WGSS 201
War and Resistance: Two Centuries of War Literature in France, 1804-2004 Fall 2014
Division II
Cross-listed RLFR 202
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

In 1883, Maupassant called on his fellow war veterans and writers to join him in speaking out against warfare and violence, crying “Let us dishonor war!” From the Gallic Wars against Caesar (during the first century BC) to France’s controversial role in the “War on Terror” (at the opening of the twenty-first century), the French literary tradition is rich in texts that bear witness to war and speak out against its monstrous inhumanity. While war literature in France can be traced back to ancient and medieval texts on VercingĂ©torix, Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, and Joan of Arc, this course will focus specifically on literary representations of war during the nineteenth- and twentieth-centuries, from the Napoleonic Wars, to the First and Second World Wars, to the Algerian and Cold Wars, and the “War on Terror.” Discussions will examine the impact of war on soldiers and civilians, patriotism and pacifism, history and memory; the implications of war as invasion and conquest, occupation and resistance, victory and defeat; the relationship of war to gender, sexuality, and ethnicity; and the role of war in colonialism and genocide. Readings to include novels, short stories, and poems by Balzac, Stendhal, Hugo, Rimbaud, Daudet, Maupassant, Zola, Cocteau, Wiesel, Duras, Camus, and Fanon. Films to include works by Resnais, Renoir, Carion, Jeunet, Malle, Angelo, Pontecorvo, and Duras. Conducted in French.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 20
Expected: 20
Class#: 1741
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: active class participation, two short papers, an oral presentation, and a final paper
Prerequisites: exceptional performance in RLFR 105; Strong performance in RLFR 106 or 107; Successful performance in RLFR 201 or 203; or by Placement Test; or by Permission of the Instructor.
Enrollment Preferences: French majors and certificate students; Comparative Literature majors; Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies majors; and those with compelling justification for admission
Unit Notes: formerly RLFR 110
Distributions: Division II
Notes: meets Division 1 requirement if registration is under RLFR; meets Division 2 requirement if registration is under WGSS
This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
RLFR 202 Division I WGSS 201 Division II

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