Content

This course offers an in-depth study of one of the key questions regarding (early modern) literature, namely the possible interrelations between fact and fiction. It consists of three parts, each of which approaches this matter from a different research angle (fictional representations of imposture ; “factual fictions” as imposture; periodicals and the creative interplay between fact and fiction). The course allows students to (1) gain a deeper understanding of the historical nature of this fundamental question and (2) the specificity of early modern literature more in general and (3) to develop their analytical skills through a series of close readings and interactive reading seminars devoted to some of the most representative texts ( Dom Juan; La Religieuse, etc) and genres (novel, theatre, periodicals) of this period.

In the first course module, we will study the “cult” of the artifice which informs an important part of French literature and society both in the classical period and the Enlightenment. More specifically, we will examine literary and aesthetic manifestations of imposture, deception or artifice through a close-reading of some key texts (cf. Dom Juan; Point de Lendemain).

The second course module will focus on the “mensonge romanesque” that came to dominate the French novel genre, especially in the first part of the eighteenth century. Why and how were novels disguised as authentic documents? How did this disguise, which might seem surprising to 21st-century readers, seduce the public? (cf. Manon Lescaut, La religieuse)

In a third section, we will then study the emergent literary press which in a period of political turmoil, intellectual progress and literary crisis, circulated both fictional and non-fictional, pseudo-authentic and pseudo-fictional texts and reports, while also developing into a platform for literary experimentation and reflection. This module also consists of a visit to the Royal Library, for on-site consultation of their collection of journals. This section will be cotaught by Da. Charlotte Van Hooijdonk.

Course material

Compulsory reading list:

• Molière, Dom Juan ou le festin de pierre (1665)
• Prévost, Manon Lescaut (1731)
• Vivant Denon, Point de Lendemain (1777)
• Diderot, La Religieuse (1796)

A syllabus with theoratical articles, and a reader with excerpts from periodicals, will also be published through Toledo.

Format: more information

Lecture and seminars.