Module Identifier FR32220  
Module Title NINETEENTH CENTURY FRENCH NOVEL  
Academic Year 2002/2003  
Co-ordinator Professor David A Trotter  
Semester Semester 1  
Course delivery Lecture   10 Hours  
  Seminars / Tutorials   10 Hours  
Assessment Semester Exam   2 Hours   60%  
  Semester Assessment   Continuous Assessment: Two essays of 1500 - 2000 words each   40%  

Learning outcomes

Students will have a solid grounding in the 'genre' of the novel, and will be able to approach the novel critically and read with a sensitivity to the literary techniques employed by realist novelists. They will be able to approach a text with some theoretical awareness, and have a sophisticated grasp of the relationship between form and content.

Brief description

This module tackles key canonical texts from the golden age of the realist novel, giving students a grounding in the nineteenth-century novel, and an insight into an era of rapid modernisation in French society. Lectures will provide an introduction to the historical context: the place and role of literature in a rapidly changing socio-political situation, and the history of the novel form. Appropriate theoretical frameworks will also be introduced. Seminars will focus on aesthetic issues relating to realism, developing students' analytical and close-reading skills.

Reading Lists

Books
** Essential Reading
Balzac, Honore de. Eugenie Grandet.
Stendhal. Le Rouge et le Noir.
Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary.