Global Arc

France has the largest Jewish community in Europe as well as a strong tradition of cultural assimilation. This course explores literary and film works that represent or refract the experience of Jews in France in the last 60 years. Problems that arise include the diversity in the cultural backgrounds of the French Jewish community, the conflict between "Jewish literature" and French republican ideology, and the role of Holocaust narratives in literary and cultural production. Prerequisite: a 200-level French course or instructor's permission. One 90-minute lecture, one 90-minute preceptorial.

This course is a metaphorical visit to Third Republic France (1870-1940) in which we will examine images and public spaces as a language communicating republican ideology. We will investigate how the Republic molded the new citizen in schools and townhalls; served as gatekeeper of culture and advocate of progress in museums and world fairs; and influenced the marketplace. We will consider how writers, artists, architects, and filmmakers contributed to the representation of France and how they critiqued its displays. The seminar will draw parallels with the U.S. at moments of its history when shaping a common sense of nationhood was paramount.

What is the Enlightenment? This course investigates the era of change and radical thought that precipitated the French Revolution. Far from stereotypes about "Enlightenment ideology", we will explore how the Enlightenment opened up spaces for critique, generating new ideas and values that challenged the traditional authorities of the Ancien Régime. Our readings will exemplify the richness of the moral, political, and philosophical debates that divided 18th-century France, focusing on the role of the philosopher, the place of science in society, rethinking social education, religion and atheism. Prerequisites: See Course Offerings.

The age of French political and cultural hegemony is characterized by the construction of the modern state, the imposition of strict social discipline, and the rationalization of large areas of human behavior. These processes will be studied in political and philosophical writings, plays, novels, poems, and memoirs. Prerequisite: a 200-level course in French or instructor's permission. Two 90-minute classes.

Literary texts represent and often question relations of power and cultural norms, but as a form of knowledge, literature is itself implicated in power relations. Topics range from the work of a writer or group of writers who composed both fiction and political theory or commentary to the function of censorship and of literary trials. Prerequisite: a 200-level course in French or instructor's permission. One 90-minute lecture, one 90-minute preceptorial.

This course sets out to explore the basic ideas, works, and principles of Surrealism as it was developed in France from its inception in the early 1920s into the late 1950s. A very wide array of material will cover diverse literary genres (manifestoes, novels, poems, essays) and media (film, photography, visual art, art exhibition, magazines) to show how the Surrealists wanted to revolutionize both art and life in its political and ethical dimensions. The course is highly interactive, built on a series of students' group activities and projects, both creative and critical, with the use of various media.

In this course, we will examine the representation of the relationship between power and passion during the Old Regime, the Empire, and the Restoration. We will pay particular attention to the ways in which the image of the ruler and the lover was defined and used in literary works, archives, pamphlets, and works of art. We will discuss the emergence of the concept of 'private life', the representation of the libertine both in literature and in politics (Louis XV, Madame du Barry, [Les liaisons dangereuses], Marie-Antoinette), and the image of Napoleon in politics and literature.

A thematic, artistic, and cultural study of the vision and sensibility shaped by the French Revolution and the new bourgeois-industrial society. The course in alternate years will stress poetry and theater or prose fiction, as well as the history of ideas. Close analysis of texts is combined with a broader perspective. Two 90-minute classes. Prerequisite: a 200-level French course or instructor's permission.

A study of major themes, forms, and techniques in modern fiction. Close analysis of works by Proust, Gide, Céline, Sartre, Camus, Sarraute, Duras, Robbe-Grillet, and Condé. The nouveau roman and experiments in contemporary fiction will be examined as well as the cultural, moral, and political problems of our times. One 90-minute lecture, one 90-minute preceptorial. Prerequisite: a 200-level French course or instructor

Postromantic poetry, including works by Baudelaire, the symbolists (Verlaine, Rimbaud, Mallarmé), such modernists as Valéry, Apollinaire, and the surrealists. Special emphasis is placed on close textual analysis, as well as on symbolist, surrealist, and contemporary poetics. Two 90-minute seminars. Prerequisite: a 200-level French course or instructor