The Cultural Front in Interwar France

In this senior seminar we will explore creative works produced in France in the 1920s and 1930s. In close readings of novels, screen plays, songs, comics, and essays, we will examine how conflicting notions of popular and elitist culture evolved in the years leading up to World War II. We will pay close attention to technological innovation (for example, the advent of sound in film and photography in the daily press) and how it changed patterns of culture, production, and consumption. Students will undertake a significant piece of independent research to present to the class. (Open to French Senior Majors). 3 hrs. lect./disc.