Forbidden Love: From the Middle Ages to the French Revolution
FREN 397
Spring 2019 not offered
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| Course Cluster: Queer Studies |
This advanced seminar explores the theme of "forbidden love" in prose fiction, memoirs, poetry, and theater in France from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution. We approach it from three vantage points. The first step will be to establish a theoretical, historical, and conceptual basis for understanding of the forbidden, the taboo, transgression, and subversion. This will enable us to contextualize concepts such as love, desire, sexuality, and "gender." Then we will study the texts themselves, focusing on three main themes: adultery, same-sex relations, and incest. Finally, we will watch film and theatrical adaptations of some of the core texts in the 20th and 21st centuries to understand how and why we appropriate them today. By the end of this course, students will improve their knowledge of a central but often neglected dimension of French literature and culture, become familiar with a method combining a historical approach with the use of essential theoretical concepts, explore how attention to noncanonical and/or "nonliterary" material can extend their knowledge of the period, and provide evidence of competence in critical reading and in the presentation of independent research. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA RLAN |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (COL)(FGSS)(FRST-MN)(FRST)(MDST-MN)(MDST)(MDST-Art/Arch)(MDST-History)(MDST-Lang/Lit)(MDST-Phil/Reli)(RMST) |
Major Readings:
Béroul and Thomas, TRISTAN ET ISEUT
Denis Diderot, LA RELIGIEUSE
Marie de France, LAIS (selection)
Lafayette, LA PRINCESSE DE MONTPENSIER
Marguerite de Navarre, HEPTAMERON (selection)
Charles Perrault, PEAU D'ANE ; Jean Racine, PHEDRE
Secondary readings will be provided on Moodle (including but not limited to: Crawford, Ferguson, Foucault, Freud, Girard, Irigaray, Rougemont). Films will be available online via the Language Resource Center: Jacques Démy, PEAU D'ANE; Guillaume Nicloux (2013) and Jacques Rivette (1966), LA RELIGIEUSE; Bertrand Tavernier, LA PRINCESSE DE MONTPENSIER; performances of Racine's PHEDRE (dir. Chéreau) and Wagner's TRISTAN UND ISOLDE.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Short papers; oral presentations; active participation in class; final research paper |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
While any student who has completed FREN215 (with a minimum grade of B) or has placed out of FREN215 may sign up for this course, it is an advanced course intended for students who have already taken two courses in French beyond FREN215 or already studied abroad in a French-speaking country. Readings, written assignments, and class discussions will be in French. Only COL students may take this course CR/U. All others must take it for a letter grade. Students who are not admitted to the course through pre-registration are strongly encouraged to submit an enrollment request and attend the first class. |
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