FREN409C

FREN409C

Mensonge(s), mariage et mobiles maléfiques

[cross-listed with FREN 503A]

Dans ce cours, nous étudierons cinq textes dans lesquels les thèmes du mensonge, du mariage et des mobiles maléfiques se manifestent. Ces textes seront examinés dans leurs contextes culturels et historiques et à la lumière des théories de Christian Biet sur le théâtre et en particulier sur la tragédie. Nous tiendrons compte également des idées de Biet sur le mythe de Dom Juan et de la lecture du Dom Juan que fait Antony McKenna.

Textes :

Pierre Corneille, Le Menteur (Folio Théâtre)

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, dit Molière, Dom Juan (Bordas-Univers des Lettres)

Molière, L’Ecole des femmes (Folio Théâtre)

Racine, Britannicus (Bordas-Univers des Lettres)

Textes théoriques :

Christian Biet, La tragédie

Christian Biet, Mille et une versions d’un mythe

Antony McKenna, Molière dramaturge libertin

 

Prerequisite: One of FREN 320, FREN 321, FREN 330.


Langue d’enseignement: français

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The Mirror in Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Specular Reflections

cover_mirror-in-modern-cultureNancy Frelick (ed.)  — 
This volume examines the intersections between material and metaphorical mirrors in medieval and early modern culture.

Mirrors have always fascinated humankind. They collapse ordinary distinctions, making visible what is normally invisible, and promising access to hidden realities. Yet, these liminal objects also point to the limitations of human perception, knowledge, and wisdom. In this interdisciplinary volume, specialists in medieval and early modern science, cultural and political history, as well as art history, philosophy, and literature come together to explore the intersections between material and metaphysical mirrors in Europe and the Islamic world.

During the time periods studied here, various technologies were transforming the looking glass as an optical device, scientific instrument, and aesthetic object, making it clearer and more readily available, though it remained a rare and precious commodity. While technical innovations spawned new discoveries and ways of seeing, belief systems were slower to change, as expressed in the natural sciences, mystical writings, literature, and visual culture.

Mirror metaphors based on analogies established in the ancient world still retained significant power and authority, perhaps especially when related to Aristotelian science, the medieval speculum tradition, religious iconography, secular imagery, Renaissance Neoplatonism, or spectacular Baroque engineering, artistry, and self-fashioning. Mirror effects created through myths, metaphors, rhetorical strategies, or other devices could invite self-contemplation and evoke abstract or paradoxical concepts. Whether faithful or deforming, specular reflections often turn out to be ambivalent and contradictory: sometimes sources of illusion, sometimes reflections of divine truth, mirrors compel us to question the very nature of representation.

N. Frelick (ed.). The Mirror in Medieval and Early Modern Culture. Specular Reflections. Turnhout: Brepols, 2016.
ISBN: 978-2-503-56454-8

 

SPAN550F

Tourism, Gender and the Environment in the Spanish Speaking World

This course focuses on tourism in the Hispanic Caribbean and in Spain, two areas of the Spanish-speaking world that have attracted a large number of tourists since the 1960s. We will engage with theoretical texts that draw from post-colonial, gender and feminist studies in order to examine images of tourists and locals in autobiographical works, novels, films, photographs, publicity posters as well as government and social initiatives in Spain, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. We will examine how filmmakers, writers, tourist authorities and politicians have portrayed and debated the consequences of tourism—including such themes as sex tourism, environmental change, landscape transformation and the ethics of tourism—in several countries. The course explores how gender, national and racial stereotypes, economic and cultural differences are constructed and questioned in literature, photography and film and how tourism is central in reinforcing and challenging national and regional identities in numerous Spanish-speaking countries.

Primary sources:
Bustamante, Lissette. Jineteras. Barcelona: Altera, 2003.
Chaviano, Daína. El hombre, la hembra y el hambre. Barcelona: Planeta, 1998.
Consuegra, Olga. La noche parió una jinetera. Valencia: Aduana Vieja Editorial, 2010.
Díaz, Jesús. Dime algo sobre Cuba. Madrid: Espasa, 1998.
Fraga Iribarne, Fraga. Memoria breve de una vida política. Barcelona: Planeta, 1980.
Franco, Francisco. Discursos y mensajes del jefe del estado. Madrid: Dirección General de Información Publicaciones Españolas, 1955.
Goytisolo, Juan. Reivindicación del conde don Julián. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1976.
Umbral, Francisco. Las europeas. Barcelona: Ediciones G.P., 1974.
Valdés, Zoé. “Retrato de una infancia habanaviejera.” In Nuevos narradores cubanos. Ed. Mechi Strausfeld. Huertas: Siruela, 2000. 17-24.

