FRE/LIT 362 Women and the Mediterranean: from the 16th to the 19th century

This course is designed to encourage students to question the notion of gender through canonical works of French literature. By studying ?great texts? in varying genres, including novels, poetry, and theatre, and using images (paintings, engravings, and photographs), this course will examine the fabrication of gender (and particularly femininity) through the cultural and aesthetic devices presented in these works. It will articulate the socio-historical and geographic context in which they arose, and their reappropriation by the authors studied. How do these representations continue to shed light on the present? Does the geographical location affect the construction of the female gender? Using a variety of texts, we will explore the aesthetic and social issues related to the gender in Mediterranean basin and its representations: female stereotypes and prejudices of Mediterranean women, the social condition of women, and their relationship to creation and to the world. Readings combined with in-class discussions will allow students to synthesize the different issues raised by the concept before engaging in their own creative writing.