Module Identifier FRM0230  
Module Title LITERATURE AND EVIL: TRANSGRESSION AND THE AVANT-GARDE  
Academic Year 2006/2007  
Co-ordinator To Be Arranged  
Semester Intended for use in future years  
Next year offered N/A  
Next semester offered N/A  
Course delivery Lecture   12 Hours.  
Assessment
Assessment TypeAssessment Length/DetailsProportion
Semester Exam3 Hours  60%
Semester Assessment Continuous Assessment: Essay of 2500 words plus commentary of 1500 words on a set text  40%

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module students will be able to:

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

The notion of 'transgression' is a central theme in French twentieth-century literature related to avant-garde theory. More specifically it is a term which for many French theorists has changed meaning through the course of the century as criticism and critical theory has sought to establish new modules of thought and behaviour. The aim of this module is to examine and analyse the shifting meaning of this term in a selection of texts which engage with specific historical or philosophical debates in avant-garde circles. The theme of transgression will therefore be studied with regard to the novelistic practice of Georges Bataille, Jean Genet, Michel Houellebecq alongside articles by key critics and commentators.

Content

week 1: Evil words: Transgression and the Avant-Garde: an introduction
week 2: 'The Cut': Reading Bataille's 'Histoire de l'oeil'
week 3: 'Visions of Excess': The case of Madame Edwarda
week 4: 'Bataille apres tout': Bataille in critical context
week 5: 'Je nomme violence une audace...': Genet and the cult of inversion
week 6: Bataille's reading of 'Le Journal du Voleur'
week 7: Derrida' reading of 'Le Journal du Voleur'
week 8: 'L'Animal Omega': The Moral Universe of Michel Houellebecq
week 9: 'Standard regime': Houellebecq as poet and prophet
week 10: Post-modern fictions
week 11: Student presentations and Conclusions (two sessions)

Reading Lists

Books
Andrew Hussey Animal Omega: The Dubious Moral Universe of Michel Houellebecq, Planet 142, pp. 22-32
Andrew Hussey (2000) The Inner Scar: The Mysticism of Georges Bataille Rodopi
Bettina L. Knap (1968) Jean Genet Columbia University Press
Elisabeth Barille (1997) Laure, La Sainte de l'abime Flammarion
Georges Bataille (1957) 'Genet' in La Litterature et le mal Gallimard
Georges Bataille (1982) Histoire de l'oeil Gallimard
Georges Bataille (1957) La Litterature et le mal Gallimard
Georges Bataille (1982) Madame Edwarda Gallimard
Jacques Derrida 'De l'economie restreinte a l'economie generale: un hegelianisme sans reserves' in L'Arc, 32 (1967), pp.24-24. Reprinted in L'Ecriture et la difference in Editions du Seuil, 1967, pp.369-409
Jacques Derrida (1967) De la Grammatologie, p. 214 Gallimard
Jacques Derrida (1974) Glas Galilee
Jacques Derrida (1987) Psyche, Inventions de l'autre Galilee
Jean Genet (1978) Le Journal du Voleur Gallimard
Jeanette L. Savona (1979) Jean Genet Macmillan
Jerome Peignot (ed.) (1978) Laure, Ecrits, fragments, lettres Jean-Jacques Pauvert
Malcolm Bowie (1976) 'La Crue de L. Finas' in French Studies, no. 30, pp. 496-497
Martin Jay (1994) Downcast Eyes University of California Press
Maurice Blanchot (1955) L'Espace litteraire Gallimard
Michel Houellebecq (1998) Les Particules Elementaires Flammarion
Michel Houellebecq (1996) Rester Vivant Flammarion
Michel Leiris (1988) L'Age d'homme Gallimard
Michel Onfray 'L'ecriture est une fete' Revue Perpendiculaire 4, pp. 5-12
Patrick ffrench (1995) The Time of Theory Clarendon Press
Philippe Forest (1995) Histoire de Tel Quel Editions du Seuil
Pierre-Jean Jouve (1985) Vagadu Gallimard
Susan Rubin Suleiman (1986) 'Pornography, Transgression and the Avant-garde: Bataille's Story of the Eye' in The Poetics of Gender, ed. Nancy K. Miller, pp. 117-38 Columbia University Press

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7