Gwybodaeth Modiwlau

Academic rationale:
The aim of this module is to study the various forms of self-writing in France during the 18th and 19th century. Students will establish links both with literary and philosophical conceptions of Classicism, Enlightenment, Romanticism and Realism, and with contemporary theories of the self and of self-writing. The objectives of this module are to provide students with critical reading skills, and to enable them to approach critically notions such as the "autobiographical pact", differentiate between various "clear" and "mixed" forms of self-writing, and recognize the long-term intellectual and stylistic development during these centuries towards the recognition of the "personal" and of the "intimate".

Module aims:
Providing students with reading and analytical skills for the interpretation of autobiographic/auto-fictional texts. Raising their awareness against anachronistic readings; providing key skills in literary analysis. Establishing links between intellectual movements and literature during the 18th-19th centuries.

Week 1: Introduction (la notion de l'autobiographie et les formes voisines)
Les mémoires de l'époque classique
Week 2: Rousseau (Introduction)
Rousseau ( « Confessions » - le projet)
Week 3: Rousseau (étude de textes)
Rousseau (Des « Confessions » jusqu'aux « Rêveries du promeneur solitaire »)
Week 4: Restif de La Bretonne (Introduction)
Restif de La Bretonne (cycle Monsieur Nicolas)
Week 5: Restif de La Bretonne (Sara)
Restif de La Bretonne (étude de texte - « Je suis un livre vivant »)
Week 6: Chateaubriand (Introduction)
Chateaubriand (« Mémoires d'outre-tombe » - études de texte)
Week 7: Chateaubriand (Conclusion)
Stendhal (Introduction)
Week 8: Stendhal et l'écriture du soi (Composition
Stendhal ( « Mémoires d'égotisme »)
Week 9: Vallès (introduction)
Vallès ( « L'enfant »)
Week 10: L'écriture autobiographique (Bilan critique)
Conclusions générales, discussion