| Module Identifier |
FRM0130 |
| Module Title |
PATHS TO THE ABSOLUTE: FROM SYMBOLISM TO SURREALISM |
| Academic Year |
2002/2003 |
| Co-ordinator |
Dr Andrew J Hussey |
| Semester |
Semester 1 |
| Other staff |
Dr Heather M Williams |
| Pre-Requisite |
Normally degree-level competence in French |
| Course delivery |
Lecture | 7 Hours |
| |
Seminars / Tutorials | 13 Hours |
| Assessment |
Semester Exam | 3 Hours | 60% |
| |
Semester Assessment | essay and commentary on a set text One essay of 2,500 words and one commentary of 1,500 words | 40% |
Learning outcomes
The close attention to poetic language will provide a basis for subsequent study of twentieth-century literature and literary theory.
On completion of this module students will be able to:
-
articulate and understand the historical and philosophical context of debates around modernism
-
describe nineteenth century perspectives of modernism
-
explain relevant critical arguments developed in the avant-gardes in the early part of the twentieth century
-
offer reasoned critical analysis of primary texts, demonstrating independendent of thought
-
use secondary literature with an appropriate level of sophistication
-
demonstrate analytical skills at an appropriate level
-
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
Brief description
This module studies in depth poetic theory and practice from the mid 19th to early 20th Century in France. The four poets 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 in contemporary literary theory as well as the period under consideration.
Aims
The aims of this module are to trace and consider the development of poetic theory and practice from the mid nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. These developments will be with specific reference to French poets concerned with the study of the crisis in representational language (Baudelaire, Mallarme) and the poetic object (Breton, Bataille), two themes which exerted considerable influence on twentieth century literary theory.
Content
Lecture/ Seminar list
Week 1: Paths to the Absolute: an introduction (lecture)
Week 2: The historical context 1857-1898 (lecture and seminar)
Week 3: Poetry and the City: Baudelaire (lecture and seminar)
Week 4: Case study: `Tableaux parisiens? (two seminars)
Week 5: The crisis of metaphysical language: Mallarme (lecture and seminar)
Week 6: Case study: `Prose (pour des Esseintes)? (two seminars)
Week 7: The historical context 1900-1927 (lecture)
Week 8: Symbolism to Surrealism: Andre Breton (lecture and seminar)
Week 9: Case study: `L'rnion libre? and extracts from the `Deuxieme manifeste du surrealisme? (seminar)
Week 10: The inner scar: Georges Bataille (lecture and seminar)
Week 11: Case study: `Tempete des flames? and `L'rxperience interieure? (two seminars)
Week 12: Conclusions (seminar)
Reading Lists
Books
Baudelaire, Charles. (1975)
Oeuvres completes, 2 vols. Paris: Gallimard, Pleiade
Culler, Jonathan. (1990)
Intertextuality and interpretation: Baudelaire' 'correspondances', in 'Nineteenth-Century French Poetry: Introduction to close reading' ed. Christopher Prendergast. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 118-37
Evans, Margery. (1993)
Baudelaire and Intertextuality: Poetry at the crossroads. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Fairlie, Alison. (1960)
Baudelaire: Les Fleurs du mal. London: Edward Arnold
Fairlie, Alison. (1981)
Imagination and Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Johnson, Barbara. (1979)
Defigurations du langage poetique: La seconde revolution baudelairienne. Paris: Flammarion
Prendergast, Christopher.
Paris and the Nineteenth Century. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992, 1995
Mallarme, Stephane. (1992)
Poesies, ed. Bertrand Marchal. Paris: Gallimard
Mallarme, Stephane. (1976)
Igitur, Divagations, Un Coup de des, preface d'Yves Bonnefoy. Paris: Gallimard
Mallarme, Stephane. (1995)
Correspondance complete 1860-1871, ed. Bertrand Marchal. Paris: Gallimard
Scherer, Jacques (ed). (1957)
Le 'Livre' de Mallarme. Paris: Gallimard
Austin, Lloyd James. (1987)
Poetic Principles and Practice: Occasional papers in Baudelaire, Mallarme, Valery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Austin, Lloyd James. (1995)
Essais sur Mallarme, ed. Malcolm Bowie. Manchester: Manchester University Press
Bersani, Leo. (1982)
The Death of Stephane Mallarme. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Bowie, Malcolm. (1978)
Mallarme and the Art of Being Difficult. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Bowie, Malcolm (ed) with Fairlie & Finch. (1982)
Baudelaire, Mallarme, Valery: New essays in honour of Lloyd Austin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Davies, Gardner. (1953)
Vers une explication rationnelle du Coup de des. Paris: Corti
Dayan, peter. (1986)
Mallarme' 'Divine Transposition': Real and apparent sources of literary value. Oxford: Clarendon Press
Derrida, Jacques. (1972)
'La Double seance' in La Dissemination. Paris: Seuil
Genette, Gerard. (1976)
Figures 1. Paris: Seuil
Lloyd, Rosemary. (1984)
Mallarme 'Poesie'. London: Grant & cutler
Marchal, Bertrand. (1988)
La Religion de Mallarme. Paris: Corti
Pearson, Roger. (1996)
Unfolding Mallarme. Oxford: Clarendon Press
Richard, Jean-Pierre. (1961)
L'Univers imaginaire de Mallarme. Paris: Seuil
Robb, Graham. (1996)
Unlocking Mallarme. London: Yale University Press
Scherer, Jacques. (1977)
Grammaire de Mallarme. Paris: Nizet
Charlton, D. G.. (1959)
Positivist Thought in France During the Second Empire 1852-1870. Oxford: Clarendon Press
Lehmann, A. G.. (1950)
The Symbolist Aesthetic in France 1885-1895. Oxford: Basil Blackwell
Scott, Clive. (1988)
The Riches of Rhyme. Oxford: Clarendon Press
Breton, Andre. (1988)
Oeuvres Completes. tome 1. Gallimard
Breton, Andre. (1962)
Manifestes du surrealisme. Paris: Jean-Jacques Pauvert
Breton, Andre. (1965)
Le Surrealisme et la peinture. Paris: Gallimard
Balakian, Anna. (1971)
Andre Breton: Magus of Surrealism. New York
Behar, Henri (ed). (1970)
Andre Breton par lui-meme. Paris
Bonnet, Marguerite. (1975)
Andre Breton, Naissance de l'aventure surrealiste. Paris
Eigeldinger, Marc (ed). (1970)
Andre Breton. Neuchatel
Isou, Isidore. (1948)
Reflexions sur Andre Breton. Paris
Legrand, Gerard. (1976)
Andre Breton et son temps. Paris
Bataille, Georges. (1970)
Oeuvres Completes (Histoire de l'oeil; L'Anus scolaire; Sacrifices) (Arethuse; Documents; La Critique Social; Acephale; Contre-Attaque; College de sociologie). tome I. Premiers ecrits 1922-1940, introduction by Michel Foucault
Batailles, Georges. (1972)
Oeuvres Completes. tome II. Ecrits posthumes 1922-1940
Batailles, Georges. (1973)
Oeuvres Completes (Madame Edwards; Le Petit; L'Archangelique; L'Impossible; Haine de la poesie; L'Orestie; La Scissiparite; L'Abbe C; L'Etre indifferencie n'est rien; Le Bleu du ciel). tome III. Oeuvres litteraires