Topic : comedy and satire. This course constitutes an overview of
comedy in theory and in practice. The theoretical frameworks of
Bergson, Freud, and Bakhtin will serve as backdrops. Students will
read examples of seventeenth-century French comedy in its
many genres: letters, poetry, plays, and novels. We will explore the
theatrical worlds of Corneille, Scarron, Molière, and Racine. We will
study the tradition of histories comiques in our reading of Sorel's
Francion and Scarron's Roman comique. Students will also learn the
goals and techniques of satiric poetry by such writers as Régnier and
Boileau.  Students will be required to write two papers, a midterm
exam, and a final paper. Presence, participation, and performance of
the plays will also be considered in grading.