Module description
Why was love such a burning topic in pre-modern France? How did poetry and prose fashion attitudes towards women, men, love, and sex? What were pre-modern constructions of gender and were there any alternatives to traditional models?
During this module, we will attempt to answer these questions by consulting a wide range of pre-modern texts, including courtly romance, lyric poetry, short stories, and longer narrative. We will examine the portrayal of love and the conventions that govern its representations in literature. Topics that will interest us include the body, virtues and vices, marriage, sexuality, seduction, chastity and violence. We will compare how men and women treat these themes, and look at how women write in genres traditionally dominated by men.
Assessment details
Assessed coursework of 1500-2000 words worth 25% submitted during the semester and a 2 hour exam (75%) at the end of the module.
Assessment (for study abroad semester 1 only students if taught in semester 1): The 2-hour written examination is replaced with a 2500 word essay (75%)
Educational aims & objectives
- To introduce students to a sample of French literature pre-1700 and to foster familiarity with some key themes, styles and concerns.
- To familiarise students with the treatment of love in a wide range of pre-modern texts.
- To familiarise students with a range of different genres and to encourage reflection on the differences between them.
- To encourage reflection on the representation of love in the pre-modern texts and how rhetoric and style produce their effects.
- To develop students’ analytical abilities in relation to the theme of the module.
- To develop students’ ability to articulate their reflections in front of their peer group. To develop students’ research and writing abilities.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, the students will be able to demonstrate intellectual, transferable and practicable skills appropriate to a Level 5 module and in particular will be able to demonstrate:
- Detailed knowledge of the primary texts on the syllabus.
- An ability to discuss the themes of the course with relation to both primary and secondary sources.
- An ability to research the questions raised by the course independently.
- An ability to distil their learning and research to produce coherent, well-supported and well-structured arguments in both essay and exam conditions.
Teaching pattern
Two classes per week (a lecture and a seminar).
Suggested reading list
Unless otherwise stated, students are expected to buy their own copy of all core texts.
- Marie de France, Lais. Paris; Garnier Flammarion, 1999. Lanval and Chaitivel
- Selection of medieval lyrics, to be supplied via KEATS
- Chrétien de Troyes. Le Chevalier de la Charrette, ed. Charles Méla. Paris: Livre de poche ‘Lettres gothiques’, 1992
- Selection of early modern lyrics, to be supplied via KEATS
- Selection of tales from Marguerite de Navarre’s Heptaméron, together with some analogues from Boccaccio’s Decameron (in translation), to be supplied via KEATS
- La Fayette, Mme de. La Princesse de Clèves. Paris: Gallimard ‘Folio’, 1972