| Unit name | The Failed Artist in Nineteenth-Century Fiction |
|---|---|
| Unit code | FRENM0001 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Emeritus Professor. Tim Unwin |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of French |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Representations of the artist-figure abound in nineteenth-century fiction. In this unit, students will read a range of texts in which artists play a key role, assessing the multiple facets of the question of the artists' 'failure' (personal, social, aesthetic, spiritual), and considering how the portrayal of failure is negotiated by the novelist. Such texts may include Balzac's Pierre Grassou and Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu, Champfleury's Chien-Caillou, Flaubert's L'Education sentimentale, Maupassant's Fort comme la mort, the Goncourts' Manette Salomon, Huysmans's En minage and Zola's L'oeuvre. Links will be sought between the figure of the artist and the art of the novelist more generally through this period. Realist or post-realist fiction will be seen to establish its credentials both against and in tandem with other genres and art forms.
