This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
The curriculum includes a selection of texts from various countries, all readily available in English and all specifically relevant to the modern history, evolving population and changing appearance of Paris and to how these aspects of the city has been perceived and represented in literary prose.
The set texts are by writers from different periods and of various nationalities and they are all set in and inspired by Paris. The texts are chosen for their high literary quality, but also because they represent essential aspects of the city's evolution and exemplify various narrative strategies and ways of engaging with the realities of life in the city, always shaped by personal preoccupations and sensibilities. This varied selection within the genre of prose fiction allows study of Zola's naturalism and his presentation of the political and aesthetic implications of baron Haussman’s plans for urban renewal and control; Edith Wharton’s perspective as an American incomer; André Breton’s combination of oneiric urban encounters with photographic illustrations of the city, inserted into the text; Jean Rhys’s clearly gendered experience of the city in the 1920s and 1930s; the identity of the city as a site for postwar liberation and literary dynamism in the work of expatriates from the Beat generation; and the representation of today’s city as a centre for immigrant communities and cultural diversity. The primary texts are thus all Paris-focussed but are chosen to open an international perspective on the literary representation of an increasingly cosmopolitan city.
Total contact hours: 20
This module is compulsory for students studying on the MA in Comparative Literature with a term in Paris.
Essay (5000 words) - 100%
Any edition of the texts listed here may be used:
Emile Zola, The Ladies' Paradise;
Michel Houellebecq, Submission;
Georges Perec, Species of Spaces;
Jean Rhys, Good Morning Midnight;
Charles Baudelaire, Paris Spleen;
A course anthology of poetry and prose from Paris by the Beat generation;
Didier Daeninckx, Murders in Memoriam;
Julio Cortázar, 'Axolotl'; 'Blow-up'; 'Letter to a Young Lady in Paris';
Gisèle Pineau, Exile According to Julia.
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
On successfully completing the module, students will be able to:
Engage critically with a variety of representations of Paris in modern French culture;
Explore connections and analogies between different representations of Paris;
Appreciate the connections and analogies between cultural and historiographical accounts of the modern history of Paris;
Explore the ways in which literature and history intersect;
Demonstrate the ability to use theoretical works as the basis for the analysis of works of cultural production;
Demonstrate sophisticated literary, historical and cultural knowledge;
Demonstrate confident verbal communication and presentation skills;
Demonstrate refined written communication skills, including the structuring of an argument;
Demonstrate their ability to read critically, undertake independent research and make use of resources such as libraries and the internet;
Demonstrate their efficient and effective teamwork skills by collaborating with fellow students.
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