FR 343 - 18th-Century French Literature

This course offers a comprehensive overview of 18th-century French literature, providing an examination of the French Enlightenment and new literary movements such as sentimentalism, encyclopedism, libertinism, and pre-romanticism, among others. It takes into consideration the social, historical, and artistic contexts that shaped the texts under study. Students will explore a variety of authors and genres (theatre, essay, novel) and engage in various tasks, such as discussions, textual commentaries, as well as written essays. These activities aim to help them sharpen their historical knowledge, analytical skills and develop well-argued personal interpretations of texts published between Regence and French Revolution.