Films and Photography:
Balletbò-Coll, Marta. Costa Brava  (1995, Film)
Bigas Luna. Huevos de oro  (1993, Film)
Cárdenas, Israel, and Laura Amelia Guzmán. Dólares de arena (2014, Film)
Chibás Fernández, Eduardo. Bye, bye Barcelona (2014, Film)
García Berlanga, Luis. El verdugo  (1963, Film)
Javierre-Kohan, Mark, and Jesús Martinez. Lloret Paradise. Barcelona: Carena, 2014.

Critial Sources:
Berger, Dina, and Andrew G. Wood. Holiday in Mexico: Critical Reflections on Tourism and Tourist Encounters. Durham: Duke University Press, 2010.
Cabezas, Amalia L. Economies of Desire: Sex and Tourism in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009.
Cave, Jenny  and Lee Jolliffe and Tom Baum. Tourism and Souvenirs: Glocal Perspectives from the Margins. New York: Channel View Publications, 2013.
Crumbaugh, Justin. Destination Dictatorship: The Spectacle of Spainʼs Tourist Boom and the Reinvention of Difference. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009.
Grosz, Elizabeth. Volatile Bodies. Toward a Corporeal Feminism. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1994.
Robinson, Mike, and David Picard. The Framed World: Tourism, Tourists and Photography. Farnham: Ashgate, 2009.
Talpade Mohanty, Chandra. Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Durham: Duke University Press, 2003.
Williams, Brackette. Women Out of Place: The Gender of Agency and the Role of Nationality. New York: Routledge, 1996.

Language of instruction: Spanish

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Buñuel en Toledo. Arte público, acción cultural y vanguardia

María Soledad Fernández Utrera — bunuel en toledo

In 1923, Luis Buñuel established the Order of Toledo, a parody order of knights whose members included Salvador Dalí, García Lorca, and Rafael Alberti. Together, they often visited the ancient Spanish capital to stroll through its labyrinthine streets. But these excursions on the part of Buñuel and the Brotherhood were more than simple episodes of cultural sightseeing; they were happenings, public interventions in space.
This book explores the anti-artistic aspect of these activities and urban perambulations. Are these practices similar to the flânerie of the Dadaists and French Surrealists? Taking into account their liberal, Spanish context, what was new about them, and what did they mean? Does their aesthetic experimentation make for ideological radicalism? And what impact do these first steps have on Buñuel’s subsequent work and his later ideological trajectory?

Fernández Utrera, María Soledad. Buñuel en Toledo. Arte público, acción cultural y vanguardia. Woodbridge: Tamesis Books & Boydell & Brewer, 2016.
ISBN-10: 1855663031
ISBN-13: 978-1855663039

ITST231

Love, Sex, and Magic in Premodern Italy

[Cross-listed with Italian 303]

Make the fears, concerns, and desires of premodern Italy yours through the study of a selection of literary, philosophical, and theological texts that shaped the Italian peninsula, Europe, and the Mediterranean.

In this course we will read and discuss excerpts from some of the most important texts of the Italian Middle Ages and Renaissance, we will learn about the culture that originated it, and we will make meaningful connections with today’s world. During our fictional journey into the world of medieval and early modern love magic, we will look at such stories as evidence of erotic, religious, ethnic, and cultural questions vital to understanding premodern Europe, the Mediterranean, and us.

You will gain a deeper understanding of premodern Italy’s:

  • Historical and literary medieval context
  • Religious and philosophical background
  • Visual arts
  • Worldviews (from Medieval to Modern)

Required readings: TBC

Prerequisite: No prerequisites

Language of Instruction: English

Note: Fulfills the literature requirement for the BA, BIE, and BMus.

ITST421H

[Cross-listed with Italian 420H]

Cultural Crossings Between Italy and China

Over the centuries, crossings between Italy and China have produced the most sustained, and arguably the most influential, strand of cultural texts on East-West borrowings. France and Britain also contributed significantly to European understandings and imagination of modern China. This course examines the evolution of Italian perspectives on China through significant literary, cinematic, and media texts of Italians’ real and fantastical travels in China and of Chinese immigration to Italy. French and British sources will also be studied mainly for comparative purposes.

