Module FREN3311: 'GALANTERIE AND 'LIBERTINAGE' IN 17TH-CENTURY AND 18TH-CENTURY FRENCH CULTURE

Department: Modern Language and Cultures (French)

FREN3311: 'GALANTERIE AND 'LIBERTINAGE' IN 17TH-CENTURY AND 18TH-CENTURY FRENCH CULTURE

Prerequisites

• French Language 2 (FREN2051) OR French Language 2 [for those taking a year abroad] (FREN 2071) or an equivalent qualification to the satisfaction of the Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative.

Corequisites

• French Language 4 (FREN 3041)

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• This module aims to deepen students' knowledge of 17th- and 18th-century French culture, through the study of two specific movements: 'Galanterie' and 'Libertinage', which will be explored through a broad range of texts and genres, including poetry, the epistolary genre, theatre and pictorial art.
• This module also aims to prompt students to think about the influence of these movements on the formation of French civilisation. Therefore, it is a module more suited to final-year students than the second-year module Fren 2021, '17th- and 18th-Century French Literature', which is restricted to introducing the literature of these two centuries.

Content

• The trends called 'Galanterie' and 'Libertinage' developed in the context of the return of peace, which permitted the blossoming of French civilisation, allowing aristocrats, artists and scholars to gather in circles or 'salons'. The terms ‘Galanterie’ and ‘Libertinage’ refer to various and sometimes ambiguous realities.
• 'Galanterie' was first a social current which promoted civility and politeness as paramount values through a model of distinguished behaviour. But, in an attempt to seduce both intellectually and at times physically, it sometimes drifted towards a licentious attitude. Thus it relates to 'Libertinage', which was originally a current of ideas aiming to take liberties with religious dogma. However, as it spread across the seventeenth century, 'Libertinage' broadened its claim to that of liberty of thought and act. Showing both a side which respects proprieties and a subversive side, these currents join in the celebration of hedonism.
• Unlike 'Classicism', which is a term created after the period to which it refers, 'Galanterie' and 'Libertinage' were terms used by the exponents of these movements, who have fostered a very diverse literary tradition.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module the student should be able to demonstrate an understanding of the impact which the currents of ‘Galanterie’ and ‘Libertinage’ had upon French society from Louis XIII until Louis XV, and upon literary and pictorial works of the period.

• By the end of the module students should have improved their competence in the French language (the module will be conducted entirely in French), and their skills of literary analysis.

• The student should demonstrate an ability to undertake a critical reading of literary texts and to structure arguments clearly.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures will provide information relating to historical, cultural and political context, primary authors, and will introduce methods of literary and pictorial analyse.
• Seminar work will develop close reading skills and involve discussion of selected parts of works as well as overviews of texts.
• Coursework in the form of essays and commentaries will enable students to demonstrate and develop their knowledge of French 17th- and 18th-century society and its dominant aesthetics.
• A final examination will allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of particular set texts.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

None

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University