Storm Revised Version

420
Spring 2007
Reid
STV 202
T 5:30-8:40
Office: 215 Stevenson
 438-7894
E-Mail: jhreid@ilstu.edu
Reid Homepage: http://lilt.ilstu.edu/jhreid/
Course Homepage: http://lilt.ilstu.edu/jhreid/FrenchRealistNovel/homepage.htm
Office Hours: T/R11-1 or by appt.

A.  GENERAL AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

      This course provides the opportunity for an in-depth study of representative nineteenth-century French "realist" and "naturalist" novels and of their relation to their historical, social, and cultural contexts.  The course examines the nineteenth-century concept of the novel as a genre that entertains a distinctive relationship to the specific historical period in which it is written.  The three novels that we will read -- Le Père Goriot, Mme Bovary, and Germinal -- present themselves as representations and even products of a socio-cultural period of French history, which brought to the fore the notions of the individual as having equal value with society and of a bourgeois society that influences or even determines individual life in a linear fashion, bringing about progress.  The century began to ask the question:  To what extent are we free or determined by the structures of contemporary society and of the historical forces that are transforming it?  Nineteenth century France gave an increasing value to science and technology as that which make possible economic, social, and political progress, particularly in the form of the Industrial Revolution.  The French realist novel also valued systematic observation of the social milieu in which the story takes place and its on influence on or by specific characters.  Some realist novelists even felt that their novels could help bring about social and scientific progress.

The general objectives of this course are: 

1) to provide knowledge about the nineteenth-century novel and  the cultural (social, political, economic, historical, and philosophical) discourses that informed its writing; 

2) to practice and refine the critical thinking skills necessary to produce knowledge about the literary text and its relation to its social, cultural, and historical context.


B.  SCHEDULE:
*All assigned passages in the novels and critical texts are to be read by the day assigned.

Jan. 16  Introduction:  The French Revolution, Restoration France, romanticism, and the birth of the realist novel, Goriot 403-05 (photocopy); Chronologie du 19ème siècle; Constructing Reality:  Realist Techniques

Individual ambition and power
Jan. 23 Le Père Goriot 21-118   Le Père Goriot 1. Begin reading Culler, Literary Theory, Chapter 6, "Narrative." "Homo economicus" 

Jan. 30 Le Père Goriot 118-229 (top) Le Père Goriot 2,    Finish reading Culler, Chapter 6, "Narrative."


Feb. 6  Le Père Goriot 229-367 Le Père Goriot 3.  Read Georg Lukács, Studies in European Realism, pp. 47-64
Individual Failure and Art
 Feb. 13 Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary 1. 23-104  Read Culler, Chp. 8, "Identity, Identification, and the Subject."  Make appointment to talk about term paper during this week, PROSPECTUS GUIDELINES
 

Feb. 20 Madame Bovary 2. 107-82 82.  Read passages on Madame Bovary in Brombert, The Novels of Flaubert.


Feb. 27 Madame Bovary 3. 183-275  PROSPECTUS FOR TERM PAPER DUE


Mar. 6  Madame Bovary 4. 276-356 Read passages on Madame Bovary in Terdiman, The Dialectics of Isolation.  

SPRING VACATION  

Mar. 20 . Madame Bovary 5. 356-441

Life as Determined by Society:  History
Mar. 27  Emile Zola, Germinal I, 49-132; Photos des mines

Mar. 29, 4 p.m. FIRST DRAFT OF TERM PAPER due.  No extensions


Apr. 3. Germinal II, 132-224  Read selected passages in Emile Zola, Le Roman expérimental; Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen, Constitution de 1793


Apr. 17  Germinal III, 224-347  


Apr. 24Germinal IV, 347-466 Read Culler, Chp. 3, "Literature and Cultural Studies."

May 1 Germinal V,  466-587 

May 8 Final Exam 5:30-8:20

May 9, 12 noon, FINAL DRAFT OF TERM PAPER due, no extensions.


 

 

 

 


C.  COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Guides de Lecture Critique (Question Sheets)

I expect all questions on the question sheets to be answered thoughtfully before coming to class.  I encourage you to rethink, revise or supplement your answers during the class. 

Do not list all the details and events on the pages corresponding to each question.  Rather, answer the synthetic question and use selected structures and changes to illustrate your synthetic answer.  This is what is valuable for you to remember and what I will test on the final exam. 

All GLC's must be turned in by the last course in which a novel is being discussed in order to receive credit. Each GLC missed will reduce the final grade by over 1 point.

Term Paper

Each student will complete a 13-15 page term paper on:  1) one of the novels read in class in its socio-historical context; 2) or realism in the French novel with reference to the novels read in class; 2) one of the social historical periods to which one of the novels refers, with reference to this novel. Substantial research on recent articles, as well as books, on these subjects is expected.

