Università Roma Tre

This course will provide an overview of the cultural and literary context of 17th - 18th century French literature highlighting some of the main features of the period. It will then focus on the reading and analysis of three texts: La Princesse de Clèves, Candide and Les Liasons dangereuses, with the aim of tracing the evolution of the novel with regard to narrative strategies, stylistic and genre changes.

M. Bertini (a cura di), Beaubourg. Auteurs, textes, genres de la littérature française. Le XVII et XVIIIe siècle (the passages to be read and analysed will be said in class). J. Rousset, Forme et signification, Paris, Corti, 1962 (Chapters I-IV).
Texts: Three novels to be chosen among the following : Diderot, Jacques le fataliste o La Religieuse; Laclos, Les Liaisons dangeureuses; Madame de La Fayette, La Princesse de Clèves; Rousseau, La Nouvelle Héloïse (selection of 80 letters from all the 6 parts of the novel); Voltaire, Candide.