Queering the Grand Siècle

Catalog description

This seminar will approach canonical and non-canonical 17th-century literature through the lens of queer theory. Using strategies of queer critique while being attentive to literary/historical context, we will explore a selection of poetic, prose, and theatrical texts from perspectives that trouble the heteronormative and patriarchal norms of knowledge and power. Particular focus on the reception of the "Grand Siècle" in contemporary French cultural identity and poststructuralist thought. Theoretical readings by Butler, Edelman, Freccero, Foucault, Halberstam, Sedgwick; literary texts by François de Sales, Théophile de Viau, Benserade, Cyrano de Bergerac, Madeleine de Scudéry, Corneille, Molière, Racine, Bussy-Rabutin, among others. Taught in French.