Beyond Versailles: Encounters with Nature in French Literature
This course will focus on significant works by French authors who examine the natural world and our place within it. We will read novels that rework the Crusoe story in ways that endorse or question Europe's imperial goals as it extends beyond itself. Particular attention will be paid to works in which homesteading on islands or in isolated natural settings plays an important role. Authors may include Rousseau, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Chateaubriand, Sand, Verne, Gide, Giono, Hémon, Tournier, Césaire, Le Clézio. (FREN 0221 or by waiver) 3 hrs. lect./disc.