Undergraduate Course: French theatre (1700s-1830s) and the making of revolutions: politics, love and fantasy...(Ordinary) (ELCF09033)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 9 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will explore the ways in which (pre/post) Revolutionary playwrights defied the 'dominant' ideology by bringing to the fore 'alien' notions, such as gender, race and class, natural right, and have thus shaped today's notions of ethics, individual freedom, equality, and welfare. In other words, despite the generally accepted opposition between 'the twilight of the Enlightenment and the "triumphant" dawn of Romanticism', how did playwrights (male and female) from both eras experiment with 'new' dramatic forms to convey their beliefs in a new order and better society, and thus express a common experience of revolutionary France, of the collective, and of selfhood? How did they engage with contemporary history and society ? Last but not least, what does the reception of plays by writers such as Marivaux, Beaumarchais, Olympe de Gouge, Victor Hugo and Alfred de Musset tell us about how subversive and deviant, or innovative these dramatists were? and why do some of them still captivate modern audiences, or have recently sparked off unprecedented interest? Finally (but perhaps not...), what of the power of love and fantasy in works seemingly driven by a revolutionary impulse? |
| Course description |
French theatre in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries arose as a major forum for the dissemination of philosophical and political debates that led up to the French Revolution, and later, following Napoleon's fall, to more political unrest during the Bourbon Restoration (1814-1830). It also gave birth to the drame bourgeois, and the drame romantique, both questioning and rejecting the 'old ways', be it at an aesthetic or ideological level, or both. While exploring the ways in which playwrights (both male and female) engaged with contemporary politics and societal issues, this course will also reflect, through close analysis of the primary texts, on the many dramaturgic strategies (e.g: recycling of well-trodden comedic plots, of romantic doomed tales, etc., and also stylitic and thematic innovation, paving the way for more literary revolutions ) which these authors used through their texts to convey their critique of, and beliefs in, a better society, while investing their texts with an everlasting appeal to today's audiences.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | In order to be eligible to take 4th Year Options, Visiting Students should have the equivalent of at least two years of study at University level of the appropriate language(s) and culture(s). |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and reflect critically on pre-Revolutionary, Revolutionary and Romantic plays, the theatrical and aesthetic movements, political and ideological contexts that underpinned the evolution of French Theatre.
- Read and analyse the prescribed works within their literary, political and cultural contexts and show a clear appreciation of the aesthetic and ideological features of these texts, and employ relevant technical terminology associated with theatre.
- Demonstrate an awareness of performance and theatricality, of the relevant socio-cultural contexts and conceptual frameworks (e.g Enlightenment philosophy; drame bourgeois / drame romantique, gender politics, Romanticism).
- Engage in research on French theatre, and construct clear, coherent arguments - in both oral and written forms - based on evidence from primary and secondary sources and produce analytical essays.
- Exercise autonomy and initiative, taking responsibility for the work of others in group work and develop the ability to reflect on the usefulness of materials for fellow students in a variety of interactive contexts.
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Reading List
The texts studied may vary from one year to another; but the course will generally cover plays by eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century playwrights, and will consist of
Introduction plus 2 or 3 two-hour sessions per text, followed by overview/ revision classes
Set texts will vary from year to year but will normally consist of a selection from the following :
Marivaux, L'Ile des esclaves (1725)
Marivaux, Les Fausses confidences (1737)
Beaumarchais, Le Barbier de Séville (1775)
Beaumarchais, Le Mariage de Figaro (1778)
Olympe de Gouges, L'Esclavage des Noirs (1792)
Alfred de Musset Lorenzaccio(1833)
Alfred de Musset, Les Caprices de Marianne (1833)
Victor Hugo, Ruy Blas (1838)
A. Auvain, H. Goldwyn and P. Gethner (eds.), Anthologie du théâtre des femmes, 16ième-18ième siècle, vol. 3, Saint-Etienne: Presses Universitaires de Saint-Etienne, 2011
Voltaire, Zaïre (1732) Jean Goldzinck (ed.), Garnier-Flammarion 2004
Bibliography
Lever, Maurice Grande et petite histoire de la Comédie-Française : le Siècle des Lumières, 1680-1799. (Fayard, 2006)
Le Théâtre français du XIXe siècle, ed. Hélène Laplace-Claverie, Sylvain Ledda, Florence Naugrette (Paris, Éd. L'avant-scène théâtre, 2008)
Cecilia Feilla, The Sentimental theatre of the French Revolution (Ashgate, 2013)
McCready, Susan, The Limits of Romantic Theatre (Durham UP, 2007)
Ubersfeld, Anne, Le Drame romantique (Belin, 1993)
Diderot, Entretiens sur le fils naturel (1757)
Victor Hugo, 'Preface' to Cromwell (1827) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course has the same aims as all French Options, which are well established and universally praised by both students and external examiners as fostering depth of understanding of rich intellectual fields and the ability to write and speak about them intelligently and cogently in French. |
| Keywords | DELC 1700s Theatre Enlightenment Romantiscism Opera Drame bourgeois Drame romantique French Revo |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Severine Genieys-Kirk
Tel: (0131 6)51 1734
Email: S.G.Kirk@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Claire Hand
Tel: (0131 6)50 8421
Email: claire.hand@ed.ac.uk |
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