L'intellectuel(le) en France... Une affaire politique et littéraire / Intellectuals in France: a Political and Literary Business (Section A – Methodology ; Section B – Civilization)

The figure of the intellectual is a typical feature of French literary, political, and even artistic life. The word was first used at the end of the 19th century in the wake of the "Dreyfus Affair" when a group of journalists and writers took side with the unjustly condemned Captain and accused the French army of forgery. However it had already been a long time since French writers had fought for justice in the debates of their time.

The course will introduce two major representatives of this conception based on the connivance between politics and literature for which words can make a difference in the evolution of politics. Using a text-study methodology, analyses will range from the great precursors, Voltaire and Rousseau to the contemporary period, the so-called "postmodern" movement and Michel Foucault, up to the contemporary work of Elisabeth Badinter.

The course includes a methodological perspective. Students can validate their credits in methodology (equivalent to 6525) by electing specific exercises (French type) for their evaluation or they can choose standard evaluation without validating the methodology unit.