KShs 100
Description
FOREWORD
This “Introduction to French Literature” module has been designed using elements taken from books dealing with French literature and personal notes taken from specialized educational documents. The main objective of this support is to introduce the potential user to a brief historical overview of French literature. Thus, the Introduction tries to give a quick reminder of the origin of the French language up to the first written text: Le Serment de Strasbourg. The first chapter immediately introduces us to the bath of medieval literature, an essentially epic literature. The second chapter outlines in a few strokes the era of the Renaissance and the Reformation, which era develops a “humanist spirit” in literature. The third chapter focuses on the crystallization of genres in general, on tragedy in particular, with the great geniuses of the time: Racine and Corneille. Dealing with the century of the “Enlightenment”, the fourth chapter evokes the role played by salons, cafés and clubs in the awakening of the philosophical spirit. Three authors are figureheads: Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Diderot. The fifth chapter is focused on the romantic literature as well in the novel, the poetry as in the theater. Towards the end of the century, realism put a damper on this romantic note. The last chapter provides a literary panorama of a century that is difficult to characterize, especially since this era was upset by the two great world wars and the sprawling progress of science. It should be noted in passing that each end of the chapter is supplemented by three extracts from texts by authors from the period in question and offers some reading material. However, this module does not claim to deal with French literature in all its aspects, its ambition remains however that of producing an educational support likely to allow potential users to be introduced to the rich and diverse French literature.