In-depth questions of Literary History [ LROM2720 ]

MoodleUCL

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Literary history is a critical construction, ever shifting, which tells us just as much about the context in which it is produced as the periods to which it refers: discourse which brings together past and present.
The course invites students to become aware of this phenomenon by discovering the principles and elements involved in the construction of this discourse.
Each year, a specific subject is chosen (an aspect of literary life, the development of a genre or a theme), which provides the main topic for study.

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

-         set discourse on literature in a historical context and know how to recognise the principles they employ. To identify accounts of literary history as examples of built discourse.
-         establish a link between literature theory (view of the the phenomenon of literature in general) and critique (view of individual works).
-         set literary studies in the context of social sciences.
-         produce a critique of the critique : to treat accounts of literary history as structures for analysis ; to highlight the strategies employed by different forms of criticism.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

The course will start by a presentation of its theoretical question before thinking of it through the study of particular texts.

The title of the course is : « Roman et romanesque au XIXe siècle »

Bibliography :

The main works studied are a sélection of poetry and novels, from Renaissance till today : Clément Marot, Stéphane Mallarmé, André Breton, Robert Desnos, Nancy Huston, Béatrice Bonhomme, Yun Sun Limet, Yannick Haenel.
The theoretical references are given during the course. The students may read the book of M. Watthee-Delmotte, Littérature et ritualité. Enjeux du rite dans la littérature contemporaine, Bruxelles, P.I.E. Peter Lang, 2010.

The Professor Bruno Sibona (Univ. Aberystwyth, Wales), spécialist of relationship between rite and fiction, will give a lesson as invited Professor.