Sex, Class and Shame in 20th-21th Century French Literature

3 points · University catalogue

The second half of the twentieth century in France saw a sudden explosion of literary works examining, with unprecedented explicitness, sexuality and social class and the relations between them. This course will provide an introduction to the literature of sexual and social abjection, beginning with Genet and Violette Leduc and including works by Annie Ernaux, Christine Angot, Virginie Despentes, and Edouard Louis. We will also consider relevant sociological writings by Bourdieu, Eribon, and Goffman. Readings and discussion will be in French.