FRENCH LITERATURE 1 MOD.1

The class of "Littérature française" is one of the main teachings of the French course of the Master Degree Course in European, American and post-colonial languages and literatures. It allows students to acquire an advanced knowledge of the history of French literature as well as mastery of theoretical-critical methodologies.
Teaching objectives:
Through a course structured in graduated training stages, students will be able to deal with complex literary and critical texts in French (to read, analyze, interpret and place them in their respective historical-cultural contexts) and to master the techniques related to literary studies and textual analysis (philology, history of genres, poetry, rhetoric, hermeneutics, stylistics, reception, theoretical-literary terminology
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1. Knowledge and understanding
Knowledge of the historical-cultural context covered by the programme (1848-1868); knowledge of the history of French literature and poetics in the XIX and XX Centuries; knowledge of the work and poetics of the author studied; in-depth knowledge of a single work in its various facets and articulations (philology, history of genres, poetry, rhetoric, hermeneutics, stylistics, reception); knowledge of applied criticism.
2. Applying knowledge and understanding
Ability to read, understand, analyse, interpret and place poetic texts as well as ancient (19th century) and modern critical texts in their respective historical-cultural contexts.
3. Judging skills
Ability to evaluate different approaches, methods and interpretations of the texts; ability to exercise critical spirit and analytical skills; ability to orientate oneself between different critical perspectives.
4. Communication skills
Ability to present problems and analyses regarding the program with logical and chronological rigour, and to express concepts with clarity and terminological precision.
5. Learning Capabilities
Ability to synthesize, connect, sort, transmit ideas, forms and data.
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Knowledge of the general frameworks of the history of modern French literature acquired through the basic literary teachings of the three-year degree course in Languages, civilizations and language sciences.
Since the course is given in French, a mastery of the French language (written and oral) is required at level C1 of the CEFR, also in view of the examination.

Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal

Our course this year will be devoted to an emblematic figure of modernity. Through a systematic reading of Les Fleurs du mal, we propose to tackle and illustrate a range of problems linked to the history of literature and literary genres, to criticism, interpretation and textual analysis, from both an internal and external point of view. Our approach will therefore be both analytical and historical, with the aim of identifying the originality of Baudelaire's poetry and thought and placing them in his time as well as in ours.
We will focus in particular on the following questions:

Art criticism and the idea of modernity
Edgar Allan Poe and applied poetics
The overthrow of traditional aesthetics: a romantic legacy?

The history of the collection and its editions
The trial of the Flowers of Evil and the moral question
The poetics of the Flowers of Evil between harmony and dissonance
Baudelaire's modern classicism

The reception of contemporaries
Modern criticism

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Recommended edition:

Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal, édition établie par John E. Jackson, Paris, Le Livre de poche « Classique », 1999.

Reference edition:

Baudelaire, Œuvres complètes, texte établi, annoté et présenté par Claude Pichois, Paris, Gallimard, « Bibliothèque de la Pléiade », 2 vol., 1975, 1976.
Baudelaire, Correspondance, texte établi, présenté et annoté par Claude Pichois avec la collaboration de Jean Ziegler, Paris, Gallimard, « Bibliothèque de la Pléiade », 2 vol., 1973.

Reference works:

Benjamin, Walter, Charles Baudelaire : un poète lyrique à l'apogée du capitalisme, traduit de l'allemand et préfacé par Jean Lacoste, Paris, Payot, « Petite bibliothèque Payot », 1982.
Blin, Georges, Baudelaire [suivi de] Résumés des cours au Collège de France 1965-1977, Paris, Gallimard, 2011.
Compagnon, Antoine, Baudelaire devant l'innombrable, Paris, Presses de l'Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2003.
Compagnon, Antoine, Baudelaire l’irréductible, Paris, Flammarion, 2014.
Labarthe, Patrick, Baudelaire et la tradition de l'allégorie, Genève, Droz, « Histoire des idées et critique littéraire », 1999.
Sartre, Jean-Paul, Baudelaire [1947], Paris, Gallimard, « Folio essais », 1988.
Starobinski, Jean, La Mélancolie au miroir : trois lectures de Baudelaire, Paris, Julliard, 1989.
Thélot, Jérôme, Baudelaire, violence et poésie, Paris, Gallimard, « Bibliothèque des idées », 1993.
Wilhelm, Fabrice, Baudelaire, l’écriture du narcissisme, Paris, L’Harmattan, 1999.

Additional bibliographical information will be provided during the course.

There are two complementary ways of verifying learning:
1. A paper in French to be handed in at least seven days before the oral test (50% of the assessment)
Of approximately 15 pages, it will be on a topic of your choice related to the subject of the course, to be agreed mainly with the lecturer. Setting, bibliographical tools, writing methods and typographical standards will be communicated during the lessons.
2. An oral test in French on the subjects discussed during the course, including the reading and analysis of poems studied in class (50% of the grade)
The test compulsorily involves :
- the reading of two essays from the "Ouvrages de référence" list
- the reading and analysis of ten poems from Les Fleurs du mal not studied in class, to be presented independently.

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Lectures, conferences, textual analysis seminars

Programma per studenti non frequentanti

L'insegnamento prevede due modalità complementari di verifica dell'apprendimento:

1. Una tesina in lingua francese da consegnare almeno sette giorni prima della prova orale (50% della valutazione). Di circa 15 cartelle, porterà su un argomento a scelta inerente alla materia del corso, da concordare prevalentemente con il docente. Impostazione, strumenti bibliografici, modalità di stesura e norme tipografiche verranno comunicati in sede di ricevimento.

2. Una prova orale in lingua francese sulle materie del corso.
La prova comporta obbligatoriamente :
- letture critiche:

1. Robb, Graham, La Poésie de Baudelaire et la poésie française (1838-1852), Paris, Aubier, 1993.
2. Blin, Georges, Baudelaire [suivi de] Résumés des cours au Collège de France 1965-1977, Paris, Gallimard, 2011.
3. Guyaux, André, Baudelaire. Un demi-siècle de lecture des Fleurs du mal, 1855-1905, Paris, Presses de l'Université de Paris-Sorbonne, coll. "Mémoires de la critique", 2007, limitato alla prefazione e ai testi critici 1857-1861.

- lettura e analisi di venti poesie da Les Fleurs du mal da presentare autonomamente con particolare attenzione all’aspetto filologico (date, pubblicazioni, varianti), alla poetica (genere, metrica, figure, stilistica), alle tematiche riconducibili all’intera raccolta, alla ricezione.
Edizione consigliata: Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal, édition établie par John E. Jackson, Paris, Le Livre de poche « Classique », 1999.

written and oral