Topics in French Literature: Disability Studies, Before "Disability"

Imagine a collection of prized objects. What motivates a collector to acquire and display them? Is it a love of beautiful things? social status and prestige? a wish to create a family legacy? While a passion for collecting can be empowering in all these ways, it can also signal exploitation. Sometimes the passion to possess implies the power to dispossess, to take from others the property, privileges, and promises that were theirs. We will study how issues of transmission and commemoration come together in the idea of a "fragile inheritance" which acknowledges the need to balance the interests of individual collectors with the public good. We will study texts, paintings, photographs, and other treasures that celebrate the power of the Sun King at Versailles; the rise of the bourgeoisie in 19th-century Paris as it filled with boutiques, broad avenues, and newly-appointed homes; and today's visual culture, where Paris emerges as an icon of love, nostalgia, and beauty despite the challenges it faces as a multicultural and diverse city. Final Project; no Final Exam. All students need to sign up both for section 01 and section A. This course counts toward the seminar requirement for the major. Prereq: Thinking-It-Through or In-Depth.
Course Attributes: EN H; BU Hum; AS HUM; AS LCD; FA HUM; AR HUM

Topics in French Literature: Disability Studies, Before "Disability"

FRENCH 468

Section A

Section 01