Romanticism to Decadence: French Novels

In this subject students will study a selection of novels from the 19th century, analysing their narrative structures, and developing an awareness of their social and political contexts. Various theories of narrative will be used to facilitate an understanding of the evolution of the French novel from Romanticism to Decadence. At the end of this subject students should be able to analyse the narrative structure of various novels and have a better understanding of nineteenth-century French literature.

• 1Have gained a better appreciation of academic French through the confident use of sophisticated oral and written French at level B2/C1 of the Common European Framework for Languages
• 2Have gained an overview of one specialized field (19th Century France) in at least one of the three core areas of French literature, linguistics, and cultural studies
• 3Have further consolidated their understanding of the wider literary or linguistic methods used in the specialist fields of French Studies (i.e close reading, essay writing) as well as of general research and analytical skills
• 4Be able to further reflect on their identity as a bicultural and bilingual person and as a global citizen
• 5Have consolidated their ability to write small research essays in the field of French Studies and to locate and to use relevant research literature in both French and English
• 6Be able to reflect critically on their research essay
• 7Be able to make very good use of learning and research technologies in French and English.