Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session

Course Overview

Youth is a source of fascination in most Western cultures. It is both a major inspiration for artistic creation and a political concept, in the name of which policies are pursued. As such, it is also a vital component of national identity. What does it mean to be young in France? When does a child become a young adult and when does youth end?

This course will study the transformation of youth since the 18th century and the changing experiences of becoming an adult in contemporary French society. We will examine various representations of youth in literature (e.g. Rimbaud, Nizan, Bouraoui, Douard), movies (e.g. Breillat, Sattouf, Ozon, Lvovsky), and songs (e.g. Aznavour, Hardy, Saez).

Grading Policy

Sessions will be divided between

• Students' presentations of the weekly theme
• Class discussion to engage with the main readings and movies screened
• A weekly analysis of topical issues on gender and sexuality in France

Final grade will be determined from three types of required exercises:

• One grade will be based on one oral presentation (30%), individually or in groups (of no more than 2 students). Presentations will be limited to 15 minutes maximum. Students will also have to speak to the class during their oral presentation (not to read a pre-written text).
• One grade will be based on weekly short-answer papers (20%). It will consist of a half-page maximum argument on the weekly theme or movie.
• One grade will be based on an individual research paper (40%), comprised between 4 to 5 pages. Students will visit the MFA with the class and select a piece of art related to youth, preferably by a francophone artist. They will then write a story involving the piece they selected, or characters depicted in this piece. The students are strongly encouraged to submit a 1-page outline before they start writing. The paper will be submitted 2 weeks before the end of classes.
• One grade will be based on class participation (10%): the evaluation will be based on 1° attendance, 2° the demonstration that the students have done the weekly readings, 3° the quality (and not only the quantity) of their oral output. To help you prepare for the discussions, questions on the readings and their most topical aspects will be suggested every week.

Calendar

The following table indicates which topics, readings, and questions were covered during each class session.