This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
The mutual influence of the visual arts and literature is both a major theme of French culture and an important area of current academic research. The eighteenth-century 'philosophe' Denis Diderot (1713–1784) was the first major French author to write at length about painting, and he bequeathed to later writers such as Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) a new literary genre, the ‘salon’. This module explores how visual and textual materials (including paintings, photographs, novels, poems and essays) interact across a range of historical periods and artistic movements in modern France, enriching students’ understanding of both the visual arts and literature.
Total Contact Hours: 20
Private Study Hours: 130
Total Study Hours: 150
Main assessment methods:
Essay Plan (500 words) – 20%
Essay (2,750 words) – 60%
Screencast/Presentation – 20%
Reassessment method:
Reassessment Instrument: 100% Coursework
Indicative Reading:
Balzac, H. de. (2005). Le Chef d'œuvre inconnu. Paris: Gallimard
Baudelaire, C. (2010). 'Le Peintre de la vie moderne'. Paris: Fayard
Diderot, D. (2008). Salon de 1767. Paris: Hermann
Proust, M. (2003). Marcel Proust, A la recherche du temps perdu. Paris: Gallimard (Extracts to be provided)
Zola, E. (2006). L’Œuvre. Paris: Gallimard
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1 Demonstrate a systematic appreciation of the differences and similarities between the manner in which French writers of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries seek to populate their texts with works of art, particularly paintings, through discussion of texts by Denis Diderot, Honoré de Balzac, Charles Baudelaire, Emile Zola and Marcel Proust;
2 Demonstrate a coherent understanding of the literary guises in which works of art, particularly, paintings, can be made to appear;
3 Demonstrate their critical understanding of a particular and vivid form of the relationship between fictional text and 'world';
4 Demonstrate their critical appreciation for some of the ways in which the literary and the non-literary intersect;
5 Demonstrate a professional ability to analyse and describe fictional narratives, particularly those containing descriptions of works of art;
6 Demonstrate their ability to read confidently in French.
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1 Participate in discussion making their own critical, reflective contributions to the discussion and listening to and respecting the contributions of others;
2 Communicate confidently and effectively, and work as part of a team;
3 Write professional, well-constructed essays, developing sustained arguments, and supported by textual evidence;
4 Give finely honed presentations and run seminars confidently and independently;
5 Reflect on their own learning, plan their use of time, and identify appropriate directions for further study;
6 Synthesise and critically evaluate information from a number of sources;
7 Make extensive use of information technology.
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