Module FREN3411: ETHICS AND VIOLENCE IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN FRENCH CULTURE

Department: Modern Language and Cultures (French)

FREN3411: ETHICS AND VIOLENCE IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN FRENCH CULTURE

Prerequisites

• French Language 2 (FREN2051) OR equivalent qualifications to the satisfaction of the Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative. AND any level 2 MLAC cultural module

Corequisites

• Modern Languages, Combined Honours and all Joint and 'with' programmes: French Language 4 (FREN3041) or French Language 4 following Year Abroad (FREN3351). Other: see Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• to offer an advanced course in French literature of the medieval and early modern periods
• to enable students to reflect critically on relationships between literature and history, and on the specifications of 'literary' texts in understanding the past
• to enable students to analyse relationships between literature, on the one hand, and war and conflict, on the other
• to develop students' critical and analytical skills in relation to various genres

Content

• Analysis of a small selection of medieval and early modern works (which will vary from year to year)
• Introduction to medieval and early modern conflict within or involving France – feuds, baronial revolts, crusades, the Wars of Religion, national rivalries, the New World
• Sustained focus on relationships between literature and history - on what particular 'literary' material can tell us about historical periods (e.g. ideals and anxieties, fantasies and fears) which other historical objects cannot, and on how they do this

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the course students will have:
• knowledge of important French texts
• knowledge of two crucial periods in French history and literary history
• knowledge of innovative approaches to analysing relationships between literature and conflict, and between literature and history

• development of critical skills - reading of primary texts to detect ideological messages
• ability to relate works judisciously to overarching themes of conflict and war
• ability to analyse imaginatively and rigorously relationships between literature and history
• ability to critique secondary material

• critical and analytical
• essay-writing and commentary
• structuring of arguments
• independent learning

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

• fortnightly seminar in small groups, focussing on student-led critical analysis of works
• weekly lecture which will be used both to provide historical information and also to analyse primary (and occasionally secondary) material
• students learn in the module to develop sustained analytical arguments, meaning that essays are the most appropriate assessment method. The module focuses primarily on literary texts, but surrounds them with contextual material, mainly historical in nature, which functions as an interpretative grid. Students are expected to reach understanding of the literary texts in their historical context, as interventions in cultural debates about the relationship between ethics and violence. Essays allow the students to demonstrate mastery of a broad range of material, both the core literary texts and contextual information

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