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2020/2021

French Literature: Classicism and Enlightenment

Code: 103381 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2501913 English and French OB 3 2
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Fátima Gutiérrez Gutiérrez
Email:
Fatima.Gutierrez@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
(fre)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Prerequisites

No requirement.

Objectives and Contextualisation

The subject “Littérature Française: Classicisme et Illustration"  is a core subject in the academic degrees “French and Catalan”, “French and Spanish”, “French and English” and “French, Greek and Latin”. It is included in the course “History of French literature”. 

Its main purpose is learning the theory and methodology required for the in-depth reading of a literary text by:

-familiarizing the student with the fundamental aspects of literature written in French, through the textual analysis of original works of their most representative authors;

-pointing out the relationship between those authors and their works, and other cultural movements in France and Europe.

Competences

  • Apply the techniques of French oral and written expression corresponding to different levels of competence.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the history and culture of France and French-speaking countries.
  • Develop critical thinking and reasoning and knowing how to communicate effectively both in your mother tongue and in other languages.
  • Respect the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Students can apply the knowledge to their own work or vocation in a professional manner and have the powers generally demonstrated by preparing and defending arguments and solving problems within their area of study.
  • Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (normally within their study area) to issue judgments that include reflection on important issues of social, scientific or ethical.
  • Students must demonstrate they know French literature from its origins until the 20th century.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analysing a contemporary fact and relating it to its historical background.
  2. Correctly pronounce in French language.
  3. Develop and achieve the necessary critical maturity and sensitivity to the literary French text as communicative, ethical and aesthetic product.
  4. Drawing up a summary and making a text commentary in French.
  5. Effectively working in teams and respecting different opinions.
  6. Explaining and analysing the historical foundations and culture of French-speaking countries, its geographic and socioeconomic framework and cultural diversity.
  7. Explaining and analysing the historical foundations of French culture, the geographical and socioeconomic framework of France and its cultural diversity.
  8. Explaining the specific concepts of the French language, linguistics and literature.
  9. Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
  10. Knowing and analysing the main movements and thematic elements of literature in French, and placing its main authors and their more representative works.
  11. Knowing the several approaches of literary criticism and assessing, from literary texts in French language, the various cultural contexts from a critical perspective.
  12. Produce an individual work that specifies the work plan and timing of activities.
  13. Relating elements and factors involved in the development of scientific processes.
  14. Solving problems autonomously.
  15. Using the appropriate and specific terminology of the literary studies.
  16. Using the specific expressive resources of the essay genre and the techniques and methods of textual criticism.

Content

  1. Le Grand Siècle. 1.0. Fondements socio-culturels de la création : Monarchie absolue de droit divin; la Cour, les Salons, les Académies. L’esprit baroque : une esthétique de l’exubérance. La préciosité : un mouvement social et littéraire. L’esprit classique : une esthétique de l’harmonie. 1.1. Les grands courants de la pensée. La primauté de la raison : Descartes. Matérialisme et scepticisme : Gassendi. La primauté de la foi : Pascal. 1.2. La poésie. Malherbe contre Ronsard ; La Fontaine * Fables (se servir des animaux pour instruire les hommes) ; Boileau et la théorie de l’art classique. 1.3. Le roman. Saint-Réal et le roman historique. Mme de Lafayette * La Princesse de Clèves (un décor historique pour une analyse psychologique). 1.4. Le théâtre. Corneille : * Le Cid (stoïcisme et molinisme : une conception optimiste). Racine : Phèdre (jansénisme et fatalité : une conception pessimiste). Moliére (optimisme et pessimisme : lucidité) : * Tartuffe. 1.5. L’essai et l’autobiographie. Bossuet : la pédagogie et l’idéal oratoire ; Fénelon et le roman pédagogique ; La Rochefoucauld contre l’empire de l’amour-propre ; La Bruyère contre les “abus”. Mme de Sévigné, autoanalyse et chronique domestique du Grand Siècle. 1.6. La querelle des anciens et des modernes.

  2. Le Siècle des lumières. 2.0. Fondements socio-culturels de la création : L’origine de la conscience bourgeoise.Vers l’exaltation du moi. Les dieux suprêmes du panthéon illustré: Raison et Progrès. L’esprit de l’Illustration : L’Encyclopédie. 2.1. Les philosophes. Montesquieu philosophe de l’histoire : L’esprit des lois. Voltaire, archétype intellectuel du XVIIIe : * Romans et contes. Diderot, diversité créatrice : Le Neveu de Rameau. Rousseau et le discours autobiographique : * Les rêveries du promeneur solitaire. 2.2. Le théâtre. Du drame : Voltaire et Crébillon sur les voies de la tragédie classique. De la comédie : Lesage et Régnard sur les voies de Molière. La comédie larmoyante : Nivelle de la Chaussée. Diderot et Sédaine : le drame bourgeois et réaliste. Marivaux et “marivaudage”. Beaumarchais : Figaro. 2.3. Le roman. Roman de mémoires : Gil Blas de Lesage ; * Histoire du Chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut de l’abbé Prévost ; Le paysan parvenu de Marivaux. Roman-lettre-mémoires : La vie de Marianne de Marivaux ; La religieuse de Diderot. Roman épistolaire :  Les lettres persanes de Montesquieu ; La nouvelle Éloïse de Rousseau ; * Les liaisons dangereuses de Laclos. Roman exotique et utopique : Restif de la Bretonne, Bernardin de Saint Pierre, Mercier. Roman moral (ou immoral) : Diderot, Restif, Sade. Roman fantastique: Lesage, Cazotte. 2.4. La crise poétique. Poésie didactique et descriptive. Le préromantismed’André Chénier.

