Department of French

Modern & Medieval Languages

Department of French

Part IB Topics 2009/2010

IB Topics for 2009/2010

Fr3 French Literature, Thought, and History before 1300

Read these:

  • Chrétien de Troyes, Romans, ed. M. Zink (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1994). Read any TWO romances in this volume (each romance is also available in an individual edition).
  • La mort le roi Artu, ed. J. Frappier (Geneva: Droz, 1996) OR La queste del sant graal, ed. E. Pauphilet (Paris, 1923)
  • Tristan et Iseut, ed. D. Lacroix and P. Walter (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1989) OR Marie de France, Lais, ed. (Paris, Livre de Poche, 1990)
  • La chanson de Roland, ed. Ian Short (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1990)
  • Fabliaux: either(or both) of these editions: Fabliaux érotiques, ed. L. Rossi (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1992); J. Dufournet, Fabliaux de Moyen Âge (Paris: GF Flammarion, 1998)

And any TWO of these:

  • La vie de Saint Alexis, ed. M. Perugi (Geneva: Droz, 2000) OR La Vie de Saint Alexis, ed. C. Storey (Blackwell, 1946) AND Clemence of Barking, The Life of Saint Catherine, ed. W. MacBain (ANTS, Blackwell's, 1964) AND Rutebeuf, La vie de Sainte Marie l'Egypcienne in Rutebeuf, Oeuvres complètes, ed. M. Zink (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1990: pp. 453-529)

    • OR
  • Nouvelles courtoises, ed. S. Méjean-Thiolier et al (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1997): read, in this volume: Aucassin et Nicolette, Le lai de l'ombre, La Châtelaine de Vergy

    • OR
  • Le roman de Renart, ed. G. Bianciotto (Paris: Livre de Poche, 2005) - SELECTED EPISODES

Fr4 Occitan Literature, Thought, and History before 1356

This paper is suspended for 2009/2010.

Fr5 French Literature, Thought, and History, from 1300 to 1510

Fr6 French Literature, Thought, and History, from 1510 to 1622

This paper is suspended for 2009/2010.

Fr7 French Literature, Thought, and History, from 1594 to 1700

  • Pierre Corneille: L'Illusion comique, Le Cid, Horace, Cinna, Polyeucte
  • Molière: L'École des femmmes, La Critique de l'École des femmes, (Tartuffe, Le Misanthrope), Les Femmes savantes, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, Le Malade imaginaire
  • Racine: Andromaque, Britannicus, Bérénice, Phèdre, Athalie
  • Pascal: Pensées (Sellier numbering recommended)
  • La Rochefoucauld: Maximes et Réflexions diverses
  • La Fayette: La Princesse de Clèves

Fr8 French Literature, Thought, and History, from 1690 to 1799

Part IB supervisors and students are encouraged to focus on at least five authors, taking at least one from each of the following domains:

  • The 'philopsophes', e.g. Diderot, Voltaire, Rousseau
  • The novel, e.g. Prévost, Marivaux, Graffigny, Diderot, Laclos, Sade
  • Eighteenth-century comic theatre, e.g. Marivaux, Beaumarchais

The 'core' texts for each author are marked on the reading list with an asterisk.

Fr9 French Literature, Thought, and History, from 1789 to 1898

In order to cover each of the areas below, Part IB supervisors and supervisees might look to focus on one writer in each domain. There would, of course, be nothing to stop students working on more than one author in a particular area, e.g. both Balzac and Stendhal, and both Flaubert and Baudelaire.

  • Early realist fiction, e.g. Balzac, Stendhal
  • The 'roman personnel', e.g. Chateaubriand, Constant, Nerval, Claire de Duras.
  • Rethinking representation after 1848, e.g. Flaubert, Baudelaire, Nerval, Vallès
  • Naturalist writing, e.g. Zola, Maupassant, Huysmans
  • Women's writing, e.g. Sand, Cottin, Rachilde
  • Poetry, e.g. Lamartine, Hugo, Baudelaire, Laforgue, Rimbaud, Mallarmé

Fr10 French Literature, Visual Culture, Thought, and History, from 1890 to 1958

  • Colette, La Maison de Claudine, Chéri, 'La Lune de pluie', La Naissance du jour
  • Simone de Beauvoir, L'Invitée, Le Sang des autres, 'Formation' from Le Deuxième sexe, Mé,moires d'une jeune fille rangée, La Femme rompue
  • Sartre, La Nausée, Les Mots, Huis clos, Qu'est-ce que la littérature?, 'Le Regard', section IV of Chapter II of the 'Troisième partie' from L'Etre et le néant
  • Beckett, En attendant Godot, Fin de partie, Oh les beaux jours, La Dernière bande, L'Innommable
  • Michaux, L'Espace du dedans, La Nuit remue
    Films:
  • Renoir, La Règle du jeu, La Grande Illusion, Une Partie de Campagne, Le Crime de M. Lange

Fr11 Literature, Visual Culture, Thought, and History in the French-Speaking World since 1945

  • Alain Resnais: Nuit et brouillard, Hiroshima mon amour
    • , L'Année dernière à Marienbad, Muriel
  • Robert Antelme: L'Espèce humaine
  • Hélène Cixous: Le Jour où je n'étais pas là, Portrait de Dora (in Théâtre), Osnabrück
  • Édouard Glissant: Poèmes complets, Tout-monde, Poétique de la relation
  • Jean Genet: Journal du voleur, Les Nègres, Le Balcon, Les Paravents
  • Amélie Nothomb: Métaphysique des tubes, Biographie de la faim, Acide sulphurique

Fr12 A Special Subject in French Culture: Early Modern Thought

For Fr12 students study one topic (in addition to two authors). For their topic work, Part IB students are not expected to range so widely over time as are Part II students. In Section A (Topics), if you choose to write an essay (rather than a commentary) on your chosen topic, then if you are a Part IB student it should refer to material from one or more centuries, whereas if you are a Part II student then it should refer to material from two or more centuries.

Fr13 The History of the French Language

This paper is suspended at Part IB for 2009/2010.

 

 

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