FREN 10.22 Du Tragique: le chagrin et la pitie dans la littérature française et francophone
This module of FR10 proposes a study of tragedy in French literature, from classical theatre and poetry to the modern novel and film that explores tragedy as a mode of representation for the following aesthetic, political, and philosophical dilemmas/questions: in what circumstances is suffering meaningful? Is the relationship to the past (where curses, warnings, and prophecies are uttered and ghosts lie waiting) always invariably tragic? Does the law (or the State) produce tragedy? In what ways are affects or states of dispossession such as mourning and rage at the heart of tragedy? What does the tragic teach us about the relationship between contingency and destiny, between our capacity as agents to act and the unforeseeable, unpredictable consequences of our actions, about our desire to experience sympathy or even solidarity with those who find themselves falling outside of the bounds of social and symbolic order?
Students in FR10 will hone rhetorical and interpretative competency over 2 short papers, 2 quizzes, lead discussions on texts in class, and continue to work on structuring and presenting arguments in the genre of literary analysis in the frame of a final paper for the course.
Readings include: Racine (Phe\u0300dre), Balzac (Adieu); Baudelaire (Les Fleurs du Mal; Spleen de Paris); Voltaire (Candide); Camus (L’Ho\u0302te); Sartre (Le Mur); Perec (W, ou le souvenir d’enfance); Ladj Ly (Les Mise\u0301rables); Hannah Arendt; Etienne Balibar; Jean-Pierre Vernant and Pierre Vidal-Naquet; Nicole Loraux; Plato; Simon Critchley; Raymond Williams.