French Literature of the Eighteenth Century
Code
711111052
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Línguas, Culturas e Literaturas Modernas, Secção de Estudos Espanhóis, Franceses e Italianos
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
Teresa Almeida
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
a) Identify the characteristic features of the French Enlightenment through reading some of its most representative texts;
b) Be able, in general terms, to define the way the literary institution operated in the eighteenth century;
c) Reflect on the nature of the eighteenth century novel, by analysing texts from the period;
d) Know how to problematize writing in the first person, and distinguish the forms and the genres used;
e) Be able to produce a commentary on a text, linking this with literary creation during this period;
f) Be able to critically read theoretical texts, learning to incorporate new concepts in the analysis of works;
g) Being able to organize a bibliography in the field of studies on the eighteenth century in carrying out a critical reading of one of the works on the programme.
Prerequisites
Intermediate level of French (A2.2.)
Subject matter
Reading and writing at the time of the Enlightenment
I. Context
1. The Encyclopédie project of D´Alembert and Diderot
2. The new forms of literary sociability: the academies, salons and cafés
3. The world of publishing and reading
4. Women´s access to the literary institution
5. The concept of the male and the female author.
II. Forms and literary genres
1. The theater: L´Île des esclaves by Marivaux
1.First person narrative: Manon Lescaut by Prévost and the definition of ´Sensibility´
3. The philosophical tale: Candide by Voltaire
4. The rhetoric of the letter and the epistolary novel: Lettres d´une péruvienne by Françoise de Graffigny (extracts); La Nouvelle Héloïse by Rousseau (extracts) and Les Liaisons dangereuses by Laclos
5. Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Autobiographical temptation or the story of an impossibility.
Bibliography
Burgwinkle, W, Hammond, N. & Wilson, E. (Eds) (2011). The Cambridge History of French Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 350-411.
Chartier, R. (1996). Culture écrite et société: l´ordre des livres. XIVe-XVIIIe . Paris : A. Michel.
Darnton, R. (2002). Pour les Lumières défense, illustration, méthode (2002). Bordeaux : Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux.
DeJean, J. (1991).Tender Geographies. New York and Oxford: Columbia University Press, p. 94-126.
Delon, M. (2007). «XVIIIe siècle» in TADIÉ, Jean-Yves (dir.), La littérature française: dynamique & histoire II. Paris : Gallimard, p. 9-294.
Goulemot, J.-M. (2005). La Littérature des Lumières. Paris : A. Colin.
Hollier, D. (dir.) (1993). De la littérature française. Paris: Bordas, p. 394-399, 418-424, 433-439, 448-453, 510-521.
REID, M. (dir) (2011). Les femmes dans la critique et l´histoire littéraire. Paris: Honoré Champion, p. 75-83.
Teaching method
Lectures: 60%; Seminars: 40%.
Theoretical analysis on the different points of the programme. Close reading of texts with students. Tutorial guidance, with a view to preparing research work.
Evaluation method
2 tests - 60%; 1 assignment- 30%; Attendance and/or participation - 10%.
Worker-Students should contact the teacher in the first two weeks of classes in order to establish a work programme.