07305 - French Literature I

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Docente: Bruna Conconi
  • Credits: 12
  • SSD: L-LIN/03
  • Language: Italian
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Humanities (cod. 8850)

    Also valid for First cycle degree programme (L) in Humanities (cod. 8850)
    First cycle degree programme (L) in Philosophy (cod. 9216)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will have an adequate knowledge of French literature in relation to European literature; they will be able to read a literary text in French, both in textual and intertextual mode, with the necessary references to the history of French literary tradition. They will sharpen, as much as possible, their stylistic competences within their linguistic competences. They will have a passive knowledge of French.

Course contents

The course will focus on the French literary production of the 16th and 17th centuries.

The monographic part will focus on translation and on the evolution of the translator status in Early Modern France.

Readings/Bibliography

A) Literary History of the 18th century:

- Lionello SOZZI (a cura di), Storia europea della letteratura francese. II. Dal Settecento all’età contemporanea, Torino, Einaudi, 2013 (only 16th and 17th century).

or

Jean-Yves TADIÉ (sous la direction de), La littérature française: dynamique et histoire. Tome I, Paris, Gallimard, 2007, pp. 233-691.

B) Readings (edition at your choice, also in translation):

Margherita di Navarra Heptaméron (10 novels at your choice)

Joachim Du Bellay, 10 poems at your choice 

Pierre de Ronsard, 10 poems at your choice

Jean Racine, Phèdre

Madame de La Fayette, La princesse de Clèves

C) Monographic section

Texts analized during classes (uploaded to the VIRTUALE platform) and, at your choice, 8 of the following articles/chapters of books uploaded to the VIRTUALE platform:

Ernst H. Gombrich, Verità e formula stereotipa, in Arte e illusione. Studio sulla psicologia della rappresentazione pittorica, Milano, Leonardo Arte, 2002, pp. 73-96.

Arnold Hauser, Il barocco nelle corti cattoliche, in Storia sociale dell'arte, Torino, Einaudi, 1982, pp. 468-491.

Erich Auerbach, Le faux dévot, in Mimésis. La représentation du réel dans la littérature occidentale, Paris, Gallimard, 1984, pp. 365-394.

Nora Viet, Caméron, Décaméron, Heptaméron: la génèse de l’Heptaméron au miroir des traductions françaises de Boccace, in «Seizième Siècle», n. 8, 2012, pp. 287-302.

Patrizio Tucci, Traduzioni e imitazioni francesi di un sonetto di Petrarca, in Elisa Gregori (a cura di), «Fedeli, diligenti, chiari e dotti». Traduttori e traduzione nel Rinascimento, Padova, Cleup, 2016, pp. 103-125.

Jean Balsamo, Le pétrarquisme des Amours de Ronsard, in «Revue d’histoire littéraire de la France», mars-avril 1998, pp. 79-93.

Thomas Pavel, Il romanzo alla ricerca di se stesso. Saggio di morfologia storica, in Franco Moretti (a cura di), Il romanzo. Volume II. Le forme, Torino, Einaudi, 2002, pp. 35-63.

Thomas Pavel, La Princesse de Clèves: histoire et singularité, in «Romanic Review», vol. 108, January 2017, pp. 181-193.

Giovanni Macchia, Il paradiso della ragione. L’ordine e l’avventura nella tradizione letteraria francese, Torino, Einaudi, 1972 (only these two chapters: Il teatro della ragione, pp. 62-71; Ragione e morale: il processo al teatro, pp. 72-82).

Daniela Dalla Valle, Ippolito e i mostri: una possibile lettura della Phèdre di Racine , in Studi di storia della civiltà letteraria francese. Mélanges offerts à Lionello Sozzi, Paris, Champion, 1996, t. I, pp. 431-445.

Balsamo, Jean, La traduction de l’italien: activité éditoriale, engagement religieux et loisir lettré (1575-1595), in Élise Boillet, Bruna Conconi, Chiara Lastraioli, Massimo Scandola (a cura di), Traduire et collectionner les livres en italien à la Renaissance, Paris, Champion, 2020, pp. 13-34. 

Emmanuel Bury e Alain Viala, Traduction et classicisme, in «Littératures classiques», n. 19, automne 1993, pp. 129-143.

D) Non-attending students will prepare the final exam following the previous bibliography with the support of these additional readings:

Antologia cronologica della letteratura francese. Il Settecento, Milano, LED, 1997:

Dialogues di Lahontan

Histoire de Gil Blas di Lesage

Les Mille et une Nuits tradotte da Galland

Lettres persanes di Montesquieu

Manon Lescaut di Prévost

Le Philosophe anglais di Prévost

La vie de Marianne di Marivaux

Lettres philosophiques di Voltaire

Le Sopha di Crébillon fils

Lettres d’une Péruvienne di Madame de Graffigny

Lettres anglaises, ou Histoire de Clarissa Harlove tradotta da Prévost

Discours sur l’origine de l’inégalité di Rousseau

voce « Genève » dell’Encyclopédie

Candide di Voltaire

La Nouvelle Héloïse di Rousseau

Les Confessions di Rousseau

Paradoxe aur le comédien di Diderot

Le Barbier de Séville de Beaumarchais

Jacques le Fataliste di Diderot

Tableau de Paris di Mercier

Les liaisons dangereuses di Laclos

Les 120 journées de Sodome di Sade

Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte di Volney

Paul et Virginie di Bernardin de Saint Pierre

L’émigré di Sénac de Meilhan


Teaching methods

Frontal lectures; participationis neverthelesshighly 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