A prospectus will be due before spring break (see syllabus). Guidelines for the prospectus are attached to the syllabus.  The prospectus will include a bibliography (MLA style) of works that you will probably use in writing your term paper and one or two paragraphs that state your preliminary thesis and a summary of your possible argument.  The summary will refer to texts in the bibliography that will help you explore aspects of your argument.

There will be two drafts of the term paper (see syllabus).  Both drafts should be fully researched, composed, and interpreted.  The second draft will be based on your reflections since the first draft and your responses to my comments on that draft.

The prospectus and both drafts must be turned in on time.

Final Examination

There will a final examination, written in French, covering all required reading, lecture, and class
                discussion. 

Required Texts

                Balzac, Honoré.  Le Père Goriot.  Folio.  Paris: Gallimard, 1971.  
                Culler, Jonathan.  Literary Theory:  A Very
                     Short Introduction. New York:  Oxford UP, 2000
                Flaubert, Gustave.  Madame Bovary.  Folio.  Paris:  Gallimard, 1972.  
                Zola, Emile.  Germinal.  Folio.  Paris:  Gallimard, 1978.  
                 
D.  ON RESERVE (Catalogued under LAN 420):

                Brombert, Victor.  The Novels of Flaubert.  Princeton:  Princeton UP, 1966.  
                Lukács, Georg.  Studies in European Realism.  New York:  Grosset & Dunlap, 1970.
                Terdiman, Richard. The Dialectics of Isolation.  New Haven:  Yale UP, 1976.
                Zola, Emile.  Le Roman expérimental.  Paris:  Garnier-Flammarion, 1971.
 

E.  Bibliography related to Balzac, Flaubert, and Zola

                Auerbach, Erich.  Mimesis:  The Representation of Reality in Western Literature. 
                    Trans.  Willard R. Trask.  Princeton, Princeton UP, 1973.  
                 Culler, Jonathan.  Flaubert:  The Uses of Uncertainty.  Ithaca:  Cornell UP, 1985.  
                Foucault, Michel. The Order of Things ( Les Mots et les Choses).
                Girard, René.  Deceit, Desire and the Novel.  Trans.  Yvonne Freccero.  Baltimore: 
                    Johns Hopkins UP, 1965.  
                Kanes, Martin.  Balzac's Comedy of Words.  Princeton:  Princeton UP, 1975.  
                Knapton, Ernest.  France:  An Interpretive History.  New York: Charles Scribner's
                    Sons, 1971.  
                Schor, Naomi. Breaking the Chain:  Women, Theory and French Realist Fiction.
                    New York:  Columbia UP, 1985.  
                ---.  Zola's Crowds.  Baltimore:  Johns Hopkins UP, 1978.  
                Schor, Naomi and Henry F. Majewski, ed. Flaubert and Postmodernism. 
                    Lincoln:  University of Nebraska Press,  1984.   
                ---.  Discourse/Counter-Discourse.  New Haven:  Yale UP, 1984.  
   

F.  FINAL GRADE:

The final grade will be calculated as follows:  

Participation

  

15

Reading Guides

  

20

Papers

  

40

Final Exam

  

