Module FREN3441: Desiring Monsters

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures (French)

FREN3441: Desiring Monsters

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 canonical and less studied texts;
• To consider the ethical and political implications of the fascination sometimes exerted by the monstrou

Content

• This module explores the culture of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century France
• The focus will be on monsters as figures of alterity who raise questions about belief, knowledge, and social equilibrium as well as the politicized manipulation of what is construed as other and potential ethical engagements with difference
• Students will explore monsters’ 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, many 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 providing key antecedents and context 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 monsters raises questions about faith and knowledge of the self and the world;
• A historicized understanding of Renaissance epistemologies

• 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;
• Ability to think critically about the social construction of alterity.

• 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

• Weeky lectures and fortnightly seminars, with some seminars in the Palace Green Library;
• Assessment will be by two summative essays that 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 and seminars will be primarily in English with most primary readings in French and secondary and contextual/theoretical readings in French and in English
• 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 feedback on the structure and development of their ideas.

■ 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