"Family Values": Représentations littéraires de la famille au 18eme siècle

This course will study the "invention" of the bourgeois family in 18th-century literature. It will examine particularly the ideological construct that supports this literature. Special attention will be given to the way in which this literature defines and orders family relationships around the notions of state, hierarchy, nature, and gender. Readings in Prévost, Diderot, Rousseau, Mme de Charrière, and Sade.