Module FREN3431: FICTIONS OF HISTORY: NARRATIVE, FILM AND EVENT IN RENAISSANCE FRANCE

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures (French)

FREN3431: FICTIONS OF HISTORY: NARRATIVE, FILM AND EVENT IN RENAISSANCE FRANCE

Prerequisites

• French Language 2 (FREN2051) and one French cultural module, preferably but not necessarily FREN2031; or equivalent qualification to the satisfaction of the Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or or his/her representative.

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

• Develop cultural awareness of Renaissance France through history, film and literature;
• Study key moments in the cultural and political history of early modern France;
• Develop an appreciation of the problems of narration and interpretation in relation to early modern France’s cultural production.

Content

• This course introduces Final Year students to the kinds of reflection that have revolutionised our understanding of what it means to write history in the early modern period. Critical thinkers ranging from Certeau and Veyne in France to Greenblatt and Davis in America have challenged the notion of the objectivity of historical writing and shown how history is created by the narrative that tells it.
• History is a story; narration produces event. This course centres on four historical moments from the period 1550-1600 of significance for our understanding of how documents were used to shape events, rather than merely to reflect them.
• The approach adopted here is indebted to Hollier’s New History of French Literature, where the discursive narration of literary history is discarded in favour of concentration on key moments. These key moments will include the French explorations in the New World, cases of witchcraft and exorcism, and the Wars of Religion.
• The common thread linking all these episodes is an encounter with the Other seen as a threat to civil, political, cultural or religious order and stability. In each case, our analysis will set contemporary historical and literary documents from the early modern period side by side with a present-day film of the event and with selected literary-theoretical writing about it in order to study several narrations and interpretations of the same topic.

Learning Outcomes

• Knowledge of the relationship between Renaissance literature and history and the events that constitute their contextual specificity;
• Knowledge of how film can contribute to our understanding of particular historical episodes;
• Knowledge of the question of representation and how it affects our interpretation of historical events;
• Knowledge of the central problem of the Other in an age of discovery and transition.

• Ability to evaluate critically various models of historical understanding;
• Ability to analyse the relationship between history, film and narrative, based on textual and cinematographic features and thematic concerns;
• Ability to make appropriate use of both primary and secondary material in critical assessments.

• Critical and analytical;
• Essay writing;
• Structuring of arguments;
• Independent learning and research.

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

• The module will be taught intensively either in Term I or in Term II on a 'short-fat 'basis.
• Lectures (twice weekly) will deliver key information about the module
• A weekly seminar with smaller groups will allow for individual presentations and active discussions
• This format responds to student feedback gained in SSCC and NSS responses

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