Topics in French Literature

3 units

How do medieval and Renaissance writers understand the structures and functions of the human body? What kinds of bodies are considered disabled? Are womanhood, childhood, and old age construed as disabilities? In this course we will read texts of varied genre--farces, saints' lives, short comic tales, poems, romances, journals, essays, and chronicles--as we consider how, if at all, disability exists as a social or literary construct in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. We will also read critical and theoretical texts from the discipline of disability studies, interrogating the applicability of this largely modern-focused approach to premodern societies. Course taught in French. Texts will be available in modern French; no prior study of the Middle Ages or of Old French language is necessary. Prerequisites: French 325, 326, Thinking-It-Through, or In-Depth. This course counts towards the French for Medical Professionals track. One-hour preceptorial required for undergraduates.