History of French Literature from the French Revolution to the Present Day

Teacher(s)

Dehoux Amaury (compensates Zanone Damien); Zanone Damien;

Language

French

Prerequisites

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Main themes

Chronological survey of all French literature of the period under consideration. The course takes care to supply historical reference points (continuities, relationships, changes, distinct shifts) and to show literature in relation to its cultural, political, social and religious contexts. It alternates between the presentation of overall features (identification of literary currents, development of literary genres) and the presentation of specific texts.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	Situate literature in its different contexts (historical and formal); master the main lines of its development.

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”.

Content

Course material will be presented in four major stages, roughly corresponding to the following half-centuries: 1789-1848; 1848-1914 ; 1914-1962; 1962 to the present day. It operates from the perspective of a literary history that is culturally and politically contextualised. After an introductory session on each period, the subject matter is approached through literary genres ( theatre, the novel, poetry, the essay and others); the conceptual and vocabulary tools needed to analyse each of them are highlighted. More specifically, students' attention is drawn to the material conditions of the production and diffusion of the works in question. There is also an examination of the critical issues involved in the periodisation of literature and, consequently, of the methods of literary history.

Teaching methods

Formal lectures with a variety of teaching support (reading extracts of works, PowerPoint slides).

Evaluation methods

Written examination as part of the exam session.

Other information

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Online resources

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Bibliography

Une liste de lectures d'oeuvres littéraires est fournie, actualisée chaque année.
En 2018-2019, les lectures obligatoires sont les suivantes :
XIXe siècle
Balzac, La Fille aux yeux d'or (Folio)
Stendhal, Chroniques italiennes (Folio)
Sand, Le Compagnon du tour de France (Le Livre de poche)
Desbordes-Valmore, L'Aurore en fuite. Poèmes choisis (Seuil, « Points », 2010).
Musset, On ne badine pas avec l'amour ; Lorenzaccio (les deux pièces en un volume GF)
Flaubert, Madame Bovary (Le Livre de Poche)

XXe siècle
Aragon, Le Paysan de Paris (Folio)
Giraudoux, Électre (Le Livre de Poche)
Beauvoir, Mémoires d'une jeune fille rangée (Folio)
Beckett, En attendant Godot (Éditions de Minuit) ; Fin de partie (Éditions de Minuit)
Robbe-Grillet, La Jalousie (Éditions de Minuit, « Double »)
Sarraute, Le Planétarium (Folio)
Duras : L'Été 80 (Éditions de Minuit, « Double »)
 

Faculty or entity

ROM