Analyse textuelle / Introduction to Literary Analysis

This course is designed to introduce students to the critical reading of literary texts and to provide preparation in the specific methods used to critique literature in French university courses. We will sutdy how the major genres of poetry, theatre, and prose work as well as the concepts and terms used to explicate them. Students will acquire a criticial language and a method for addressing the formal and historical questions that arise in literary analysis. We will further emphasize methodology, through such specifically French approaches as the résumé, explication de texte, dissertation, essay, and oral exposé.

Texts: Anthologie de la poésie du Moyen Age à nos jours; Lafayette, La Princesse de Clèves ; Verne, Le tour du Monde en 80 jours ; Molière, Les Fourberies de Scapin ; Marivaux, L'île aux esclaves ; Hugo, Hernani.