Course content
In this course, we read Madeleine de Scudéry’s bestseller Clélie, histoire romaine (1654-1660) in ten sessions. Each session deals with a volume from the novel, and in each session, we will focus on a different topic in relation to the novel, as well as different methods for approaching early-modern texts. Please read the volume and the course texts in preparation for each session.
The course requires active participation in the sessions and two presentations (10 mins) or reflection papers (3-5 pages) each in the spring and autumn terms. The JEUX Seminar will be a full-day event where all participants present a 30 minute paper with reflections on the different methods for analysing early-modern texts they practiced during the course.
This is a 7 ECTS course.
Reading
Scudéry, Madeleine. (1654-1660). Clélie, histoire romaine. Ed. Chantal Morlet-Chantalat. Classiques Garnier numériques. Available online through Oria.
You can also consult a scanned version of this edition on Gallica (BNF):
Programme
Sessions on Wednesdays at 14.00-16.00 (NT718)
5 February - Clélie Part 1. Book 1; Narratology
NB: this time, the session runs from 12.00 to 14.00.
Pier, John (2014). “Narrative Levels.” Living Handbook of Narratology. https://www-archiv.fdm.uni-hamburg.de/lhn/node/32.html
Fludernik, Monika. (2014). “Conversational Narration – Oral Narration.” Living Handbook of Narratology. https://www-archiv.fdm.uni-hamburg.de/lhn/node/34.html
12 March - Clélie Part 1. Books 2 and 3; Book History and Illustrations
Chartier, Roger (2022). “En France : Préciosité et mystique” Cartes et fictions (XVIe-XVIIIe Siècle). Collection Faire Savoir., pp. 67-84. https://books.openedition.org/cdf/14202
23 April - Clélie Part 2. Book 1; History I: Scudéry and the Classics
Grande, Nathalie (2012). “La métamorphose galante de l’histoire antique: Modalités et enjeux d’une poétique” Littératures classiques 77: 229-240.
14 May - Clélie Part 2 Books 2 and 3; History II: Clélie and the Fronde
Lallemand, Gabrielle. (2010). “Factuel et fictionnel dans Artamène et Clélie: Une pratique de Mlle de Scudéry.” Oeuvres et critiques 35.1: 51-60.
Ranum, Orest. (1995). “Introduction”. The Fronde: A French Revolution 1648-1652. Norton. pp. 5-23
18 June - Clélie Part 3 Book 1; Literary History: Salons and Précieuses
Duggan, Anne E. (2021). “Love Orders Chaos: Madeleine de Scudéry’s Clélie, histoire romaine.” Salonnières, Furies and Fairies: The Politics of Gender and Cultural Change in Absolutist France. 2nd edition. Newark: University of Delaware Press. pp. 22-51 [excerpt].
[Summer Break]
13 August - Clélie Part 3 Books 2 and 3; Stylistics/Linguistics: Female Style
Denis, Delphine (1998). “Ce que parler ‘prétieux’ veut dire: Les enseignements d’une fiction linguistique du XVIIe siècle” L’Information Grammaticale 78: 53-58.
Denis, Delphine (1997). “Le rituel de la conversation: Galanterie et enjouement.” La Muse galante: poétique de la conversation dans l’oeuvre de Madeleine de Scudéry. Paris: Champion. pp. 247-274.
3 September - Clélie Part 4 Book 1; Anthropology I: Characters and Society
Delft, Louis van (1993). “Caractères et lieux.” Littérature et anthropologie: nature humaine et caractère a l’âge classique. Paris: Presses de universitaires de France. pp. 41-63.
1 October - Clélie Part 4 Books 2 and 3; Anthropology II: Games, Competitions and Lotteries
Geertz, Clifford (2005). ‘Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight’. Daedalus 134 (4): 56–86.
22 October - Clélie Part 5 Book 1; Reader Response: Scudéry’s Readers
Iser, Wolfgang (1972). ‘The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach.’ New Literary History 3(2): 279-299.
12 November - Clélie Part 5 Books 2 and 3
26 November - Seminar: Methods of Textual Analysis
Salon reading with excerpts from Titus Livius, Roman History; Scudéry, Clélie; Subligny, La Fausse Clélie; Lennox, The Female Quixote.