FREN 4230 - Revolution, Sexuality, Empire in Modern French Fiction

(CA-AS)

Fall. 4 credits. Student option grading.

Co-meets with FREN 6230.

M. C. Vallois.

This course proposes the analysis of the sexual politics of some canonical and less canonical French fictions of the revolutionary period (1789-1848). We will read them in the larger context of the new geographical and cultural sphere of the French “Empire” and its colonies. Texts to be read could include Prevost’s Manon Lescot, Staël’s Corinne ou L’italie, Chateabriand’s Atala and Les Natchez, Mme de Duras’ Ourika, Balzac’s La fille aux yeux d’or, as well as more contemporary texts, for example, Assia Djebar’s L’Amour, la Fantasia, .. according to the student’s specific interests.