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European Literature in Translation: Revolution and Rebellion

10 weekly sessions on campus, on Fridays at 11am-1pm, starting from Friday 3 October - we are no longer taking enrolments for this course.

Overview

On this course we'll look at three novels which, in various ways, respond to three major events in France’s history:

  • The French Revolution, particularly the year 1794
  • The 1832 June Rebellion
  • The 1848 February Revolution which led to the foundation of the Second Republic.

Anatole France’s Les Dieux ont Soif, written in 1912, traces the rise of a young painter, a fiercely Jacobin adherent of Marat and Robespierre, and his eventual fate amid the madness of the Reign of Terror.

Victor Hugo’s monumental 1862 novel, Les Miserables, so well known through many adaptations, tells the story of Jean Valjean, a former convict, and the characters he encounters on his journey to redemption.

Gustave Flaubert’s L’Education Sentimentale, published in 1869, follows with bitter irony the life of a young man named Frederic Moreau, against the background of French Revolution of 1848 and the founding of the French Second Empire.

All three novels look closely at a range of human behaviour in remarkable and exceptional times and each has a gallery of memorable and intriguing characters.

The class has run for many years and the atmosphere is supportive and collaborative. You'll generally read texts in advance of the classes, and sections are read and discussed along with selected critical writing. No former knowledge or experience of European languages is required.

Syllabus

  • Week 1: Historical overview of the period and introduction to Anatole France
  • Week 2: The Gods Will Have Blood, early chapters
  • Week 3: The Gods Will Have Blood
  • Week 4: Introduction to Victor Hugo and Les Misérables early chapters
  • Week 5: Les Misérables
  • Week 6: Les Misérables
  • Week 7: Les Misérables
  • Week 8: Introduction to Gustave Flaubert and L’Education Sentimentale, early chapters
  • Week 9: L’Education Sentimentale
  • Week 10: L’Education Sentimentale and reflections on the term.

Course lecturer

Mark Halton is a retired English teacher with an MA from Liverpool in Victorian Literature, as well as a lifelong interest in European languages and literature.

Course fee

  • Standard fee: £155
  • Concession fee: £80.