La théorie du roman / Theory of the Novel



N.B. This course meets from June 30 to July 20, 2 hours per day



This course will examine (thru theoretical texts such as forewords, correspondences, essays, etc.), how the French novelists of the 19th and 20th centuries considered the genre and their own craft. Balzac’s, Flaubert’s, Zola’s, Proust’s works will be studied to show how the realistic novel was born and how it evolved. Then a few attempts at renewal will be looked into : Gide’s Faux Monnayeurs, Sartre’s ‘existentialist’ novel, Robbe-Grillet’s ‘Nouveau Roman’. This course will provide a general survey of the evolution of the French novel between 1830 and 1960, with a final opening onto the next period.



The course material will be short excerpts given as handouts to students.