29890 - French Literature 1 (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student will be able to analyse a French literary text, by making reference to the theory of the text and by developing his awareness concerning the workings of the textual production within one of the main tradition of the European culture. He will improve, as far as possible, his knowledge of the relationship between general literature and particular literature, as well as his own stylistic skills.

Course contents

Parisian Interiors and Exteriors in French Literature

from Early Modern to Contemporary Times

The topic will be explored through the most famous works of the leading figures in French literary history – authors who exerted a profound influence on contemporary and subsequent literary production, both within France and across Europe. Examining the relationship between geography and art will provide an opportunity to analyze the fundamental role that space has played over the centuries, and thus to reflect on the evolution of strategies for representing reality, with particular focus on descriptive technique.

Readings/Bibliography

12 ECTS

Chosen passages analized during classes (uploaded to the VIRTUALE platform) and:

 

1. complete reading of 4 of these works:

Rabelais, Gargantua

Montaigne, Essais

Montesquieu, Lettres persanes

Rousseau, La Nouvelle Héloïse

Rousseau, Émile

Mercier, L’An 2440

Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris

Balzac, Ferragus

Balzac, Père Goriot

Baudelaire, Les fleurs du mal

Hugo, Les Misérables

Verne, Paris au XX^e siècle

Flaubert, L’Éducation sentimentale

Zola, L’Assommoir

Apollinaire, Alcools

Proust, Du côté de chez Swann

Aragon, Le Paysan de Paris

Céline, Mort à crédit

De Beauvoir, Mémoires d’une jeune fille rangée

Queneau, Zazie dans le métro

Le Monnier, Rue de l’Odéon

Perec, Espèces d’espaces

Modiano, Dora Bruder

Clerc, Paris, musée du XXI^e siècle

 

2. study of 15 of the following articles/chapters of books:

Walter BENJAMIN, I «passages» di Parigi, Torino, Einaudi, 2000, pp. 5-35, 130-178, 224-242. [it counts as 2]

Franco MORETTI, Atlante del romanzo europeo. 1800-1900, Torino, Einaudi, 1997, pp. 79-144 (il capitolo Racconto di due città). [it counts as 2]

Mario PRAZ, La filosofia dell'arredamento. I mutamenti del gusto della decorazione interna attraverso i secoli dall'antica Roma ai nostri tempi, Milano, Longanesi, 1981, pp. 11-71, 225-228, 232-234, 320-323, 332-333, 372-373, 382-385. [it counts as 2]

Karlhainz STIERLE, Le regard incertain. Paris dans la littérature de la fin des Lumières, in La capitale des signes. Paris et son discours, Paris, Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 2001, pp. 67-75, 80-96, 573-575.

Annie JOURDAN, L’image de Paris dans l’œuvre de Jean-Jacques Rousseau: du rêve à la mémoire, in Paris: de l’image à la mémoire. Représentations artistiques, littéraires, socio-politiques, éd. Marie-Christine Kok Escalle, Amsterdam-Atlanta, Rodopi, 1997, pp. 37-57.

Mario AGATI, Il mito di Parigi nel Ferragus di Balzac, in «Francofonia», 3, 1982, pp. 45-61.

Wolfgang MATZAT, L’image de la ville et sa fonction dans Le Père Goriot, in «L’année balzacienne», 5, 2004/1, pp. 303-315.

Lowry NELSON Jr., Baudelaire and Virgil: A Reading of Le Cygne, in «Comparative Literature», XIII, 1961, pp. 332-345.

Arja FIRET, La Goutte d’Or: (ban)lieu(e) de mémoire littéraire, in «RELIEF», mars 2008, pp. 87-110.

P. M. WETTERILL, Flaubert, Zola, Proust and Paris: an Evolving City in a Shifting Text, in «Forum for Modern Language Studies», XXXII, 3, 1996, pp.228- 239.

Carmelina IMBROSCIO, Jules Verne e l’immaginario di Parigi nella letteratura d’anticipazione, in «Francofonia», 44, 2003, pp. 45-61.

Douglas SMITH, The Arcade as Haunt and Habitat: Aragon, Benjamin, Céline, in «Romance Studies», 22, 2004, pp. 17-26.

Sophie ROBERT, Adrienne Monnier et l’esprit moderne, in «The Romanic Review», 99, 2008, pp. 143-154.

Maria João FRAZÃO, A Simone de Beauvoir Itinery in Paris, in «Simone de Beauvoir Studies», 10, 1993, pp. 202-218.

Lynn HIGGINS, Lieux de mémoire et géographie imaginaire dans Dora Bruder, in Le roman français au tournant du XXI^e siècle, éd. Marc Dambre et al., Paris, Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2004, pp. 397-405.

Ruth MALKA, «Paris of Days Gone By». The Quest for Memory in a Postwar Haunted City. A Case Study of Georges Perec’s and Patrick Modiano’s Novels, in Shadows in the City of Light. Paris in Postwar French Jewish Writing, éd. Sara R. Horowitz et al., New York, State University of New York Press, 2021.

Jerzy LIS, Nouvelles approches de la ville dans la littérature française contemporaine: Thomas Clerc et Philippe Vasset, in «Studia Romanica Posnaniensia», 39/2, 2012, pp. 99-109.

