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2016/17 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

FREN2285 Culture and Society in Early Modern France

15 creditsClass Size: 11

Module manager: Dr Paul White
Email: p.white@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2016/17

Pre-requisite qualifications

Successful completion of Level 1 French or an equivalent level of competence.

This module is mutually exclusive with

FREN2280

Culture & Soc in Modern France

Module replaces

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This module provides a broad introduction to early modern French culture and society (16th-18th centuries). It examines representative works from the writing of the period, in particular plays and works of prose fiction by authors as diverse as Rabelais, Corneille, Racine, Molière and Voltaire. All these writers engaged in different ways with the social, political and philosophical realities of their time. This module examines the extent to which these realities are reflected in the period’s cultural production. What images do the texts convey of the time in which they were produced? How do writers use their art to portray, explore, and even call into question the society in which they live and the values which it upholds? In semester 1, the module focuses in particular on tragedy in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the theatre was a very popular art form. How do such masters of tragedy as Corneille, Racine and Voltaire use the resources of the theatrical medium to raise moral and political questions about power, corruption and despotism, for instance? How do they use plots derived from the past implicitly to encourage their audiences to reflect on the present? And how does theatre become, in the eighteenth century, a vehicle for new modes of critical, even subversive thought? In semester 2, the focus of the module shifts from tragedy to comedy and the carnivalesque, considering texts by Rabelais and Molière. How do these writers make their readers/audiences think through laughter? How does their depiction of apparently fantastical and topsy-turvy places and events enable them to prompt people to think about their own time and place? And how has laughter been used through the ages as a means of both entertainment and critical engagement? Lectures help students to situate the texts in their social, historical and cultural contexts; seminars focus on close reading of the individual texts.

Objectives

On completion of this module, students should be able to:
- demonstrate broad knowledge of the literature and culture of France from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries
- demonstrate detailed knowledge of the prescribed texts within their literary, historical, philosophical, social and cultural contexts
- demonstrate familiarity with the critical literature relevant to each text and evaluate different critical approaches
- form cogent and persuasive arguments, both orally and in writing, on the issues central to the module

Learning outcomes
- Enhanced knowledge of French literary and cultural history
- Awareness of the specific characteristics of French drama and prose fiction from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries
- Awareness of relevance of dramatic and comic theories to the study of the prescribed texts
- Increased skills in close reading and interpretation

Skills outcomes
Textual analysis
Independent research
Oral and written communication skills
Constructing and substantiating arguments
Team work in preparing and delivering group presentations

Syllabus

Semester 1: Corneille, Horace; Racine, Britannicus; Voltaire, Mahomet.
Semester 2: Rabelais, Gargantua; Molière, Le Malade imaginaire.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	16	1.00	16.00
Seminar	8	1.00	8.00
Private study hours			126.00
Total Contact hours			24.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			150.00

Private study

Reading set texts and selected background material in preparation for lectures and seminars = 66 hours
Preparing for seminar presentations = 20 hours
Revising for examination = 20 hours
Researching and writing essay = 20 hours

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Progress will be monitored by individual and group presentations given in seminars, on which students will receive immediate oral feedback; students will also be able to submit formative work (e.g. essay plans, draft essays), on which they will receive prompt written feedback.

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1,500 words	34.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		34.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Exams

Exam type	Exam duration	% of formal assessment
Standard exam (closed essays, MCQs etc)	2 hr 00 mins	66.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)		66.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 18/12/2015

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