FREN 384 - Poetics of the Nonhuman

This course focuses on poetic texts in French that figure the nonhuman-for instance, manmade or natural objects or substances, or nonhuman inhabitants of the natural world. By looking in depth and in detail at the poetry by authors preoccupied with this aesthetic goal, we will explore questions that arise at the intersection of literary texts and the world of material things, and potential conflicts or contradictions between the human practice of language and the nature of nonhuman animals and objects that it attempts to capture in poetic figures. What assumptions are expressed by poetic texts about the relationship between the human and the nonhuman, or the place of human beings in the world they inhabit? Can we imagine poetic texts regulating or even reconfiguring the relationship of human beings to nonhuman forms of life or material objects? Among the issues covered will be the logic of fable in La Fontaine, the poetics of the object practiced by Francis Ponge, the modern materialism of Yves Bonnefoy, the poetry of place in Guillevic, the vegetal lyric subject of Aimé Césaire, the terrestrial tropes of Marie-Claire Bancquart, the ethology of Vinciane Despret, and Anne Portugal’s interest in technology. Conducted in French.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): FREN 212 or equivalent
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Not offered: 2023-24
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).