FREN 3730

Religious Violence in French and Francophone Literature

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2020-2021.

What makes religious violence so intractable, and what has fostered the continuity of this form of conflict over such a long span of time? What is the role of aesthetics in literary descriptions of such horrific violence? Violence as a spectacle raises the question of personal responsibility, making those who observe it complicit even if they do not participate in it. Texts to be considered will include Maalouf's Les Croisades vues par les arabes. Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné's Les Tragiques, René Girard's La Violence et el sacré, Charlotte Delbo's Auschwitz et après, Shoshana Felman's and Dori Laub's work Testimony, Gillo Pontecorvo's La Bataille d'Algers, Franz Fanon's Les Damnés de la Terre, Assia Djebar's L'Amour, la fantasia.

When Offered Fall.

Prerequisites/Corequisites Prerequisite: FREN 2310 and FREN 2180, or CASE++ placement.

Breadth Requirement (GHB)
Distribution Category (CA-AS, ALC-AS, ETM-AS)
Language Requirement Satisfies Option 1.

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