The aim of the course is to analyze the contexts, ways, and reasons for which specific knowledge about China was produced, interpreted, and negotiated in Italy. Central themes we consider include the notions of the other and the self, the center and the border, boundary space, hybrid cultural identities, ethnic essentialism, and intercultural communication. To this end, we journey through four thematic clusters, including “Marco Polo and His Legacy in Italy,” “The Cultural Revolution in Italian and French Representations,” “Chinese, Italian, British, and American Cinematic Exchanges,” and “Chinese Immigration to Italy.” Theories about mobility (e.g., James Clifford, Michel De Certeau, and Edward Said) accompany specific primary texts.

This course will appeal to students who are interested in the fields of Italian, transnationalism, globalization, and intercultural studies. Ultimately, they will learn to put Italian and European interpretations of contemporary China as a rising superpower in perspective.

Primary texts include excerpts from the following list:
Marco Polo, Il Milione (1298-99)
Italo Calvino, Le città invisibili (1972)
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Adami, and Renato Simoni, Turandot (1924)
Bernardo Bertolucci, L’ultimo imperatore (1987)
Michelangelo Antonioni, Chung Kuo Cina (1972)
Alberto Moravia, La rivoluzione culturale in Cina (1967)
Julia Kristeva, Des Chinoises (1977)
Vittorio De Sica, Ladri di biciclette (1948)
Wang Xiaoshuai, Shi Qi Sui de Danche/Beijing Bicycle (2001)
Charles Brabin, The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)
Mario Caiano, Il mio nome è Shangai Joe (1972)
Roberto Saviano, Gomorra (2006)
Matteo Garrone, Gomorra (2008)
Sergio Basso, Giallo a Milano: Made in Chinatown (2008)
Andrea Segre, Io sono Li (2011)
Edoardo Nesi, Storia della mia gente (2010)
Yang Xiaping, Come due farfalle in volo sulla Grande Muraglia (2011)

Prerequisite:
At least 30 credits of lower division courses or permission of the instructor. Precludes credit for ITAL 420H and vice versa.

Note:
Students who plan to minor in Italian must take this course as ITAL and will be expected to do part of their reading and assignments in the Italian language.
ITST 421 may be taken twice, with different content, for a total of 6 credits.

Language of instruction: English

Course Registration

ITST419

From Covid-19 to the Black Death: Pandemics and Epidemics in Italian Literature and Culture

This course is mainly concerned with four key pandemics or epidemics impacting Italy, which have inspired literary and cultural outputs of exceptional quality: the Black Death of 1346-1353, the 1629-1631 Italian Plague, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the first unit, we consider the current pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The bestselling author Paolo Giordano muses on what contagion means for humanity in How Contagion Works (2020). Famed Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben put forward his rationales for opposing government mandates on vaccination from a biopolitical perspective.

Unit 2 studies various previous epidemics impacting Italians in order to understand what lessons they hold for us today. The Italian American communities and spokesmen vigorously argued against any potential medicalized prejudice that the 1918 Spanish Flu might bring. Considered the first Italian novel, Alessandro Manzoni’s The Betrothed (1827/1840) frames the main plot through the early modern bubonic plague centered in Milan, which moves the narrative forward particularly beginning in chapter 31. We also examine the ramifications of the infamous medieval plague through the frame story of Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron (circa 1350s).

Unit 3 covers two novels from other European cultures as a comparison with the Italian perspectives, including Albert Camus’s The Plague (1947) set in North Africa and Sjón’s Moonstone (2013) set in Iceland. The final unit examines the HIV/AIDS epidemic, which lurks behind the story told in Separate Rooms (1989) by Pier Vittorio Tondelli, an influential gay Italian writer who eventually died of the disease.

Through analyzing these literary texts, we study topics ranging from fear of diseases and xenophobia to biopolitics and wellbeing during isolation. The course is equally a journey through horror and injustice and one through survival and resilience.

Prerequisites: No prerequisites. Precludes credit for ITAL 409.

Language of instruction: English

FREN520D

[cross-listed with FREN 420D]

Les rapports entre l’individu et la société dans la littérature française de Corneille à Gide

Le theme de ce cours est l’évolution des rapports entre l’individu et la société dans la littérature française de l’âge classique au tournant du vingtième siècle.

