Dread and Delight: Portraying Passions in Early Modern French Literature
| Module title | Dread and Delight: Portraying Passions in Early Modern French Literature |
|---|---|
| Module code | MLF2004 |
| Academic year | 2020/1 |
| Credits | 15 |
| Module staff | Dr Helena Taylor (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
Module description
What makes a character tragic, pitiful, a victim? Should stories make you a better person or be entertaining? This module will examine such questions by looking at how four key works from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries portray the passions that motivate their characters. You will encounter passions that are destructive and transgressive, playful or fickle; and be challenged to think about the effect – whether moving, entertaining, moral or titillating – characters’ feelings are intended to have on readers. This will introduce you to key debates of the period about the purpose of literature and the nature and role of emotions.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This module aims to introduce you to a varied selection of texts written in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in which passions play a vital role. We will pay particular attention to how the depiction of passions shapes the moral and/or literary purpose of the works studied, and consider the relationship between the portrayal of characters’ feelings and the intended effect on readers. This will be achieved by closely examining four different works, some of which claim to ‘improve' their readers, but do so ambiguously: a theatrical tragedy, intended to produce an effect of ‘catharsis’; a third-person novel, in which the actions of the protagonist are described as exemplary; a first-person novel, presented as a cautionary tale, whose narrative raises questions about sincerity and persuasion; and a theatrical ‘comedy of errors’ about love, marriage and class: what, if anything, can audiences learn through laughter?
You will develop awareness of the context of changing ideas about passions, feeling and emotion from this period; and understand how morality was key to contemporary debates about the purpose of literature. You will learn to read critically and comparatively by developing close reading skills. You will also be challenged to consider such theoretical questions as what is literature for; can we access the author’s intentions and do they matter; and is there a correct way of responding to a work? By exploring how these questions are articulated in and about fictions from different periods, you will get a sense of their history and refine skills and knowledge useful for other modules.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate a sound understanding of the set texts, including reference to their place in the historic, literary and cultural context of their time
- 2. Demonstrate competence in reading and analysing literary French verse and prose (seventeenth-century French has been modernised in prescribed editions)
- 3. Demonstrate sensitivity to the cultural and historical particularities of early modern French representations of feelings and, if appropriate, identity points of comparison with modern perspectives
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. With some guidance from the tutor, evaluate and apply a range of critical approaches to the material covered
- 5. Mount a detailed argument in the appropriate register, drawing upon a range of textual or other evidence in its support
- 6. Access and use printed and, where appropriate, electronic learning resources identified as useful by the course tutor, and, to a limited extent, discover other useful materials independently
- 7. Analyse selected texts, relating them to significant elements in their cultural/historical/generic context
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 8. Undertake defined learning activities with a measure of autonomy, asking for guidance where necessary
- 9. Adopt a critical approach to the selection and organisation of material in order to produce, to a deadline, a cogent written or oral argument
- 10. Present a cogent and sustained argument orally/in writing, in English, on a topic chosen from a range of options provided, following broad guidelines but selecting and adapting them as required
- 11. Using course material provided, research, plan and write an essay on a chosen aspect of the subject, to a specified length and deadline
Syllabus plan
We will consider the role and nature of passions in four different texts: a tragedy driven by the inappropriate love a Queen feels for her step-son, and the jealousy, anger and revulsion this inspires; a third-person novel, thought to be the first in French literature, in which the main character grapples with the expectations of dutiful marriage; a first-person novel in which a young aristocrat recounts his amorous adventures; and a comedy about vanity, deception, class and marriage.
Lectures will begin with an introduction to the changing ideas about passions in this period and offer an overview of the relationship between literature and morality. We will then move on to the set texts in turn. Seminar sessions will focus on discussion of prepared passages from the set texts (encouraging comparative analysis where appropriate) and from critical works.
Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:
- Introduction: Should literature ‘please’ and/or ‘instruct’; what role do passions play in achieving this? Examination of the wider context of passions in this period.
- Racine, Phèdre: monstrous passions
- Phèdre: tragedy and catharsis; theories of tragedy and Racine’s models.
- Phèdre: transgression and restraint; words and action.
- Madame de Lafayette, La Princesse de Clèves: a moral tale?
- La Princesse de Clèves : marriage, duty, desire.
- La Princesse de Clèves : stories within stories; eavesdropping and spying.
- Marivaux, Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard: love and society
- Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard: disguise, deception, amour-propre.
- Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard: laughter and happy endings.
- Abbé Prévost, Manon Lescaut: an immoral tale?
- Manon Lescaut: persuasion and point of view.
- Manon Lescaut: Characterisation – Manon and Des Grieux.
- Conclusion and overview.
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | 134 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 5 | Lectures: Tutor-led presentation of key ideas/introductions to set texts (5 x 1-hour lectures) |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 10 | Seminars: Material to be prepared in advance on guidance from course tutor; short presentations on prepared material will be required on occasion (10 x 1 hour seminars) |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 1 | Conclusion |
| Guided independent study | 134 | Private study |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mini essay | 500 words | 1-11 | Written and oral feedback |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 100 | 2500 words | 1-11 | Written and oral feedback |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | Essay | 1-11 | Referral/Deferral period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
- Racine, Phèdre (1677) (any edition with numbered lines)
- Madame de Lafayette, La Princesse de Clèves (1678) (Gallimard, 2000)
- Marivaux, Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard (1730) (any edition with numbered lines)
- Abbé Prévost, Manon Lescaut (1731) (Gallimard, 2001)
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
- J. Mander, Circles of learning: narratology and the eighteenth-century French novel (Oxford: Voltaire foundation, 1999)
- V. Mylne, The Eighteenth-Century French Novel: Techniques of Illusion (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1965)
- John Lyons, Kingdom of disorder: the theory of tragedy in classical France (West Lafayette (Indiana): Purdue University Press,1999)
- J. Dejean, Tender Geographies: Women and the Origins of the novel in France (New York, Columbia University Press, 1991)
- A. J. Krailsheimer, Studies in Self-Interest from Descartes to La Bruyère (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1962)
- J. Scott, Madame de Lafayette: La Princesse de Cl è ves (London: Grant and Cutler, 1983)
- R. Barthes, Sur Racine (Paris: Seuil, 1963)
- M. Hawcroft, Word as Action: Racine, Rhetoric and Theatrical Language (Oxford: Clarendon Pres, 1992).
| Credit value | 15 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 7.5 |
| Module pre-requisites | MLF1001 or MLF1052 or equivalent |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 5 |
| Available as distance learning? | Yes |
| Origin date | 01/02/2016 |
| Last revision date | 05/02/2019 |