FREN 423 - L’histoire du corps, 1500-1800

FC ARHU CD

4 credits
During the Renaissance an ideal human body was celebrated in poetry, painting, and sculpture, as canons of beauty were revived from Antiquity, while in sacred art, a new emphasis was placed on the physicality of Christ and the saints. Opposed to these tendencies were counter-currents of realism and the grotesque: in medical treatises, travel narratives, comic genres, and crime literature, the body is palpable, repugnant, abject. Primary texts plus critical readings by Foucault, Bakhtin, Kristeva, and others.
Prerequisites & Notes: Two 300-Level French courses beyond 301.