FREN 545/845 GRAVITY

The course will explore the "law of gravity" of thought and body. Against the backdrop of landmark events of Western culture (the Fall of Mankind in the Genesis, falling bodies in Galileo and Newton, Einstein's theory of relativity, Nietzsche's "Spirit of Gravity," which all articulate a version/vision of gravity…), we will investigate the relation between heaviness/lightness and falling/floating/flying in the French cultural tradition: art (Rodin's sculpture The Thinker; Perrin's film Winged Migration), literature and philosophy (Montaigne, Camus, Weil, Nancy, and Deleuze), and history of science (Serres, Latour, and Stengers).

1530-1800 R Ms. Lyu

  FREN 530/830 LITTÉRATURE DU XVII SIÈCLE: PASCAL ET LES LIBERTINS

L’ouvrage de Pascal qu’on appelle les Pensées est apparemment destiné à persuader un libertin--ou quelqu’un tenté par le libertinage--d’adopter au contraire une vie toute chrétienne et Catholique. Mais cette réfutation du libertinage de pensée est devenue, paradoxalement, le principal texte par lequel la pensée libertine est venue jusqu’à nous. Ce cours sera une introduction aux Pensées de Pascal dans le contexte intellectuel de la crise sceptique de la première modernité et de la réaction contre le scepticisme de la part des philosophes et des autorités politiques et ecclésiastiques. Outre Pascal, nous lirons des textes de Montaigne, de Hobbes, de Descartes, de Naudé, et de Garasse. Les étudiants écriront un commentaire hebdomadaire et deux rédactions, feront un exposé en classe, et (pour les étudiants de maîtrise seulement) passeront un examen.

1400-1515 MW Mr. Lyons

Libertinage, in 18th-century France, denotes a dissolute way of life as much as a radical philosophical stance. Accordingly, the novels of the libertine tradition give us entertaining narratives of seduction, folly, and crime, which also serve as vehicles for some of the most progressive ideas of the Enlightenment. In these works, authors are able to introduce consequential issues of the day, such as the pursuit of happiness, the burdens of social conventions, and the role of the human body as a source of knowledge, without losing the witty and playful tone that kept the attention of the reading public. In some cases, texts depicting the indolent lifestyle of aristocrats and the imaginary vices of monks and monarchs desacralized institutions so boldly that they may have helped to precipitate the Revolution.

This course will focus on the most influential of these novels of seduction, including Thérèse philosophe, Les Liaisons dangereuses, and works by Crébillon fils, Diderot, and the marquis de Sade. Texts by René Descartes, John Locke, Emilie du Châtelet, the baron d'Holbach, as well as the work of historian Robert Darnton, will help to situate these novels in the context of the intellectual and cultural history of this period.

anonyme, La Vie privée de Louis XV
Crébillon fils: Les Egarements du cœur et de l'esprit
D'Argens: Thérèse philosophe
Diderot: Le Rêve de d'Alembert, Les Bijoux indiscrets
Rousseau, Julie, ou la Nouvelle Héloïse bk 1
Laclos: Les Liaisons dangereuses
Louvet de Couvray: Le Chevalier de Faublas (extraits)
Sade: La Philosophie du boudoir
Voltaire: "L'Education d'une fille"

1400-1515 TR Ms. Tsien

In Oscar Wilde's words-which today seem truer than ever-"The Nineteenth Century, as we know it, is largely an invention of Balzac's." The seminar will focus on Balzac's emerging conceptualization of a new era, its urban agglomerations, its dynamic forces, its intellectual forms, through a reading of a number of his novels, and some related material from Baudelaire, Flaubert, Henry James, Walter Benjamin, and others. Class participation, oral presentations, and term paper required. Readings in French, class discussion in English and French.

1530-1800 W Mr. Brooks

Ce cours propose une promenade de réflexion à travers quelques romans et essais du 20ème siècle abordés dans l’ordre chronologique de leur parution. Il s’agira, avant tout, de situer les œuvres dans leur contexte historique (événementiel) et d’en identifier les contenus sociologiques, politiques et idéologiques. Le parti-pris de la lecture proposée est que, expérimental ou non, le roman est toujours porteur d’idées, dans le sens où il est toujours un reflet de son temps, alors même qu’il semblerait lui tourner le dos.

Les œuvres retenues, non sans quelque arbitraire, iront du début à la fin de ce siècle et auront pour constante thématique une interrogation sur la violence, prise dans son sens le plus large, des hommes envers leurs semblables.

Auteurs et œuvres au programme (provisoire et préliminaire) : Jules Romains, Les copains ; Roger Martin du Gard, Vieille France ; Paul Valéry, essais choisis ; Ferdinand Céline, Voyage au bout de la nuit ; André Malraux, La condition humaine ; Albert Camus, L’homme révolté ; Jean-Paul Sartre, « Qu’est-ce que la littérature ? » ; Marguerite Yourcenar, L’œuvre au noir ; Claude Simon, L’acacia ; Jean Rouaud, Des hommes illustres.

1530-1800 M Mr. Simon

From antiquity until the eighteenth century (and, some might argue, until today), classical texts provided a primary frame of reference for well-educated Europeans' literary expectations and endeavors. Despite this continuity, the transmission of classical myths and legends was by no means an exercise in static preservation. The advent of Christianity necessitated the rethinking of these works' pagan foundations, and, from the twelfth century on, increasing Latin illiteracy created the need for vernacular translations. Medieval authors' struggles with these moral and linguistic issues, together with their use of the classical tradition to assert their own intellectual and political legitimacy, established a mode of interpreting classical literature that continues to this day. Freud's appropriation of the Narcissus myth, Monique Wittig's rewriting of Vergil and Oliver Stone's rendition of the Alexander legend all attest to the continuing significance of the narratives as well as to the persistent need to refashion them.

This course will offer an introduction to three major traditions: selected myths from Ovid's Metamorphoses, and the legends concerning Alexander and Æneas. We will concentrate primarily, but not exclusively, on the reworkings—in both Latin and French—produced in Francophone territories during the high Middle Ages. By juxtaposing adaptations written within a relatively short time span for diverse audiences, we will aim to delineate the various "horizons of expectation" of Latinate and semi- or non-Latinate communities.

All readings will be available in English or modern French as well as in the original languages. Requirements will include a substantial presentation and a research paper.

T 1530 – 1800 G. Hays & A. Ogden

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