Fascination with North Africa and the Middle East occupies an exceptional place in modern French literary culture. In this course, students study French Orientalism as an artistic movement, ideology, and methodology in genres ranging from poetry, prose, and travel writing to the visual arts. Authors we will read include Montesquieu, Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, Assia Djebar and Leïla Sebbar. Paying attention to connections between Orientalist texts and their colonial contexts, our discussions examine how these writers created, perpetuated and resisted the Orient as imaginary geography. This course welcomes participation from students with diverse interests and backgrounds to analyze shifting notions of French identity, culture and otherness that we are still debating today.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 14

Prerequisites: Two units, FREN 210 or above.

Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature

Typical Periods Offered: Fall

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered

Notes: