The Age of Versailles: Opulence, Seduction, and Power / L'époque de Versailles: opulence, s'éduction et pouvoir

3.00 credits · Undergraduate

Prereq: FREN 2501; FREN 2601; or permission of the Department Through the lens of cultural studies, this course focuses on the Age of Versailles, when Europe spoke French and France was a cultural trendsetter throughout the world. Concentrating on key texts, objects, images, and concepts, it introduces a range of movements such as classicism, absolutism, cartesianism; social practices such as salon conversation, and collaborative writing; and preoccupations such as relations with the New World, and the education of women; which were shaped by court culture and Louis XIV's desire for absolute power, the search for love in all its forms, and a valorisation of order, reason, novelty, and sophistication. (Format: Lecture 3 Hours) (Exclusion: any version of FREN 3301 previously offered with a different title)