Thematic Seminar: Madame de Lafayette—The Mona Lisa of French Literature 3304-2DXW-ST-02-OG

The seminar is conducted in French.
The seminar aims to familiarise participants with the works of Madame de Lafayette. Reading and analysing her works (in full or in part) and selected letters from her correspondence will enable seminar participants to discover lesser-known aspects of the author’s work and to expand their existing knowledge, including that concerning Madame de Lafayette’s most important novel, *The Princess of Clèves*. An important part of the seminar will be the reading of critical texts, which will not only allow us to trace changes in the interpretation of *The Princess of Clèves* or the issue of the anonymity of her works, but will also facilitate a deeper understanding of Madame de Lafayette’s writing and enrich the discussion on selected aspects of the work of this most famous, indeed iconic, French novelist.
A detailed programme for the seminar will be presented at the first meeting.

Course coordinators

Monika Kulesza

Type of course

general courses

Mode

Classroom

Assessment criteria

Active participation, oral presentations, a short written assignment completed in class.

Bibliography

Zarys bibliografii :
Mme de Lafayette, Œuvres complètes, éd. Camille Esmein-Sarrazin, Collection Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 2014.
Esmein-Sarrazin, Camille, La Princesse de Clèves de Madame de Lafayette ou la „Joconde” des lettres françaises, Champion commentaires, 2025
Gevrey, Françoise, L’Esthétique de Madame de Lafayette, Paris, Sedes, 1997
Grande, Nathalie, Stratégies de romancières, de Clélie à La Princesse de Clèves, Paris, Champion, 1999
Rohou, Jean, Siouffi, Gilles, Lectures de Madame de Lafayette, Rennes, PUR, 2015
Zonza, Christian, La Nouvelle historique en France à l’âge classique (1657-1703), Paris, Champion, 2007

Additional information

Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes: