Fall 2015

Women of Ill Repute

Listed in: French, as FREN-342  |  Sexuality, Women's and Gender Studies, as SWAG-342

Formerly listed as: FREN-42

Faculty

Laure A. Katsaros (Section 01)

Description

(Offered as FREN 342 and SWAG 342) Prostitutes play a central role in nineteenth-century French fiction, especially of the realistic and naturalistic kind. Both widely available and largely visible in nineteenth-century France, prostitutes inspired many negative stereotypes. But, as the very product of the culture that marginalized her, the prostitute offered an ideal vehicle for writers to criticize the hypocrisy of bourgeois mores. The socially stratified world of prostitutes, ranging from low-ranking sex workers to high-class courtesans, presents a fascinating microcosm of French society as a whole. We will read selections from Honoré de Balzac, Splendeur et misère des courtisanes; Victor Hugo, Les Misérables; and Gustave Flaubert, L’éducation sentimentale; as well as Boule-de-Suif and other stories by Guy de Maupassant; La fille Elisa by Edmond de Goncourt; Nana by Emile Zola; Marthe by Joris-Karl Huysmans; La dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils; and extracts from Du côté de chez Swann by Marcel Proust. Additional readings will be drawn from the fields of history (Alain Corbin, Michelle Perrot) and critical theory (Walter Benjamin, Michel Foucault, Julia Kristeva). We will also discuss visual representations of prostitutes in nineteenth-century French art (Gavarni, Daumier, C. Guys, Degas, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec). Conducted in French.

Requisite: One of the following--FREN 207, 208, 311 or equivalent. Fall semester. Professor Katsaros.

SWAG 342 - L/D

Section 01
M 10:00 AM - 10:50 AM BARR 102
W 10:00 AM - 10:50 AM BARR 102
F 10:00 AM - 10:50 AM BARR 102

This is preliminary information about books for this course. Please contact your instructor or the Academic Coordinator for the department, before attempting to purchase these books.

ISBN Title Publisher Author(s) Comment Book Store Price
La Dame aux camélias Garnier Flammarion Dumas fils, Intro. H.J. Neuschafer, G. Sigaux Amherst Books TBD
Boule de Suif et autres histoires de guerre Garnier Flammarion Maupassant Amherst Books TBD
La Maison Tellier, Une partie de campagne et autres nouvelles Gallimard, Folio Maupassant, Ed. Louis Forestier Amherst Books TBD
Nana, Ed. H. Mitterand Gallimard, Folio classique Zola Amherst Books TBD
Nana Penguin Classics Zola, Intro. G. Holder Amherst Books TBD

These books are available locally at Amherst Books.

Offerings

2024-25: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Spring 2009, Fall 2012, Fall 2015, Fall 2018, Fall 2020, Spring 2023