French writers of similar difficulty to Camus

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Hello all;

I’m looking for more French reading content. Fiction or nonfiction (e.g. I’ve enjoyed reading some Cioran), though probably more interested in fiction. Also, 20th century authors is best as older authors can present more challenges.

What are your favourite French novels/books for someone who finds Camus accessible but not Proust?

Camus is great for intermediate level because of his short sentences. Anyone else like that?

Thanks
-Will

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Most modern French-speaking writers are at that range of difficulty, Proust is kind of an outlier. From the top of my head, I can think of Michel Tournier, Amin Maalouf, and Maurice Druon. Marguerite Yourcernar may use longer sentences, if I remember correctly but I don’t find her that difficult either. Raymond Queneau writes in “neo-French”, that is, with a lot of slang and non-standard spelling and can be challenging for that reason but I think he’s worth a try, anyway.

[Edit] From what you wrote, I would probably insist on Michel Tournier as your next author. I enjoy his style: he uses contemporary, clear language and I love his work, both novels and short stories.
Here are some excerpts from one of his novels: Extraits et passages de Vendredi ou la Vie sauvage de Michel Tournier

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Thanks a lot!

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