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Academic Year 2000/2001

From Perfectibility to Sadism: Reason and Its Discontents
FREN 253 FA

To what extent was the Enlightenment universal? Who were the dissenting voices in 18th-century French literature and thought? What is the anti-Enlightenment? During the first half of the semester, we will identify the basic tenets of les Lumieres: the belief in humankind's perfectibility, the certitude that knowledge leads to progress, and the conviction that the human condition was somehow universal. In the second half of this course, the fissures in such an all-encompassing program will be cataloged, first by examining how such optimistic notions contrast markedly with discourses on race and the status of women in 18th-century France. We will also read a series of writers who disavowed Enlightenment philosophy by preaching debauchery and/or nihilisti c views of the human condition. This course will also include a slide lecture of European views of Africa and discussion of the Metropolitan Museum of Art film "The Eighteenth-Century Woman."

MAJOR READINGS

L'ENCYCLOPEDIE (selections) Buffon, L'HISTOIRE NATURELLE (selections) Voltaire, ZADIG and selections from "Dictionnaire Philosophique" Beaumarchais, LE MARIAGE DE FIGARO Retif de la Bretonne, LA PAYSANNE PERVERTIE Diderot, LE NEVEU DE RAMEAU Olympe de Gouges, LE DANGER DES PREJUGES and selections from her "Pamphlets Revolutionnaires" La Mettrie, "L'Homme Machine" (selections) Sad, LA PHILOSOPHIE DANS LE BOUDOIR

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Two five page essays, final take home essay.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This course is intended for students who have completed a French course numbered 215 or higher, preferably 223 or 224. Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA RLAN    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-26-2001

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