| Module Identifier |
FRM0330 |
| Module Title |
PROBLEMS OF REPRESENTATION IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF MODERNITY |
| Academic Year |
2001/2002 |
| Co-ordinator |
Dr Andrew Hussey |
| Semester |
Semester 2 |
| Other staff |
Dr Heather Williams |
| Course delivery |
Lecture | 12 Hours |
| Assessment |
Continuous assessment | Essay of 2500 words and commentary of 1500 words on a set text | 40% |
| |
Exam | 3 Hours | 60% |
Brief description
This module studies in depth the development of theories and practice of representation from the late eighteenth century to the late twentieth century. The four writers will be considered both as theorists and practitioners. Close critical reading of their work will provide students with a detailed knowledge of the issues and debates around contemporary critical discussion of mimesis, as well as the periods under consideration.
Learning outcomes
On completion of this module students will be able to:
-
articulate and understand debates around the literary representation of reality
-
describe eighteenth-century theories of mimesis
-
trace the development of these theories in the nineteenth century
-
relate these theories to twentieth-century critical thinking
-
offer critical analysis of primary texts
-
use secondary literature with an appropriate level of sophistication
-
acquire and demonstrate analytical skills
-
read critically, with a sensitivity to language or 'textuality'
-
demonstrate a sophisticated grasp of the relationship between form and content
Those students who wish to go on with their studies should be able to demonstrate that they have a solid foundation for postgraduate research.
The learning outcomes above will be explicitly tested by the independent research, undertaken on the student's own personal initiative, and production of the essay. Both forms of assessment specifically consolidate developments and debates covered in the course. The 3 hour examination will be designed to test further the students' acquisition of the outcomes described.
Syllabus
week 1: The painting of modern life: an introduction
week 2: Diderot and mimesis
week 3: The case of 'Jacques le Fataliste'
week 4: The 'Golden Age' of the Realist novel
week 5: The decadent Reality: Huysmans' 'A Rebours'
week 6: Student presentations
week 7: Poetry and plagiarism: the case of Lautréamont
week 8: 'The Society of the Spectacle': cinema and revolution
week 9: 'Commentaries on the Society of the Spectacle': reading Guy Debord
week 10: 'The World is Illusion': The last words of Guy Debord
week 11: Student presentations and Conclusions (two sessions)
Reading Lists
Books
Baudelaire, Charles. (1975)
'Le peintre de la vie moderne', in Oeuvres completes, vol. 2. Gallimard
Clark, T. J.. (1985)
The Painting of Modern Life, Paris in the Art of Manet and his followers. Thames and Hudson
Prendergast, Christopher. (1986)
The Order of Mimesis. Cambridge University Press
Prendergast, Christopher. (1992)
Paris and the Nineteenth Century. Blackwell
Diderot, Denis. (1962)
'Jacques le Fataliste' in Oeuvres romanesques. Garnier
Diderot, Denis. (1968)
selected pieces from 'Oeuvres esthétiques', ed Vernière. Garnier
Diderot, Denis. (1961)
selected pieces from 'Oeuvres philosophiques', ed Vernière. Garnier
Diderot, Denis. (1984)
selected pieces from 'Salon de 1765' , ed Bukdahl and Lorenceau. Hermann
Bremner, G.. (1983)
Order and Chance: The Pattern of Diderot' Thought. Cambridge University Press
Bremner, G.. (1985)
Diderot: 'Jacques le Fataliste'. Grant & Cutler
Brewer, Daniel. (1993)
The Discourse of Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century France: Diderot and the Art of Philosoophizing. Cambridge University Press
Chouillet, Jacques. (1973)
La Formation des idées esthétiques de Diderot. Armand Colin
France, Peter. (1983)
Diderot [Past Masters].
Pruner, F.. (1970)
L'Unité secrete de 'Jacques le Fataliste'. Minard
Rousseau, Nicolas. (1997)
Diderot: L'écriture Romanesque à l'épreuve du sensible. Champion
Smietanski, Jacques. (1965)
Le Réalisme dans 'Jacques le Fataliste'. Nizet
Huysmans, J.-K.. (1978)
A Rebours. Garnier-Flammarion
Birkett, Jennifer. (1986)
The Sins of the Fathers: Decadence in France, 1870-1914. Quartet
Brombert, Victor. (1975)
La Prison romantique: essai su l'imaginaire. Corti
Cogny, P.. (1953)
J.-K. Huysmans à la recherché de l'unité. Corti
Doyle, Natalie. (1992-93)
'Against Modernity: The decadent voyage in Huysmans' A Rebours', in Romance Studies, 21.
Lloyd, Christopher. (1990)
J.-K. Huysmans and the 'Fin-de-siècle'. Edinburgh University Press
Matthews, J. H.. (1988-89)
André Breton, J.-K.Huysmans, 'ces abominables Zola et autres' in Nineteenth-Century French Studies, 17.
Zayed, Fernande. (1973)
Huysmans peintre de son époque. Nizet
Ducasse, Isidore. (1985)
comte de Lautréamont, Chants de Maldoror. Garnier-Flammarion
Soulier, Jean-Pierre. (1977)
Lautréamont: génie ou maladie mentale. Nizet
de Haes, Frans. (1986)
Images de Lautréamont: Isidore Ducasse, comte de Lautréamont; histoire d'une renommée et état de la question. PUF
Debord, Guy. (1993)
La société du spectacle. Gallimard
Debord, Guy (with Gianfranco Sanguenetti).
La véritable scission dans l'Internationale. Champ Libre, 1972 (reprinted Arthème Fayard, 1998)
Debord, Guy.
Panégyrique. vol. 1. Gérard Lebovici, 1989 (reprinted Gallimard, 1993)
Debord, Guy. (1997)
Panégyrique. vol. 2. Arthème Fayard
Agamben, Giorgio. (1998)
'Le cinema de Guy Debord', in Image et mémoire. Hoebeke
Apostolidès, Jean-Marie. (1998)
Les Tombeaux de Guy Debord. Exils Éditeurs
Clark, Timothy and Donald Nicholson-Smith. (1997)
'Why Art Can' Kills the Situationist International', in October, 79.
Dumontier, Pascal. (1990)
Les Situationanistes et mai 68: Théorie et pratique de la révolution 1966-1972. Gérard Lebovici
Guilbert, Cécile. (1996)
Pour Guy Debord. Gallimard
Guilbert, Cécile. (2000)
Le Musée Nationale. Gallimard
Hussey, Andrew. (2001)
The Game of War, The Life and Death of Guy Debord. Jonathan Cape
Hussey, Andrew. (2000)
'La Divinité d'Isou': The making of a name and a messiah, in Forum for Modern Language Studies. vol. XXXVI. Oxford University Press
Hussey, Andrew. (2000)
La guerre de l'art: L'art de la guerre. Les exilés situationnistes et pré-situationnistes, in Autour de la création de l'internationale situationniste. Éditions Sulliver
Hussey, Andrew. (1999)
Abolish everything!, in The London Review of Books.
Marcus, Greil. (1989)
Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twenthieth Century. Harvard University Press
Marmande, Francis. (1994)
Guy Debord, esthète de la subversion, in Le Monde.
Mension, Jean-Michel. (1998)
La Tribu. Allia
Guy Debord (film). (1973)
La société du spectacle. Simar Films, Paris
Guy Debord (film). (1995)
Guy Debord, son art et son temps. Canal + Television, Paris