Section A - Methodology; Section B - Literature

Albert Camus was born in 1913. In 2013 in France, one hundred years later, numerous studies take stock of an essayist, a dramatist, a novelist, a philosopher, who mattered, who weighed heavily during the second world war and in the after-war years. Through his writing and his action, he was closely involved in all the controversies and intellectual, esthetic, and political battles that defined those years. He died young, in a car accident, torn by the war in Algeria whose outcome was still uncertain in 1960. He had just received the Nobel Prize in literature. What legacy did the humanistic philosopher, libertarian, and brilliant novelist leave to today’s young generations? We will be attempting to understand as we examine two of his most significant short novels, L’Etranger and La Chute, and two of his best known and powerful plays, Caligula and Les Justes.

Required texts: 1) Albert CAMUS; L'Etranger, Folio ISBN 978 2 07 036002 4, Ed.Gallimard; 2) Albert CAMUS, La Chute Folio plus, ISBN 978 2 07 040356 4; Ed. Gallimard; 3) Albert CAMUS, Caligula Folio ISBN 978 2 07 036064 2; Ed. Gallimard; 4) Albert CAMUS, Les Justes Folio plus ISBN 978 2 07 040606 7, Ed.Gallimard
N.B. Students who choose section A can validate their credits in methodology (equivalent to 6525) or they can choose standard evaluation without validating the methodology unit.
Choice A will help social science and literary students master analytical methods and textual commentary, enabling them to construct a personal approach to reading and understanding varied texts in depth, while broadening and exercising their written skills through varied methodological exercises, summaries, technical explanations, structured commentary, the argumentative dialectical essay, or oral thematic presentations.
Choice B offers in-depth reading of the texts on the syllabus, and their context, through an approach which is historical, literary, cultural, philosophical and social."