 

9 ECTS

Chosen passages analized during classes (uploaded to the VIRTUALE platform) and:

 

1. complete reading of 3 of these works:

Rabelais, Gargantua

Montaigne, Essais

Montesquieu, Lettres persanes

Rousseau, La Nouvelle Héloïse

Rousseau, Émile

Mercier, L’An 2440

Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris

Balzac, Ferragus

Balzac, Père Goriot

Baudelaire, Les fleurs du mal

Hugo, Les Misérables

Verne, Paris au XX^e siècle

Flaubert, L’Éducation sentimentale

Zola, L’Assommoir

Apollinaire, Alcools

Proust, Du côté de chez Swann

Aragon, Le Paysan de Paris

Céline, Mort à crédit

De Beauvoir, Mémoires d’une jeune fille rangée

Queneau, Zazie dans le métro

Le Monnier, Rue de l’Odéon

Perec, Espèces d’espaces

Modiano, Dora Bruder

Clerc, Paris, musée du XXI^e siècle

 

2. study of 12 of the following articles/chapters of books:

Walter BENJAMIN, I «passages» di Parigi, Torino, Einaudi, 2000, pp. 5-35, 130-178, 224-242. [it counts as 2]

Franco MORETTI, Atlante del romanzo europeo. 1800-1900, Torino, Einaudi, 1997, pp. 79-144 (il capitolo Racconto di due città). [it counts as 2]

Mario PRAZ, La filosofia dell'arredamento. I mutamenti del gusto della decorazione interna attraverso i secoli dall'antica Roma ai nostri tempi, Milano, Longanesi, 1981, pp. 11-71, 225-228, 232-234, 320-323, 332-333, 372-373, 382-385. [it counts as 2]

Karlhainz STIERLE, Le regard incertain. Paris dans la littérature de la fin des Lumières, in La capitale des signes. Paris et son discours, Paris, Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 2001, pp. 67-75, 80-96, 573-575.

Annie JOURDAN, L’image de Paris dans l’œuvre de Jean-Jacques Rousseau: du rêve à la mémoire, in Paris: de l’image à la mémoire. Représentations artistiques, littéraires, socio-politiques, éd. Marie-Christine Kok Escalle, Amsterdam-Atlanta, Rodopi, 1997, pp. 37-57.

Mario AGATI, Il mito di Parigi nel Ferragus di Balzac, in «Francofonia», 3, 1982, pp. 45-61.

Wolfgang MATZAT, L’image de la ville et sa fonction dans Le Père Goriot, in «L’année balzacienne», 5, 2004/1, pp. 303-315.

Lowry NELSON Jr., Baudelaire and Virgil: A Reading of Le Cygne, in «Comparative Literature», XIII, 1961, pp. 332-345.

Arja FIRET, La Goutte d’Or: (ban)lieu(e) de mémoire littéraire, in «RELIEF», mars 2008, pp. 87-110.

P. M. WETTERILL, Flaubert, Zola, Proust and Paris: an Evolving City in a Shifting Text, in «Forum for Modern Language Studies», XXXII, 3, 1996, pp. 228- 239.

Carmelina IMBROSCIO, Jules Verne e l’immaginario di Parigi nella letteratura d’anticipazione, in «Francofonia», 44, 2003, pp. 45-61.

Douglas SMITH, The Arcade as Haunt and Habitat: Aragon, Benjamin, Céline, in «Romance Studies», 22, 2004, pp. 17-26.

Sophie ROBERT, Adrienne Monnier et l’esprit moderne, in «The Romanic Review», 99, 2008, pp. 143-154.

Maria João FRAZÃO, A Simone de Beauvoir Itinery in Paris, in «Simone de Beauvoir Studies», 10, 1993, pp. 202-218.

Lynn HIGGINS, Lieux de mémoire et géographie imaginaire dans Dora Bruder, in Le roman français au tournant du XXI^e siècle, éd. Marc Dambre et al., Paris, Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2004, pp. 397-405.

Ruth MALKA, «Paris of Days Gone By». The Quest for Memory in a Postwar Haunted City. A Case Study of Georges Perec’s and Patrick Modiano’s Novels, in Shadows in the City of Light. Paris in Postwar French Jewish Writing, éd. Sara R. Horowitz et al., New York, State University of New York Press, 2021.

Jerzy LIS, Nouvelles approches de la ville dans la littérature française contemporaine: Thomas Clerc et Philippe Vasset, in «Studia Romanica Posnaniensia», 39/2, 2012, pp. 99-109.

