Comparative Approach of European Literatures [ LFLTR1130 ]

Course website on ICampus :   > https://www.icampus.ucl.ac.be/

None.

We can study, for example: Homer and the Greek tragedians; Virgil and Cicero; the poems and heroic tales of the Middle Ages; Petrarch and the Sonnet tradition; Villon and lyricism in 15th Century Europe; Shakespeare and the Elizabethan theater; the Spanish theater of the Golden Age; the Enlightenment and its origins in France; European Romanticism in Germany; Proust and Joyce.

This study will highlight the aspects that give importance to these authors and these moments in the building of the European literary heritage. Students will have access to extracts of the texts studied: on top of the lectures, a folder of readings will be provided.

• To become familiar with some of the great authors of European literature, major reference points in the history of culture;
• By the end of the course, the student should be able to situate the monuments of literature in a broader cultural perspective, as well as perceive the importance of the works from different perspectives (historical, ideological, thematic, aesthetic, generic, stylistically, etc.).

The assessment of this course consists of 3 parts:

1) a multiple choice part based on the formal lectures by three of the four lecturers, viz. Erica Durante, Jean-Claude Polet and Hubert Roland;

2) an open question based on the contents of the part taught by Guido Latré;

3) a question based on the required reading chosen from a volume of the Patrimoine littéraire européen, under the general editorship of Prof. Jean-Claude Polet (cf. bibliography).

The course is presented by a team of four lecturers, each coming from a different discipline, viz. classical philology (Prof. Paul-Augustin Deproost, who this year will be replaced by Prof. Jean-Claude Polet), general and comparative literature (Prof. Erica Durante), English literature (Prof. Guido Latré), and German literature (Prof. Hubert Roland). This diversity among the teachers in charge will allow the students to become familiar with various approaches to literary studies.

On the basis of a chronological structure from the Middle Ages to the 20^th century, each lecturer will, in accordance with his or her areas of specialization, be responsible for a particular period in the development of European literature, and use his or her own method of teaching and assessment, which may be different from those applied by the other lecturers on this course.

The primary aim of this course is to provide a broad introduction to European literatures, both in terms of texts and major periods, and in terms of methods of literary analysis. The course is designed to give the students an overview of historical developments in European literature by discussing the authors, works and currents that are deemed indispensable for a student in the Arts Faculty, and more generally, for the cultural background of all students.

Students will discover various approaches to literary texts, including the comparative method, applied to the major European authors and works of literature, without excluding in principle any language or period. The complex itinerary of this course will start at the origins of western culture (the Bible and Greek and Latin literature) and end in the 20^th century, dealing along the way with the medieval and humanist traditions, the artistic and literary Renaissance, the Baroque, the Enlightenment and the 19^th century. Some authors and some comparisons between texts will be studied more in depth.

Patrimoine littéraire européen, anthologie en langue française sous la direction de J-Cl. Polet, vol. 9 : Les Lumières, de l'Occident à l'Orient (1720-1778), Paris-Bruxelles, De Boeck Université, 1997. Students can find the complete list of 25 authors selected from this volume on the ICampus website. These are to be read in preparation for the exam.

Required reading (2011-12)

The lecturers may ask the students to do further, complementary reading as the course progresses.