Literature of the 17th Century II

3 units

This seminar examines critical points of intersection in the 17th century. All connections engage texts as well as images. We will explore the expansion of knowledge as reflected in the mapping of bodies (anatomy), cities, and countries; humans in relation to animals; commerce and the rise of the bourgeoisie that challenges the privileges of the aristocracy; the splendors of nature and culture as manifest in the magnificent Versailles gardens, the tulip craze, and landscape painting; the lure of the exotic as part of everyday experience; and links between art and science. These topics will allow us to situate classical France in relation to the periods that precede and that follow it: the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. We will view the French monarchy in relation to both Italy, whose art provided much inspiration, and Holland, where the prosperity of merchants supported an art market that included Vermeer, de Hooch, and other celebrated Golden Age painters, all who are so unlike the artists who flourished under Louis XIV. Works will include Corneille's Horace and Surena; Racine's Berenice and Phedre; Descartes's Discours de la Methode; La Bruyère's Caracteres; Lafayette's Princesse de Cleves; Pascal's Pensees; Graffigny's Lettres d'Une Peruvienne; extracts from the Encyclopedie; art by Le Brun, Poussin, Patel, Bernini, Vermeer and his contemporaries, and Boucher; anatomical drawings by Vesalius; as well as maps and cityscapes. Prerequisites: French 325C and French 326C.One-hour preceptorial required for undergraduates.