Module FREN3441: Androgynes, Witches, and Monsters in the French Renaissance

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures (French)

FREN3441: Androgynes, Witches, and Monsters in the French Renaissance

Prerequisites

• French Language 2 (FREN2051) OR an equivalent qualification to the satisfaction of the Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative

Corequisites

• Modern Languages, Combined Honours and all Joint ‘with’ programmes: French Language 4 (FREN 3041). Other: see Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To explore some of the central religious, social, and political concerns of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century France as they are reflected through key figures of alterity;
• To explore questions of Renaissance faith, semiotics, and epistemology through these texts;
• To explore Montaigne’s engagement with monsters and witches

Content

• This module explores the culture of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century France.
• The focus will be three contested figures of alterity that raise overlapping questions about belief, knowledge, and social equilibrium: androgynes, witches, and monsters.
• Students will study androgynes as symbols both of cosmic harmony and of political disorder and as medical phenomena revealing period understandings of sex and gender.
• The analyses of witches will consider period debates about their powers and their very existence as well as modern explanations of the early modern phenomenon including in particular their relationship to other figures of cultural difference including Jews and cannibals.
• As for monsters, students will explore their wide-ranging function as signs of the marvellous, God’s wrath, the diversity of God’s creation, and the power of human imagination. Primary readings, some of which have images, will include selections from canonical authors and less known writers and will range from novellas and anecdotes to treatises and essays.
• Additional readings will include classical and medieval materials as well as modern critical and historical works.
• Through culturally and critically informed analyses of the primary texts, students will look for—but not necessarily find—overarching and potentially evolving patterns of thought.

Learning Outcomes

• Critical knowledge and understanding of a range of texts both visual and verbal, offering an insight into Renaissance French culture;
• A grounding in the social and intellectual history of Renaissance France;
• An understanding of how Renaissance literature on androgynes, witches, and monsters raises questions about religious faith and knowledge of the self and the world.

• Critical analysis and close readings of a variety of literary genres, as well as visual art;
• Practice reading Middle French;
• Critical engagement with secondary scholarship;
• Ability to think across disciplines, drawing links between cultural material and social history.

• Critical and analytical thinking
• Essay-writing and oral presentation
• Structuring of arguments
• Independent learning and research

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

• Lectures and seminars, with some seminars in the Palace Green Library;
• Assessment will be by two summative essays which will reflect the intended learning outcomes, namely critical understanding of texts and images based on close reading, and a broader cultural, critical and theoretical awareness.
• Lectures will be primarily in English while seminars will be primarily in French.
• The module will be capped according to School norms.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Students will give oral presentations in seminars and will receive oral feedback and on the structure, presentation, and ongoing development of their ideas. They will in this way prepare for summative work.

■ 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