HISTORY OF FRENCH CULTURE

The course is part of the curriculum of the Master’s degree program in European, American and Postcolonial Languages, Literatures (including the Master en études françaises et francophones).

1. Knowledge and ability to understand: the main historical stages of the relationship between art and literature; the historical and cultural context covered by the program; the works and poetics of the authors studied; in-depth knowledge of a single work in its various facets and articulations (philology, genre history, poetics, rhetoric, hermeneutics, stylistics, reception); knowledge of applied criticism.

2. Ability to place a work in its socio-historical context of production

3. Autonomy of judgment: ability to evaluate different approaches, methods and interpretations of the texts examined; ability to exercise critical spirit and analytical skills; ability to navigate among different critical perspectives.

4. Communication skills: ability to communicate course-related topics in French, clearly, coherently, with correct terminology.

5. Learning skills: Ability to synthesize, connect, order, convey ideas, forms and data.

Good knowledge of the French language, both written and oral.

Sainte-Beuve defined the 19th century as a 'century of biographies'. Indeed, such is the passion for this form that there are countless examples, from the smallest to the greatest writers, who devote their attention to more or less important characters. In this course, we will deal with this form, which has the ambition of writing life, and how its model, which has lasted so long, with its codes, its topical places, its repertoires of consummate anecdotes, has had to be brought up to date. In addition to examining the transition from the ancient model of lives to the more modern model of biography, we aim to examine the fine line between truth and biographical fiction, as well as the new interest in ''unremarkable'' or marginal lives. We will examine issues of narratology and aesthetics by reading narratives that contribute to problematising these issues.

Chosen works:
- Gérard de Nerval, Les Illuminés, 1852.
Édition privilégiée : Aurélia, précédé des “Illuminés” et de “Pandora”, éd. de Michel Brix, Paris, Le Livre de Poche, 1999.
- Marcel Schwob, Vies imaginaires [1896], éd. de J.-P. Bertrand et G. Purnelle, Paris, GF, 2004.
- Pierre Michon, Vies minuscules [1984], Paris, Gallimard, coll. « Folio », 2009.
- Pierre Michon, Vie de Joseph Roulin, Lagrasse, Verdier, 1988.
- Christian Garcin, Vidas, suivi de Vies volées, Folio, 1993.

In addition to these texts (to be read in full), extracts from Flaubert, Huysmans and Virginia Woolf will be made available on Moodle.

Additional bibliographical information will be provided during the course.

The oral exam, which will be held in French, will include two parts: one related to the common course content: texts and documents analyzed in class and available on Moodle, with the reference bibliography (see above), and one for personal study of the topics covered, from primary and critical sources agreed with the teacher.

L’examen oral en français se compose de deux parties : la première est relative aux contenus communs du cours : textes et documents analysés pendant les cours et disponibles sur Moodle, et requiert l’étude de la bibliographie signalée ci-dessus ; l’autre concerne l’approfondissement personnel d’un sujet en lien avec l’un des thèmes du cours, à définir avec l’enseignant.

Frontal lectures in French will be enriched by moments of exchange and shared reflection with students, on the topics covered. All teaching materials (texts and in-depth studies) uploaded during the course to the Moodle platform will be subject of study and their knowledge will be verified at the exam.

Students who are unable to attend the course in its entirety are asked to notify before the start of class.
Les étudiants qui ne pourraient pas suivre intégralement le cours sont invités à le signaler avant le début des cours.

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