism. But in the process of highlighting these prejudices, and reassessing the marginalised works, we need to remember that it may not be solely bias that has promoted some novels and allowed others to sink into the background. Is it purely misogyny that makes most readers prefer Stendhal's Le Rouge et le noir (1830) to the novel which in part inspired it, Edouard (1825) by the talented Mme de Duras? Is it purely middle-class ideology that makes them prefer Zola's L'Assommoir (1877) to Sue's shocking novels about the Paris working class (1842-57)?