Unit information: Victor Hugo in 2010/11

Unit name	Victor Hugo
Unit code	FREN30102
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Professor. Stephens
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of French
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit introduces students to the body of work of Victor Hugo (including literature, politics, philosophy and visual art), and explores Hugo's dominance of nineteenth-century French culture through the various mediums with which he experimented as a Romantic. In turn, students will consider the productive yet problematic relationship between art, critical thinking, and political activism, as well as the ways in which questions raised by Hugo's work in these fields still loom large today. Students will also examine his contributions to contemporary political and popular culture, from the European Union to London's West-End. Students will not least develop the critical skills they have already acquired during their studies. In particular, much of the secondary reading for each seminar will be in French (with no translations currently available), thereby obliging students to continue broadening their knowledge of the French language following their language classes and Year Abroad.

Aims:

• To introduce students to a significant body of knowledge of a complexity appropriate to final year level. The content matter will normally include one or more of the following: literature; social, cultural or political history; linguistics; cultural studies; film, television or other media.

• To facilitate students' engagement with a body of literature, including secondary literature, texts, including in non-print media, primary sources and ideas as a basis for their own analysis and development. Normally many or most of these sources will be in a language other than English and will enhance the development of their linguistic skills.

• To develop further skills of synthesis, analysis and independent research, building on the skills acquired in units at level I.

• To equip students with the skills to undertake postgraduate study in a relevant field.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Successful students will:

• be knowledgable about a significant cultural, historical or linguistic subject related to the language they are studying;

• will have advanced skills in the selection and synthesis of relevant material;

• be able to evaluate and analyse relevant material from a significant body of source materials, usually in a foreign language, at an advanced level;

• be able to respond to questions or problems by presenting their independent judgements in an appropriate style and at an advanced level of complexity;

• be able to transfer these skills to other working environments, including postgraduate study.

Teaching Information

One two-hour seminar per week, to include lectures from the Unit Tutor when a new text / object of study is introduced (roughly every fortnight).

Assessment Information

One of the following:

a) A written assignment of 3000 words and a two hour exam (50% each)

b) A written assignment of 3000 words (25%) and a three hour exam (75%)

c) One written assignment of 6000 words (or equivalent)

d) Two written assignments of 3000 words (50% each)

e) One oral presentation (25%) plus one written assignment of 1500 words (25%) plus one written assignment of 3000 words (50%)

Reading and References

Le Dernier jour d’un condamné (1829/32) – short story

Le Roi s’amuse (1832) – theatrical play

Les Contemplations (1856) – volume of poetry

Les Misérables (1862) – novel

Dessins de Victor Hugo (Pierre Georgel, ed.; 1971/74) – graphic work

Students are strongly advised to work through these titles before the unit begins: Les Misérables alone is around 1500 pages long, and so needs to be read in advance before this unit begins.

Recommended preliminary reading

In addition to this primary material, students are expected to read around 30 pages of secondary criticism by Hugo and others for key seminars, which will be distributed at the start of the course in the unit handbook.