Reading Literatures in French (210-0-20)
Topic
Struggle for Paris: Protest & Power
Instructors
Tyler Lee Blakeney
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-343: Mon, Wed 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Overview of class
After a series of revolutions and revolts over the course of the century from 1789-1871, the city of Paris came to be seen by French government officials as a dangerous incubator of subversive ideas and movements. The government responded both by beginning to produce a wealth of knowledge about the city through practices of cartography, policing, and other forms of surveillance, and through policies of urban planning intended to enable the free circulation of capital and military forces through the streets. In this course, we will interrogate the relationship of literature and film to these forms of state knowledge production about the city of Paris across the 19th century and in the period from 1945 to the present. To what extent did representations of the city in modern and contemporary literature and film align with the state project of mapping the city and its inhabitants? How did literature function as a space of contestation of the modernization of the city, both through modeling non-normative practices of the use of urban space and in memorializing the spaces and communities impacted by state violence? How have literature and film participated in the struggle over who belongs in Paris, especially around questions of class and race? Authors and directors studied include Gaboriau, Baudelaire, Maspero, and Diop, along with archival documents and shorter excerpts from authors like Balzac, Perec, and Varda. Taught in French
Class Attributes
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: Students must have completed FRENCH 202-0 or a test score of 5 in AP French. Other students may register with instructor permission.