French Realism in Historical Context

This course is designed as an introduction to the 19th-century French “realist” novel, with particular attention to its innovative use of the recent past as historical context. We will begin by studying the complicated arc of French political and cultural history in the period between the Revolution and the end of the century, so as to better to appreciate the way historical events form the backdrop to the characters’ fictional adventures in three major works of 19th-century French realism. Balzac’s Lost Illusions (1837-43), Flaubert’s Sentimental Education (1869) and Zola’s Ladies’ Paradise, span the century as they take place in the decades preceding their respective publications: the political, artistic and cultural movements of the post-Revolutionary period (Balzac), the years leading up to the Revolution of 1848 (Flaubert), and the cultural upheavals of the Second Empire and Belle Époque (Zola). We will watch Xavier Giannoli’s 2021 blockbuster film version of Lost Illusions, and we will also read Eugen Weber’s France Fin de Siècle to guide our understanding of the late 19th-century cultural innovations on display in Zola’s novel about the first department stores. Since most of the three novels are situated in Paris, we will take advantage of being on-site for field trips to visit some of the locales depicted in the works and reflect on how the contemporary city reflects the continuation of trends from the 19th century.