A propos des deux pieces, il s’agira d’étudier des notions telles que l’espace théâtral et l’objet théâtral (Biet et Truau) et d’étudier la conception que les dramaturges français du dix-septième siècle se faisaient des genres de la comédie et de la tragédie (Biet et Truau). Dans le cas des Liaisons dangereuses, nous nous pencherons sur le roman de Laclos en tant que roman épistolaire et en tant que roman libertin (Delon). En plus d’étudier L’Immoraliste comme roman, nous situerons ce texte dans le contexte de l’histoire des idées (Nietzsche, Wilde, etc.) et de la décadence. Des extraits du livre de Mann nous serviront de pistes de recherché. En classe, nous mettrons souvent l’accent sur l’analyse textuelle.

Textes:
Pierre Corneille, Rodogune (Folio classique)
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, dit Molière, Le Misanthrope (Folio classique)
Choderlos de Laclos, Les liaisons dangereuses (Folio)
André Gide, L’Immoraliste (Folio)

Textes théoriques: (FREN 520D-921 only)
Biet, Christian et Christian Truau. Qu’est-ce que le théâtre?
Delon, Michel. Le savoir-vivre libertin.
Mann, Klaus. André Gide et la crise de la pensée moderne

Prerequisite: One of FREN 320, FREN 321, FREN 328, FREN 329, FREN 330.

Langue d’enseignement: français

Course Registration

FREN420D

[cross-listed with FREN 520D]

Les rapports entre l’individu et la société dans la littérature française de Corneille à Gide

Le theme de ce cours est l’évolution des rapports entre l’individu et la société dans la littérature française de l’âge classique au tournant du vingtième siècle.

A propos des deux pieces, il s’agira d’étudier des notions telles que l’espace théâtral et l’objet théâtral (Biet et Truau) et d’étudier la conception que les dramaturges français du dix-septième siècle se faisaient des genres de la comédie et de la tragédie (Biet et Truau). Dans le cas des Liaisons dangereuses, nous nous pencherons sur le roman de Laclos en tant que roman épistolaire et en tant que roman libertin (Delon). En plus d’étudier L’Immoraliste comme roman, nous situerons ce texte dans le contexte de l’histoire des idées (Nietzsche, Wilde, etc.) et de la décadence. Des extraits du livre de Mann nous serviront de pistes de recherché. En classe, nous mettrons souvent l’accent sur l’analyse textuelle.

Textes:
Pierre Corneille, Rodogune (Folio classique)
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, dit Molière, Le Misanthrope (Folio classique)
Choderlos de Laclos, Les liaisons dangereuses (Folio)
André Gide, L’Immoraliste (Folio)

Textes théoriques: (FREN 520D-921 only)
Biet, Christian et Christian Truau. Qu’est-ce que le théâtre?
Delon, Michel. Le savoir-vivre libertin
Mann, Klaus. André Gide et la crise de la pensée moderne

Prerequisite: One of FREN 320, FREN 321, FREN 328, FREN 329, FREN 330.

Langue d’enseignement: français

Course Registration

FREN101

Beginners’ French I

A course based on the A1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference, introducing the French language and Francophone cultures, and opening up their understanding in a worldwide context. With an approach that is communicative and collaborative, and inductive and interactive, the course develops comprehension and the mobilisation of knowledge as savoir-faire.

FREN 101 involves three hours per week of classroom work. At the end of the course, students will be able to understand simple communication and to communicate simply about familiar and frequently-encountered topics.

Classes are mostly conducted in French, with some English as needed for explanation. As this course is for students who have never learned any French before, it assumes no prior knowledge of French.

Language of instruction: French

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Grading Breakdown

Coming soon

Readings

Textbook:

D. Abi Mansour, S. Anthony, P. Fenoglio, K. Papin, A. Soucé, M. Vergues. Odyssée 1 : Livre de l’élève. (Paris: CLÉ International, 2021).

  • E-book version: ISBN 9782090348538
  • Printed version: ISBN 9782090355697

Workbook:

Lena Rio. Odyssée 1 : Cahier d'activités. (Paris: CLÉ International, 2021).

  • E-book version: ISBN 9782090348576
  • Printed version: ISBN 9782090355703

Complementary materials from Odyssée 1:

  • Odyssée 1 audio and video online
  • How to set up your e-books

These materials are used for both FREN 101 and FREN 102. You can use the ISBN numbers to research other suppliers and their prices: https://shop.bookstore.ubc.ca/courselistbuilder.aspx

Determine your entry level
Find out which course level to start at given your previous experience with French.