     

    La lecture du texte est obligatoire si le signe * le précède

 

Methodology

Basically, the course will consist of:
- master class with ICT support and group discussion;
- written and oral practice in French language;
- reading comprehension training;
- oral and written individual and group exercises;
- self-reliant activities;
- teacher-student and studen-student exchanges;

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Classes teòriques sobre el contingut de l'assignatura 15 0.6 3, 15
Correcció de diversos qüestionaris (sobre elements de cultura general / sobre lectures obligatòries) correcció dels treballs 5 0.2 10, 8, 15
Exposicions dels estudiants de temàtiques literàries, donant lloc a comentaris i debats 10 0.4 3, 5
Lectura de textos en grups donant lloc a comentaris i debats 10 0.4 8, 9, 12, 4, 14
Treballs de redacció a partir de textos i de problemàtiques literàries. 10 0.4 3, 8, 5, 15
Type: Supervised      
Aprendre a fer dissertacions, comentaris literaris, anàlisis literàries argumentades a partir de fragments de textos 5 0.2 3, 8, 12, 4, 14, 15
Tutories per a les exposicions i la correcció dels treballs lliurats 5 0.2 3, 9, 12, 5, 15
Type: Autonomous      
Consulta de pàgines web 4 0.16 3, 15
Estudi personal 40 1.6 10, 3, 14, 15
Lectura de textos del dossier, llibres de lectura obligatòria i articles literaris sobre temes treballats a classe o estudiats individualment 26 1.04 10, 3, 15

Assessment

The final evaluation will rely on a continuous assessment of:

  1. One written essay, whose topics will be given at the beginning of the semester.
  2. Two oral exams about the contents of the course, readings included.
  3. One oral exposition, whose topics will be given at the beginning of the semester.

Any student that would not present at least two thirds of the evaluable work will not have a right to evaluation.

Secon exam requires a previous evaluation of student activities equivalent to at least two thirds of the grade, and only students with a GPA over 3.5 have a right to it.

Oral expositions and any work related to daily teaching activity are excluded from a second exam.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

 

Makeup tests will take the form of a synthesis exam.

Students will be informed of the proceedings and dates of all score reviews.

About plagiarism:

Complete or partial plagiarism of any of the exercises will make impossible for the student to pass the subject, and will result in a final global “0” grade. PLAGIARISM is the appropiation of one or more phrases from uncredited sources, that a student represents as one’s own original work, including phrases or passages taken verbatim from the Internet. It constitutes a serious offense.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Lliurament/Presentació de 1 treball escrit 40 4 0.16 11, 10, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16
Realització d'una exposició oral 20 6 0.24 10, 3, 7, 6, 8, 9, 12, 4, 14, 5, 15
Realització de 2 proves d'avaluació formativa 40 10 0.4 1, 10, 3, 8, 9, 2, 13, 14, 5, 15

Bibliography

  1. Manuels :

     

    - Abraham, P. (dir) (1965-77), Manuel d´histoire littéraire de la France, EE.SS., Paris.

    - Pichois, Cl. (dir) (1968-78), Littérature Française, Arthaud, Paris.

    - Prado, J. Del (dir) (1994), Historia de la literatura francesa, Cátedra, Madrid.

     

  1. Monographies classiques:

     

    Baroque et Classicisme :

    - Rousset, J. (1954), La littérature de l’âge baroque en France, Corti, Paris.

    - Raymond, M. (1985), Baroque & renaissance poétique, Corti, Paris.

    - Bray, R. (1951), La formation de la doctrime classique, Nizet, Paris.

    - Clarac, P. (1969), L’âge classique, Arthaud, Paris.

    - Adam, A. (1970), Le téâtre classique, P.U.F., Paris.

    - Adam, A. (1969), Romanciers du XVIIe siècle, Gallimard, Paris.

    - Rousset, J. (1968), L’intérieur et l’extérieur. Essai sur la poésie et le théâtre classique, Corti, Paris.

    Illustration :

    - Hazard, P. (1934), La crise de la conscience européenne, Boinvin, Paris.

    - Darcos, W. et Tartayre, B. (1986), Le XIIIe siècle en Littérature, Hachette, Paris.

    - Proust, J. (1965), L’Encyclopédie, A. Colin, Paris.

    - Barguillet, F. (1981) Le Roman au XVIIIe siècle, P.U.F., Paris.

    - Larthomas, P. (1980), Le théâtre en France au XVIIIe siècle, P.U.F. Paris.

    - Coulet, H. (1966), Le roman jusqu’à la Révolution, A. Colin, Paris.

    - Rossell, A. et Springer, B. (edit) (1996) La Ilustración y el Romanticismo como épocas literarias encontextos europeos, Servei  de Publicacions de la U.A.B.

     

    3. Web :

     

    - http://www.site-magister.com/classicis.htm

    - http://www.bibliolettres.com/w/pages/page.php?id_page=234