25


G.  PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF FRENCH REALISM, ROMANTICISM, SYMBOLISM

Allen, James Smith.  Popular French Romanticism:  Authors, Readers and Books in the 19th C..  Syracuse: 
    Syracuse UP, 1985.
Auerbach, Erich.  Mimesis:  The Representation of Reality in Western Literature.  Trans.  Willard Trask.  Princeton: 
    Princeton UP, 1953.  
Balakian, Anna.  The Symbolist Movement:  A Critical Appraisal.  New York:  Random House, 1967.  
Barbéris, Pierre.  Mythes Balzaciens.  Paris:  Armand Colin, 1972.  
Barthes, Roland.  "L'Effet de réel."  Communications.  11 (1968):  84-89.  
---.  S/Z.  Paris:  Seuil, 1970.  
Béguin, Albert.  L'Ame romantique et le rêve.  2 Vols.  Paris:  Corti, 1946.  
Block, Haskell.  Mallarmé and the Symbolist Drama.  Detroit:  Wayne State UP, 1963.  
Brombert, Victor. Stendhal:  La Voie oblique.  Paris:  Presses Universitaires de France, 1954.  
Broome, Peter and Chesters, Graham.  The Appreciation of Modern French Poetry.  Cambridge:  Cambridge UP,
    1976.  
---.  The Novels of Flaubert.  Princeton:  Princeton UP, 1966.  
Cahm, Eric.  Politics and Society in Contemporary France 1789-1971.  London:  Harraps, 1972.  
Camp, Wesley.  Marriage and the Family in France since the     Revolution.  New York:  Bookman, 1969.  
Carpentier, Jean et François Lebrun.  Histoire de France.  Paris:  Seuil, 1987.  
Clark, Priscilla.  Literary France:  The Making of a Culture.  Berkeley:  California UP, 1987.  
Cobban, Alfred.  France since the Revolution.  New York:  Barnes and Noble, 1970.  
Cornell, Kenneth.  The Symbolist Movement.  New Haven:  Yale UP, 1958.  
Cruickshank, John.  French Literature and its Background.  Vols. 4 & 5.  London:  Oxford UP, 1969.  
Culler, Jonathan.  Flaubert, The Uses of Uncertainty.  Ithica:  Cornell UP, 1974.  
Dallenbach, Lucien.  "Du fragment au cosmos."  Poétique.  40  (1979):  420-31.  
---.  "Le Tout en morceaux:  La Comédie humaine et l'opération de lecture, II."  Poétique.  42 (1980):  156-69.  
Daumard, Adeline.  Les Bourgeois et la bourgeoisie en France.  New York:  Putman, 1969.   
Deleuze, Gilles.  "Zola et la fêlure."  Préface.  La Bête    humaine.  By Emile Zola.  Folio.  Paris:  Gallimard, 1977. 
    7-24.  
Duby, Georges, et. al.  Histoire de la France.  Paris:  Larousse, 1982.  
Dupeux, Georges.  La Société française 1789-1960.  Paris:  Armand Colin, 1964.  
Flaubert, Gustave.  Oeuvres.  2 vols.  Edition de la Pléiade.  Paris:  Gallimard, 1963-66.  
Girard, René.  Mensonge romantique et vérité romanesque.  Paris:  Grasset , 1961.  
Hamon, Philippe.  Introduction à l'analyse du descriptif.  Paris:  Hachette, 1981.  
Hollier, Denis ed.  A New History of French Literature.  Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1989.  
Hugo, Victor.  Préface de Cromwell.  Edition de la Pléiade.  Vol. 1.  Paris:  Gallimard, 1963.  
Jasper, Gertrude.  Adventures into Theater:  Lugné-Poe and the Théâtre de l'Oeuvre to 1889.  New Brunswick: 
    Rutgers UP, 1947.  
Johnson, Barbara.  The Critical Difference:  Essays in theContemporary Rhetoric of Reading.  Baltimore: 
    Johns Hopkins UP, 1980.  
---.  Défigurations du langage poétique.  Paris:  Flammarion, 1979.  
Kedward, Roderick.  The Dreyfus Affair.  London:  Longman, 1965.  Lehmann, A. G.  The Symbolist Aesthetic in
     France, 1885-1895.  Oxford:  Oxford UP, 1951.  
Lethève, Jacques.  Impressionnistes et symbolistes devant la presse.  Paris:  A. Colin, 1959.  
Lissagaray, Prosper.  L'Histoire de la Commune de 1871.  Paris:  Maspero, 1967.  
Lukács, Georg.  Studies in European Realism.  New York:  Grosset & Dunlap, 1970.  
Magraw, Roger.  France 1815-1914:  The Bourgeois Century.  New York:  Oxford UP, 1986.  
Marx, Karl.  The Civil War in France.  New York:  International Publishers, 1962.  
---.  The Eighteenth Brumaire.  Moscow:  Progress, 1954.  
Miller, Christopher.  Blank Darkness:  Africanist Discourse in French.  Chicago:   Chicago UP, 1985.  
Mitterand, Henri.  "Fonction narrative et fonction mimétique:  Les Personnages de Germinal."  Poétique  16 (1973): 
     477-90.  
Prendergast, Christopher.  The Order of Mimesis.  Cambridge:  Cambridge UP, 1986.  
Raymond, Marcel.  De Baudelaire au surréalisme.  Paris:  Corréa, 1933.  
Richier, Jean.  Paul Verlaine.  Paris:  Seghers: 1953.  
Schor, Naomi.  Breaking the Chains:  Women, Theory and French Realist Fiction.  New York:  Columbia UP, 1985.  
---.  Zola's Crowds.  Baltimore:  Johns Hopkins UP, 1978.  
Schérer, Jacques.  L'Expression littéraire dans l'oeuvre de Mallarmé.  Paris:  Droz, 1947.  
Terdiman, Richard.  The Dialectics of Isolation.  New Haven:  Yale UP, 1976.  
---.  Discourse/Counter-Discourse.  New Haven:  Yale UP, 1984.  
Todorov, Tzvetan.  The Fantastic.  Cleveland:  Case Western Reserve UP, 1972.  
Weber, Eugen.  France:  Fin de siècle.  Cambridge:  Harvard UP, 1986.  9-26.  
Zola, Emile.  The Experimental Novel.  Paris:  Garnier-  Flammarion,     1971.

Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contract Disability Concerns at 350 Fell Hall, 438-5833 (voice) or 438-8620 (TTY).