Department of French

Paper Fr 2

French Literary Texts: An Introduction

Reading list
Download the 2009 exam paper

The course presupposes no prior knowledge or previous experience of literary texts or film. Students who have not worked at school on French (or indeed English) literature or film will not be at a disadvantage. Fr2 has a good record in offering students their first serious experience of studying French literary texts and preparing them for more specialised study of literature, visual culture, thought and history in subsequent parts of the course. Students taking Fr2 may also take a range of options in Linguistics and the History of the French Language at Part IB and Part II.

Quotations from current students

'Fr2 is an invaluable paper in its quality of being both introductory and preparatory. Covering a wide range of texts from a variety of periods, the paper provides a conduit to French literature, history and theory studies whilst acting as a solid basis for the following years when you will have the opportunity to specialise in certain areas which were most appealing to you.'
'I suppose the best thing about Fr2 is that because the texts take such different form (i.e. poetry, novel, epistolary novel, plays) spanning the last 800 years you can get a little taste of everything and a real feel for where your more specific interests lie.'
'I did do a bit of literature at school, but Fr2 was very different to that anyway. Students shouldn't be daunted by the thought of literature because everyone is in the same position and the lectures and supervisions give you an easy way to approach and tackle the texts one by one.'
'I found Fr2 a useful introduction to French literature as we had the opportunity to study six varied texts from different stages in French history, each of which was fascinating in its own way. It was particularly interesting to see how recurring themes were reflected throughout the centuries.'
'An extremely interesting, practical and accessible introduction to French literature, covering texts from the late Middle Ages to the twentieth century, with a particular emphasis on how to approach critical study.'

Aims

The aims of this course are to enable you to acquire and develop

a range of critical and analytical skills
an understanding of certain critical concepts and the ability to apply them
a basic awareness of the differences between major literary genres
the ability to read, and study at a first-year university level, certain literary texts from the late Middle Ages to the present day.

The course will not assume any prior knowledge of French literature. The skills and knowledge you acquire will equip you to make informed decisions as to the direction of your studies in Parts IB and II of the Tripos.

Syllabus

Texts by 6 writers from different periods are studied over the year. The texts prescribed for 2009/2010 are:

Robert d'Orbigny: Le Conte de Floire et Blanchefleur (Champion Classiques, 2004).
Marguerite de Navarre: L'Heptaméron, ed. N. Cazauran, texte établi par S. Lefèvre (Folio: Classique, Paris: Gallimard, 2000)
Prescribed extracts: Prologue and Nouvelles 2, 5, 9, 10, 12, 19, 21, 22, 25, 30, 32, 48, 49, 52, 62, 64, 67. Please read the interlocutors' discussions of these stories too. Also, some of these stories are briefly introduced at the end of the discussion of the previous 'nouvelle': you should read those introductory remarks too. In addition, you should read what the interlocutors say and do at the very start and end of each of the 8 days (i.e. pp.159-62, 248-51, etc.)
Racine, Phèdre, ed. Christian Delmas and Georges Forestier, Collection Folio Théâtre no. 23 (Paris: Gallimard, 1995)
Montesquieu, Lettres persanes (Garnier Flammarion)
Emile Zola, Thérèse Raquin, ed. Henri Mitterand (Garnier Flammarion, 2008)
Agnès Varda (director), Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962)

The texts will be studied in their own right, not as representatives of their period or genre. It is not the aim of this course to give you a detailed grasp of the broader intellectual, historical, social and literary contexts of these texts, as would be the case in Parts IB and II period papers.

Before you come up

You will need to have familiarized yourself with all the set texts. Your College Director of Studies will normally be in touch with you before your arrival in Cambridge to advise on preparation. Please also feel free to contact the Head of Department (2008/2009) Dr Emma Wilson (efw1000@cam.ac.uk) and thereafter Dr Bill Burgwinkle (web25@cam.ac.uk).

Teaching

Teaching will take the form of:

lectures (in the Department)
seminars and/or supervisions (in colleges).

Written work will be set and handed back in the college-based seminars and/or supervisions. The Departmental list of suggested secondary, critical reading may be supplemented by further suggestions provided by college supervisors.

Lectures

There will be 28 lectures, 2 per week throughout the year, on Tuesdays, and Thursdays, 3.00 - 4.00. These will be given by a wide range of lecturers, in order to introduce you to different personnel and to a variety of approaches. The lectures will be divided into four groups:

Michaelmas Term

Genre and Period
Reading Texts

Lent and Easter Terms

Approaches to Texts

Genre and Period lectures provide an introductory, historical approach to the prescribed texts. They offer a succinct background to the period in which each work was written and explore the ideas and influences which may have helped to shape the text. They also address questions of genre, whether by comparison with earlier and later examples of the form or by examining the relationship between form and content.

The Reading Texts lectures offer detailed critical commentaries of chosen extracts from the prescribed texts. This course is designed to foster the skills required for Section A, namely linguistic and stylistic analysis. In addition to gaining a deeper knowledge of the given text, students will be encouraged to develop techniques of close reading, rather than exploring more general thematic areas.

Approaches to Texts lectures aim to introduce a range of critical responses to the prescribed texts. At this stage, students will be expected to have a competent knowledge of the texts. The investigation of different approaches should enable you to widen the scope of your critical enquiries and to allow for the possibility of multiple readings.

Comparative Topics lectures, finally, will suggest ways of comparing different texts with each other.

Through all 4 kinds of lecture, you will acquire skills and knowledge which you can transfer in the future to the study of other texts. The critical concepts, issues, and approaches to be explored include:

irony
metaphor and metonymy
imagery and symbolism
narration
rhetoric
genre
versification
performance
identity
gender
realism
reading
ethics
psychoanalysis
film theory

Examination

You will be assessed by a 3-hour written examination, which is divided into 4 sections.

Section A will offer you a choice of two passages for critical commentary; these passages could be from any of the prescribed texts.

Sections B and C will together contain 6 essay questions, one on each of the prescribed authors.

Section D will consist of 3 questions inviting you to compare two of the authors. No authors or texts will be named in these comparative questions: you will be able to choose which authors to compare.

You'll be asked to answer 3 questions, one from Section A, and 2 further questions chosen from among Sections B, C, and D. You will not be allowed to answer more than one question from any section, nor to use substantially the same material in more than one answer, nor to write on the same author in two different answers. So you will need to answer on a total of 3 authors, unless you choose a Section D question, in which case you will answer on 4.

Commentary guidelines are available on the web.