 

6 ECTS

Chosen passages analized during classes (uploaded to the VIRTUALE platform) and:

 

1. complete reading of 2 of these works:

Rabelais, Gargantua

Montaigne, Essais

Montesquieu, Lettres persanes

Rousseau, La Nouvelle Héloïse

Rousseau, Émile

Mercier, L’An 2440

Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris

Balzac, Ferragus

Balzac, Père Goriot

Baudelaire, Les fleurs du mal

Hugo, Les Misérables

Verne, Paris au XX^e siècle

Flaubert, L’Éducation sentimentale

Zola, L’Assommoir

Apollinaire, Alcools

Proust, Du côté de chez Swann

Aragon, Le Paysan de Paris

Céline, Mort à crédit

De Beauvoir, Mémoires d’une jeune fille rangée

Queneau, Zazie dans le métro

Le Monnier, Rue de l’Odéon

Perec, Espèces d’espaces

Modiano, Dora Bruder

Clerc, Paris, musée du XXI^e siècle

 

2. study of 7 of the following articles/chapters of books:

Walter BENJAMIN, I «passages» di Parigi, Torino, Einaudi, 2000, pp. 5-35, 130-178, 224-242. [it counts as 2]

Franco MORETTI, Atlante del romanzo europeo. 1800-1900, Torino, Einaudi, 1997, pp. 79-144 (il capitolo Racconto di due città). [it counts as 2]

Mario PRAZ, La filosofia dell'arredamento. I mutamenti del gusto della decorazione interna attraverso i secoli dall'antica Roma ai nostri tempi, Milano, Longanesi, 1981, pp. 11-71, 225-228, 232-234, 320-323, 332-333, 372-373, 382-385. [it counts as 2]

Karlhainz STIERLE, Le regard incertain. Paris dans la littérature de la fin des Lumières, in La capitale des signes. Paris et son discours, Paris, Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 2001, pp. 67-75, 80-96, 573-575.

Annie JOURDAN, L’image de Paris dans l’œuvre de Jean-Jacques Rousseau: du rêve à la mémoire, in Paris: de l’image à la mémoire. Représentations artistiques, littéraires, socio-politiques, éd. Marie-Christine Kok Escalle, Amsterdam-Atlanta, Rodopi, 1997, pp. 37-57.

Mario AGATI, Il mito di Parigi nel Ferragus di Balzac, in «Francofonia», 3, 1982, pp. 45-61.

Wolfgang MATZAT, L’image de la ville et sa fonction dans Le Père Goriot, in «L’année balzacienne», 5, 2004/1, pp. 303-315.

Lowry NELSON Jr., Baudelaire and Virgil: A Reading of Le Cygne, in «Comparative Literature», XIII, 1961, pp. 332-345.

Arja FIRET, La Goutte d’Or: (ban)lieu(e) de mémoire littéraire, in «RELIEF», mars 2008, pp. 87-110.

P. M. WETTERILL, Flaubert, Zola, Proust and Paris: an Evolving City in a Shifting Text, in «Forum for Modern Language Studies», XXXII, 3, 1996, pp. 228-239.

Carmelina IMBROSCIO, Jules Verne e l’immaginario di Parigi nella letteratura d’anticipazione, in «Francofonia», 44, 2003, pp. 45-61.

Douglas SMITH, The Arcade as Haunt and Habitat: Aragon, Benjamin, Céline, in «Romance Studies», 22, 2004, pp. 17-26.

Sophie ROBERT, Adrienne Monnier et l’esprit moderne, in «The Romanic Review», 99, 2008, pp. 143-154.

Maria João FRAZÃO, A Simone de Beauvoir Itinery in Paris, in «Simone de Beauvoir Studies», 10, 1993, pp. 202-218.

Lynn HIGGINS, Lieux de mémoire et géographie imaginaire dans Dora Bruder, in Le roman français au tournant du XXI^e siècle, éd. Marc Dambre et al., Paris, Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2004, pp. 397-405.

Ruth MALKA, «Paris of Days Gone By». The Quest for Memory in a Postwar Haunted City. A Case Study of Georges Perec’s and Patrick Modiano’s Novels, in Shadows in the City of Light. Paris in Postwar French Jewish Writing, éd. Sara R. Horowitz et al., New York, State University of New York Press, 2021.

Jerzy LIS, Nouvelles approches de la ville dans la littérature française contemporaine: Thomas Clerc et Philippe Vasset, in «Studia Romanica Posnaniensia», 39/2, 2012, pp. 99-109.

 

Non-attending students will prepare the final exam following the previous bibliography, but they are also required to study the chapters concerning authors analyzed during classes in Antologia cronologica della letteratura francese, Milano, LED, 1996-1999.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en ) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

 

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures; participation is nevertheless highly encouraged.

Assessment methods

The exam consists in an oral interview during which the methodological and critical skills acquired by the student will be evaluated. The student will be invited to discuss the texts covered during the course and to move within the sources and bibliographical material in order to be able to identify in them the useful information. The achievement of an organic vision of the issues addressed during the classes and their critical use, which demonstrate ownership of a mastery of expression and specific language, will be assessed with marks of excellence (28-30). Mechanical and / or mnemonic knowledge of matter, synthesis and analysis of non-articulating and / or correct language but not always appropriate will lead to discrete assessments (23-27); training gaps and / or inappropriate language - although in a context of minimal knowledge of the material - will lead to votes that will not exceed the sufficiency (18-22). Training gaps, inappropriate language, lack of guidance within the reference materials offered during the course will lead to failed assessments.

Teaching tools

Texts analized during classes will be uploaded to the VIRTUALE platform.

Office hours

See the website of Bruna Conconi