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Mary B. McKinley Douglas Huntly Gordon Professor Department of French 353 Cabell Hall University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22904 434/ 924-4632 mbm@virginia.edu Ph.D. Rutgers University On Leave Spring 2008 |
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The Renaissance in Print: the Douglas H. Gordon Collection
FREN 341 LITERATURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES & 16TH CENTURY - MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE LITERATURE The French Middle Ages and Renaissance, a period covering over 500 years, may seem like a faraway world of knights and crusaders, artists and explorers. Yet, modern culture continues to reveal its fascination with that distant past. Books from those centuries between 1050 and 1600 shaped ideals, tastes and cultural icons that continue to capture the imagination today. Our readings will include selections from La Chanson de Roland; Marie de France's Lais; Chrétien de Troyes Yvain; Christine de Pizan's La Cite des Dames; Rabelais's Pantagruel; Montaigne's Essais and some lyric poetry. They reveal changing notions of the hero and of love, and they question the individual's relationship to God, to society, and to the unknown. Taught in French with attention to improving written and oral expression. Three short papers totaling 12-15 pages, a mid-term and a final. FREN 520/820 LITERARY LYON Literary Lyon: Crossroads of commercial and cultural traffic between Italy and Paris, Flanders and the Mediterranean, Lyon was the hub of sixteenth-century Europe. Its flourishing printing industry made it a bustling center of book production, and its distance from Paris allowed it greater freedom than the capital knew. We will study the printers and booksellers of Lyon and work with their products in our library's Gordon Collection. Between 1530 and 1560 Lyon celebrated the creativity of its own sons and daughters and of the writers it welcomed and nurtured. Marot, Rabelais, "Jeanne Flore," Dolet, Scève, Du Guillet, Labé and Aneau are some of the Lyonnais de souche ou de passage whose works and careers we will study.
FREN 402: LITTÉRATURE DE LA RENAISSANCE Upheaval, discovery, challenge and innovation mark the literary creations of Renaissance France. Sixteenth-century France witnessed the Protestant Reformation, the Copernican Revolution and discoveries of worlds both Ancient and New. The printed page was the novel medium that brought change to a newly literate society. In Erasmus's Praise of Folly, Rabelais's Gargantua, Marguerite de Navarre's Heptaméron and Montaigne's Essais, we will see how writers both recorded and shaped their turbulent times. Three short papers, a mid-semester and a final exam. FREN 520/820 SEMINAR: RABELAIS AND HIS WORLD The tales of Pantagruel and Gargantua enact a drama of upheaval, portraying and challenging early-modern notions of language and narrative. Can language lead to knowledge? How do words signify? And who can interpret them? What is the relevance of the word made print to the Word made flesh? While reading closely Pantagruel, Gargantua, Tiers Livre and Quart Livre, we will examine sixteenth-century notions of history, giants, the New World and religious reform. We will make brief forays into the works of writers in Rabelais's " circle": Erasmus, Marot and Marguerite de Navarre. Visits to the Gordon Collection will orient students to the use of rare books and to the history of early printed book production. Requirements: an oral presentation and a seminar paper. M.A. students are welcome in this seminar. Click here to go to the library.
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