FREN 6290

Revolutions/Gender/Fictions

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2014-2015.

While literary histories have for a long time undervalued women's works in the literary canon, it has been also common to continue to hold the belief that, with the passing of time, women have progressively entered the Academy of French Letters.  The "feminist" generations of the 1980's celebrated the entry of women into modern literature but also contested the idea of linear progress when it came to women.  This seminar will approach the question of the relationship between women, literature and the 'progress' of history in a counter-intuitive fashion.  Contesting, after Joan Kelly, the historical linearity of progress for 'women,' we will analyze pertinent cases in three literary moments (the Renaissance, the Classical age, the Revolutionary era).  The goal of the course is to scrutinize how femininity and masculinity are concurrently and constantly reenacted according to the evolution of economical, social, religious and political paradigms.  We will more specifically identify, during the 'longue durée' period of the Old Regime, moments of crisis when women held a prominent role in literary production.  Authors read will include Marguetire de Navarre, Mme de Lafayette, Mme de Stael and George Sand.

When Offered Fall.

Comments Conducted in French.

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