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UC Center Program Courses - Fall 2008
PCC 123 - Paris in Literature
This course looks at representations of Paris in French literature of the modern period. Readings have been chosen to introduce students to Paris’s multiple and changing identities. The course will place a particular emphasis on the borders, sometimes extremely stable and others somewhat porous, between the different social worlds that make Paris such an interesting, diverse, and culturally important city. Beginning with Balzac’s powerful representation of the city as the locus of power, corruption and social inequality, we will trace key developments in the way French novelists, poets and filmmakers have conceptualized their capital city. We will in the course of the semester become familiar with some of the important literary movements of the modern period: realism (Balzac), naturalism (Zola), surrealism (Breton) etc. [Literature, Comp Lit, Urban Studies, History, French] 6.0 credits.
COURSE MATERIALS
- Honoré de Balzac, Lost Illusions
- Emile Zola, The Ladies' Paradise
- Colette, The Vagabond
- Romain Gary, The Life Before Us
- Course Reader ([CR] hereafter)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Attendance at lectures, section, and site visits is mandatory. It is essential that students attend all classes and participate actively. One unexcused absence is tolerated, but additional ones will result in a lowered final grade.
Reading assignments are critical. Students are expected to read the material as it is assigned and come to class prepared.
Grading
- Participation in class discussion and section & one oral exposé 25%
- Two short papers (3-4 pages) 25 %
- Mid-term exam 25 %
- Final Exam 25%
COURSE SCHEDULE
WEEK 1. September 10-11
Balzac’s Paris, Seen from the Province
Session 1: Introduction
Session 2: Balzac, “The Two Poets,” Part One of Lost Illusions
WEEK 2. September 17-18
Balzac’s Paris and the Return to the Province
Session 1: Balzac, “A Great Man in Embryo” Part Two of Lost Illusions
Session 2: “An Inventor’s Tribulations,” Part Three of Lost Illusions
Michael Lucey, “The Shadow Economy of Queer Social Capital: Lucien de Rubempré and Vautrin.” On Reserve at the Center
WEEK 3. September 24-25
Paris, Poetry, and Politics: Baudelaire and Benjamin
Session 1: Charles Baudelaire, selections from Les Fleurs du Mal and Paris Spleen [CR]
Session 2: Walter Benjamin, “Paris Capital of the Nineteenth Century.” [CR]
WEEK 4. October 1-2 (October 1: First short paper due)
Department Store Shopping and Social Repercussions
Session 1: Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise, Chapters 1-4
Session 2: Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise, Chapters 5-9
Selections from Michael B. Miller, The Bon Marché: Bourgeois Culture and the Department Store, 1869-1920 [CR]
WEEK 5. October 8-9
Shopping (continued) and the Birth of the Modern Intellectual
Session 1: Zola, The Ladies’ Paradise, Chapters 10-14
Session 2: Zola, “J’accuse” [CR]
WEEK 6. October 15-16
Colette: One woman’s liberation into the Belle Epoque
Session 1: Colette, The Vagabond
Session 2: Colette, The Vagabond
WEEK 7. October 22-23
Midterm Review and Exam
WEEK 8. November 5-6
Lyricism and Painting from Montmartre: Apollinaire, Jacob
Session 1: Poems by Apollinaire and Max Jacob [CR]
Surrealist Paris and Elsewhere
Session 2: André Breton, “Manifesto of Surrealism.” Poems by Robert Desnos. [CR]
WEEK 9. November 12-13
Session 1: Poems by Desnos and Eluard.
Session 2: Aimé Césaire, Notebook of a return to the Native Land [CR]
WEEK 10. November 19-20 (November 19 – Second Paper Due)
Americans (and others) in Paris
Session 1: Readings from Hemingway, Gertrude Stein. [CR]
Session 2: Readings from James Baldwin, Gail Scott [CR]
Second Short Paper Due
WEEK 11. November 26-27
French Multiculturalism avant la lettre?: Romain Gary’s The Life Before Us
Session 1: Romain Gary, The Life Before Us
Session 2: Romain Gary, The Life Before Us
WEEK 12. December 3-4
The Game of Love and Chance in the Banlieue: Marivaux and Kéchiche
Session 1: Marivaux, The Game of Love and Chance [CR]
Session 2: Film: L’esquive
WEEK 13. December 10-14
Final exam
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