Aims

1. Through a study of the most prominent literary genres, the course offers an analysis of the concept of literary aesthetics from Ancient Greece to the beginning of the 19th Century;
2. An analysis of the transformations in the very concept of "aesthetics" at the end of the 18th Century, highlighting the consequences this transformation had on contemporary literary theory and on the study of literary genres.

Main themes

We shall pursue our objectives through an analysis of tragedy:
· in the Greek world (particularly Sophocles);
· in the Baroque period (particularly Shakespeare);
· in the 20th Century (Claudel and others).
And through a study of important theories of tragedy: Reinhardt, Benjamin, etc.

Content and teaching methods

The study of the concept of tragedy through the analysis of texts from three periods: the tragedies of Sophocles, Shakespeare, and the works of few contemporary French playwrights. We will uncover the linguistic and significative foundations of tragedy, which do not necessarily coincide with the different forms (epic, tragic, poetic…) it has taken throughout history. Indeed, the cultural laws of literary evolution do not always follow the same direction as the evolution of more fundamental traits. Comparisons will be made with mythical, epic, and romantic discourse.

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