History of French literature - 16th century 3304-3HLF20K

The course, including lectures and seminar classes, is held in French and is targeted at first-year students. Hence, a good command of French is required.

1/ Lecture:
The lecture constitutes an introduction to the basic issues of the French literature and culture of the sixteenth century, and is aimed at familiarising students with the socio-cultural background of the scheduled topics of the historical period discussed, as well as the major authors and their works. It discusses rudimentary notions, such as e.g. the Renaissance or humanism, major philosophical, literary and aesthetic themes such as e.g. evangelism, neoplatonism or petrarchism and literary genres. The lecture is also aimed at providing students with the necessary information about state-of-the-art research on the issues in question. It should be very helpful in analysing the works discussed during the classes, and allow better preparation for the final examination in the history of French literature of the sixteenth century.

2/ Seminar classes:
History of French literature of the sixteenth century
The main aim of the seminar classes is to prepare students to do autonomous reading and discuss a variety of topics within a range of selected texts of the period in question, based on critical papers. Students will also be acquainted with a selection of interpretations of the works.
Syllabus:
The ideal Renaissance man: Jean Pic de la Mirandole, Discours sur la Dignité de l’homme; the Poetics of Rhetoricians in light of recent research; Clément Marot and personal poetry; Erasmus and Rabelais - the great challenge: education; between the grotesque and utopia: Rabelais, Gargantua, Marguerite de Navarre, l’Heptaméron - une oeuvre didactique?; Text and image in the Renaissance: Délie Maurice’a Scève’a and the Lyon poetic school; the role of the poet according to the Pleiade: Joachim Du Bellay, La Défense et illustration de la langue française; Pierre de Ronsard and philosophical poetry: Hymns; the aesthetics of the Baroque and poetry of the end of century; Michel de Montaigne and the New World: les essais: ”Des Cannibales”, ”Des Coches”.