Module description
Conventional histories of French literature usually begin with the Chanson de Roland (c.1100), which is viewed as an inaugural text for a great tradition of national literature that runs smoothly through to the present and fosters a timeless ideal of France. However, this vision does not stand up to scrutiny – the “idea of France” turns out to be retroactive and fluid from the outset, then heavily contingent, in the post-medieval period, on changes of regime, on differences of class, gender, education or ethnicity, and on general cultural and political trends such as (to name but a few examples) Jacobinism, Romanticism, Republicanism, Fascism, Communism. This module will examine how “France” and French national identity is constructed by studying a selection of key French literary texts from a variety of periods, including a postcolonial reflection on what it means to be “French”.
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.
For study abroad semester 1-only students: 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 from the Middle Ages to the present day and to foster familiarity with some key themes, styles and concerns relating to French national identity
- To familiarise students with a range of different literary genres and to encourage reflection on the differences between them
- To encourage reflection on the construction of French national identity historically
- 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 material on the syllabus
- An ability to discuss the themes of the module with relation to both primary and secondary sources
- An ability to research the questions raised by the module 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 weeks (a lecture and a seminar).
Suggested reading list
Students are expected to buy their own copies of the four core texts in the recommended editions below.
French editions
- La Chanson de Roland, ed. I. Short. Paris: Lettres Gothiques, 1990
- Joachim du Bellay, Les Antiquites de Rome et Les Regrets, ed. Françoise Joukovsky. Paris: Garnier-Flammarion, 1994
- Stendhal, Le Rouge et le noir, ed. Michel Crouzet Paris: Livre de poche, 1997
- Maryse Condé, Le Cœur à rire et à pleurer. Paris: Pocket, 2002
English translations
- The Song of Roland and Other Poems of Charlemagne, trans. Simon Gaunt and Karen Pratt. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016
- Joachim Du Bellay, The Regrets; with the Antiquities of Rome, trans. Richard Helgerson. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. OR Joachim Du Bellay, The Regrets: A Bilingual Edition, trans. David R. Slavitt. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2004 [NB these are both expensive and you’re not expected to buy them; poems will be available in translation on KEATS and in the library]
- Stendhal, The Red and the Black, trans. Catherine Slater. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009
- Maryse Condé, Tales from the Heart: True Stories from my Childhood, trans. Richard Philcox. New York: Soho, 2001