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UC Center Program
Fall 2004
PCC 123. Paris as Literature
French Writing in the 19th and 20th Century
| Monday 16:00-18:00 |
Prof. Alison Rice |
| Wednesday 9:00 - 11:00 |
Office Hours TBA |
This course will examine French novels, poetry, and essays (in English translation) from the 19th and 20th centuries that feature the city of Paris. We will focus on the various ways in which the French capital is represented in writing, beginning with the work of Balzac, Zola, and Baudelaire, including writings of Apollinaire, Aragon, and Perec, and concluding with the fiction of Calixthe Beyala. These diverse texts denote the city at different periods and shed light on accompanying historical, social, architectural, artistic, and cultural developments. Our close readings of these works will include analysis of the literary movements to which these publications belong; we will examine other creative works in art and music that characterize these movements as well, from realism to surrealism. The course will involve guest speakers who will address literary topics as well as a number of visits to sites in Paris that correspond to the novels, poems, and essays under study; these visits will be informed by our readings, but they will also inform our readings. The course is intended to work in both directions, to reveal that texts influence our relationship to the city, and that the city influences our relationship to texts. The course will illuminate the manner in which the rich and diverse urban center of Paris has provided inspiration for and drawn inspiration from literature over the past two centuries.[Comp Lit, Urban Studies, History, French] 6.0 Credits
COURSE BOOKS
- Honoré de Balzac, Illusions perdues (1837-1843), Lost Illusions, Penguin Books.
- Émile Zola, Au Bonheur des dames (1883), The Ladies' Paradise, Oxford World's Classics.
- Louis Aragon, Le Paysan de Paris (1926), Paris Peasant, Exact Change.
- Georges Perec, W ou le souvenir de l'enfance (1975), W. or the Memory of Chilhood, The Harvill Press.
- Calixthe Beyala, Le Petit prince de Belleville (1992), Loukoum, The 'Little Prince' of Belleville, Heinemann.
- A Course Reader containing all assigned texts.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
| Participation in class discussion and brief in-class assignments |
15 % |
| Two short papers |
25 % |
| Term paper (8-10 pages) |
35 % |
| Final examination |
25 % |
COURSE SCHEDULE
Week 1. September 13-17.
First Session: INTRODUCTION: Paris in French literature of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Second Session: The Rise of Realism
- BALZAC (1799-1850). Illusions perdues (1837; 1839; 1843), trans. Lost Illusions.
- “Publishing Novels: The Last Part of Honoré de Balzac’s Illusions Perdues Begins to Appear in Serial Form” [CR]
Week 2. September 20-24
First Session: Exploring the social and political climate of Paris in Balzac’s time
- BALZAC continued. Lost Illusions.
- “Restoration to Revolution: 1815-48” [CR]
First two-page response paper due
Second Session:
- BALZAC completed.
- VISIT to the Quartier Latin and the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève*
Week 3. September 27-October 1.
First Session: The Transformation of the City: Architecture and Consumerism
- ZOLA (1840-1902). Au Bonheur des dames (1883), translated as The Ladies’ Paradise.
- “Haussmann’s Paris and the Revolution of Representation” [CR]
Second Session:
- Article on L’Assommoir and Nana: “Nature, Society, and the Discourse of Class” [CR]
Week 4. October 4-8.
First Session: Zola and Naturalism
- ZOLA completed. The Ladies’ Paradise
- VISIT to Les Grands Boulevards and department stores*
Second Session: Paris and the Invention of the Flâneur
- BAUDELAIRE (1821-1867). Selected poems from Les Fleurs du Mal (1857), translated as The Flowers of Evil. [CR]
- “Capital of Alienation” in Paris : Capital of the World [CR]
Week 5. October 11-15.
First session: Reading the City through Verse, or the Avant-Garde in Poetry
- APOLLINAIRE (1880-1918). Selected poems from Alcools (1913) and Calligrammes (1918) with a focus on “Le pont Mirabeau” (“The Mirabeau Bridge”) and “Zone.” [CR]
- “Lyrical Ideograms” [CR]
Second Session: Coming upon Surrealism, or the Avant-Garde in Prose
- Introducing Surrealism: Article “From Text to Performance: André Breton Publishes the Manifeste du surréalisme” [CR]
- ARAGON (1897-1982). Le Paysan de Paris (1926), translated as Paris Peasant.
Short paper (4-5 pages)
Week 6. October 18-22.
First Session: Deeper into Surrealist Paris
- Completion of Paris Peasant .
- “The Surrealists’ Quest” [CR]
Second Session: Life and City Intertwined
- PEREC (1936-1982). Excerpts from La Vie mode d’emploi (1978) [CR]
- Passages from Espèces d’espaces (1974) [CR]
- “ Reading Badly to Avoid Feeling” [CR]
Week 8. November 8-11.
First Session: Paris Underground through the Ages.
- Excerpts from Victor Hugo, Les Misérables (1862); Gaston Leroux, Le Fantôme de l’Opéra (1910) [CR]
Second Session: Guest Speaker.
- Régis Salado, Paris VII. “Paris and the Twentieth-Century Writer”
Week 9. November 15-19
First Session: Guest Speaker.
- Etel Adnan, Novelist, Poet, Artist, Critic.
“Women Writers in Paris ”
Second Session: VISIT to the Paris Sewer (Pont de l’Alma) and/or Opéra Garnier, Catacombs
One-page outline of Term Paper due
Week 10. November 22-26.
First Session: Guest Speaker.
- Mireille Calle-Gruber, Paris VIII. “May 1968 and the Intellectual in Paris ”
Second Session: Women’s Writing in post-1968 France
- “French Feminism” by Jane Gallop [CR]
- “From order to adventure: women’s fiction since 1970” by Leslie Hill [CR]
- “The Laugh of the Medusa” by Hélène Cixous [CR]
Week 11. November 29-December 3.
First Session: Guest Speaker.
- “Paris and the Post-Colonial Writer”
Second Session: The Immigrant’s Experience in Paris
- BEYALA (1961-). Le Petit Prince de Belleville (1992), Loukoum, The ‘Little Prince’ of Belleville . [CR]
Week 12. December 6-December 10.
First Session: The Immigrant’s Experience in Paris – Part II.
- BEYALA completed.
- “Calixthe Beyala and the Post-Colonial Woman” [CR]
Second Session: VISIT to Belleville
Last week of classes and final exams . December 13-17.
First Session: Review for final exam
Term Paper due
Second Session: Final exam
*marks double session with visit
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