French 219: Romanticism or Realism?

Instructor: Laure Murat

Known as two major artistic movements of the nineteenth century, Romanticism and Realism are supposed to be opposite philosophies. After carefully defining what is at stake in the «battle of romanticism» and the «battle of realism», conceptually and historically, we will try to understand both movements as actually intertwined problematics. But how and why? Through major texts of French nineteenth-century literature, including George Sand, Claire de Duras, Alfred de Musset, Honoré de Balzac, and Gustave Flaubert, we will analyze what we could call the queer couple of Romanticism and Realism. Taught in French.