UCL - Topics in European literature

[FLTR2510]

[22.5h] 5 credits

This course is taught in the 1st semester.

Teacher(s): Erica Durante

Language: French

Level: Second

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

Analyze one period and one or more streams of European literature using a comparative perspective. Provide students with a basic understanding of this period and streams of literature, placing the latter in the broader context of the connections that European culture has progressively established across different countries, constituting a unique civilization sharing common evidence, references and connivances. Familiarize students with the aims, essence and methodologies of comparative research, and introduce them to the theoretical foundations of the comparative approach. Students are expected to demonstrate that they have acquired the skills taught during the course and that they have mastered the historical background and literary material characterizing the period and the streams of literature analyzed throughout the course.

Main themes

1. Introduction to the history of the discipline, its theoretical framework, methodologies and subfields through the teaching of specific research instruments.
2. Provide an example of a completed study in comparative literature.

Content and teaching methods

Content: After an introduction to the main lines of research in comparative literature, we conduct an in-depth study of one or two specific streams of the European literary tradition. Symbolism, an aesthetic movement influencing arts (particularly music and painting) and the literature of different European countries is the central topic of the 2009-2010 course. The analysis of this topic will demonstrate how, using a comparative methodology, we can examine the relationship between literature and the arts, as well as the poetic, aesthetic and ethical similarities that appear, in the same period, across different literary and linguistic traditions within Europe.
Methodology: Students are encouraged to reflect on the main lines of research in comparative literature. In the work they will produce (during or at the end of the semester), they are expected to show that they have learned the comparative methodology and can apply it to a specific subject related to the main topic of the course.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Evaluation : Oral presentation and written paper.
A more detailed description of the course and evaluation criteria can be found on ICAMPUS (http://www.icampus.ucl.ac.be)