18093 - French Literature

Course contents

The course includes a general introduction to XIX^th and XX^th century literature and a monographic section:

Books, Readers and Libraries in XIXth and XXth Century French Literature

Books that poison – like Walter Scott's novels, source of Madame Bovary's desease – and books that save, like those Jorge Semprun could read during his detention in Buchenwald concentration camp.

Children readers observing the world through books (Sartre, Les mots) and adult bibliophiles or bibliomanes (Nodier, Le Bibliomane).

Ideal libraries like Captain Nemo’s or Des Esseintes’ ones; libraries where you learn to love (Stendhal, Le Rouge et le Noir) or to emancipate yourself (Simone de Beauvoir, Mémoires d’une jeune fille rangée).

Lectures and class discussions will focus on these books among many others.

Readings/Bibliography

Literary History of the XIXth and XXth centuries:

Lionello SOZZI (a cura di), Storia europea della letteratura francese. II. Dal Settecento all’età contemporanea, Torino, Einaudi, 2013 (only chapters concerning XIXth and XXth century literature)

- Erich AUERBACH, Il realismo nella cultura occidentale, Torino, Einaudi,1965 (only three chapters: All’hôtel de La Mole, Germinie Lacerteux, Il calzerotto marrone).

Readings (even in translation):

Stendhal, Le rouge et le Noir

Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

Jean-Paul Sartre, Les mots

Jorge Semprun, L’écriture ou la vie

Monographic section

Texts analized during classes (available at Mastercopy, via Cartoleria 4, and uploaded in AMS CAMPUS-ALMA DL) and:

- Joëlle GLEIZE, Le double miroir. Le livre dans les livres de Stendhal à Proust, Paris, Hachette Supérieur, 1992.

or

- Alberto CASTOLDI, Bibliofollia, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2004 and Renato NISTICÒ, La biblioteca, Bari, Laterza, 1999.

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

• Antologia cronologica della letteratura francese. L’Ottocento, Milano, LED, 1998:

- Chateaubriand, René

- Germaine de Staël, De l’Allemagne

- Nodier, Smarra

- Lamartine, Harmonies poétiques et religieuses

- Victor Hugo, Hernani

- Honoré de Balzac, Le Père Goriot

- Mérimée, La Vénus d’Ille

- Dumas, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo

- Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal

- Hugo, Les Misérables

- Verlaine, Fêtes galantes

- Rimbaud, Illuminations

- Barbey d’Aurevilly, Les Diaboliques

- Zola, L’assommoir

- Guy de Maupassant, Boule de suif

• Antologia cronologica della letteratura francese. Il Novecento, Milano, LED, 1999:

- Apollinaire, Alcools

- Proust, Du côté de chez Swann

- Tzara, Manifeste Dada 1918

- Breton, Manifeste du Surréalisme

- Gide, Les Faux-Monnayeurs

- Céline, Voyage au bout de la nuit

- Mauriac, Le nœud de vipères

- Camus, L’étranger

- Vian, L’écume des jours

- Beckett, En attendant Godot

- Butor, La modification

- Robbe-Grillet, La jalousie

- Queneau, Zazie dans le métro

- Yourcenar, L’œuvre au noir

- Le Clézio, Désert

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 available at Mastercopy, via Cartoleria 4, and uploaded in AMS CAMPUS-ALMA DL.

Office hours

See the website of Bruna Conconi