Introductory description

The module will complement FR121 The Story of Modern France as it will develop the literary skills all first-year students will have acquired in the core French cultural module. There are, however, no prerequisites for this module.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Weeks 1 - 3: Proust, Combray

 Introduction
 The departure from Naturalism
 Nature and the function of memory

Weeks 4-5 : Gide, L’Immoraliste

 Nietzche and morality
 Irony and the beginning of modernism

Weeks 7-8: Colette, Chéri

 Women writers and modernity
 Desire, illusion and reality

Weeks 9-10: Camus, La Peste

 Plague and metaphor
 Writing as witness

Week 21: Conceptual overview and revision

 The Modern Writer and Society

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Knowledge, awareness and understanding of one or more cultures and societies, other than their own.
• Ability to access, read and critically analyse primary and secondary source materials in target language
• Knowledge of aspects of the cultures, communities and societies where target language is used.
• Familiarity with the methodologies and approaches appropriate to the discipline
• An appreciation of internal diversity and transcultural connectedness in relation to target language culture
• Knowledge of the cultures, communities and societies of the country of the target language(s) gained through the study of written texts and other cultural products in the target language.

Indicative reading list

Descombes, V., Philosophy of the Novel (1992)
Holdheim, W., Theory and Practice of the Novel, (1968)
Isaac, J., Camus and Modern Rebellion (1992)
Kristeva, J., Time and Sense (1996)
Lévi-Valensi, R., La Peste d’Albert Camus (1991)
Martin, C., André Gide ou la vocation du bonheur (1998)
Holmes, D. Colette (1991)

View reading list on Talis Aspire

International

All modules delivered in SMLC are necessarily international. Students engage with themes and ideas from a culture other than that of the UK and employ their linguistic skills in the analysis of primary materials from a non-Anglophone context. Students will also be encouraged to draw on the experiences of visiting exchange students in the classroom and will frequently engage with theoretical and critical frameworks from across the world.

Subject specific skills

This module will develop students’ linguistic skills through engaging with primary materials in the target language. It will build students’ capacity to engage with aspects of French culture through analysis of this primary material and through seminar discussion aimed at deeper critical thinking. In particular, students’ awareness of modern masterpieces will be enhanced through lectures and seminars which engage in scholarship in the field.

Transferable skills

All SMLC culture modules demand critical and analytical engagement with artefacts from target-language cultures. In the course of independent study, class work and assessment students will develop the following skills: written and oral communication, creative and critical thinking, problem solving and analysis, time management and organisation, independent research in both English and their target language(s), intercultural understanding and the ability to mediate between languages and cultures, ICT literacy in both English and the target language(s), personal responsibility and the exercise of initiative.