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74812-01 - Lecture: Literature and Liveliness in the French Renaissance (2 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2025 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Timothy Graham Chesters (timothygraham.chesters@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | What makes literature sometimes feel like life? When we encounter a narrative description – of a forest glade, a bourgeois decor, an onrushing wave – what convinces us that we ourselves are present at the scene described: stealing through the glade, stifled by the decor, threatened by the wave? When we read a love poem, what elements persuade us that the speaker is – or once was, or might have been – alive? Questions of literature and liveliness (what the ancients termed enargeia) reach back to Antiquity, but emerge into especially sharp focus in the literature of the French Renaissance. Of growing interest to Renaissance writers were the minimal prompts capable of ‘animating’ a character or scene that might otherwise seem inert. French Renaissance writers can suggest a great deal with very little. A rhythmic shock, a strange neologism, a stylistic flourish or circumstantial detail: these are literary minima marking the cognitive threshold at which writing passes into life. Minima: Literature and Liveliness in the French Renaissance is constructed with two main aims in mind. First: to review and update a long tradition of thinking about literary vividness in light of recent findings in cognitive science (including neuroscience, robotics, AI, light-point animation, and Relevance Theory). Second: to survey, in a series of close readings, the liveliest writing of the French Renaissance, from Clément Marot, via François Rabelais and Louise Labé and others, to the Essais of Michel de Montaigne. These lectures will appeal to students interested in literary theory, the literature and art of the European Renaissance, cognition, and creative writing. |
| Learning objectives | Introduction to cognitive approaches to literature Survey of French Renaissance literature and culture |
| Bibliography | Texts discussed (with English translations) will be available on ADAM in advance of the lectures. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Course auditors welcome |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Wednesday | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 19.02.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Wednesday 26.02.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Wednesday 05.03.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Wednesday 12.03.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Fasnachstferien |
| Wednesday 19.03.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Wednesday 26.03.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Wednesday 02.04.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Wednesday 09.04.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Wednesday 16.04.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Wednesday 23.04.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Wednesday 30.04.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Wednesday 07.05.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Wednesday 14.05.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Wednesday 21.05.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Wednesday 28.05.2025 | 12.15-14.00 | Maiengasse, Seminarraum 0105 |
| Modules |
French Literature: Recommendations (PhD subject: French Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: English) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: Ancient Civilizations) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: German Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: French Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: Spanish Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: Italian Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: Nordic Philology (Start of studies before 01.08.2022)) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree program: Ancient Civilizations) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: Nordic Philology) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Slavic Studies) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: English) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: German Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: French Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Spanish Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Italian Language and Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: German Literature) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Latin Philology) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Nordic Philology) Modul: Interphilologie: Literaturwissenschaft MA (Master's Studies - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences) Modul: Lectures complexes: Littérature ancienne (Bachelor's degree subject: French Language and Literature) Modul: Literaturgeschichte (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul: Literaturtheorie (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul: Spécialisation en littérature française (Master's degree subject: French Language and Literature) |
| Assessment format | record of achievement |
| Assessment details | Written exam during the final session. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | one repetition, repetition counts |
| Scale | 1-6 0,5 |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Französische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |