
- UCAS course code
- PR10
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Course unit details:
Dangerous Liaisons
Unit code | FREN30362 |
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Credit rating | 20 |
Unit level | Level 3 |
Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
Offered by | French Studies |
Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
“Scandalous”, “libertine”, “decadent”, and “superb” are words used by readers to describe one of the most provocative and innovative French novels. First published in 1782, the posterity of Laclos’ Les Liaisons dangereuses is remarkable: the novel has been adapted for the stage (theatre and opera), radio, and the movies in different countries (USA, China, Korea). Some of the themes weaved into the fabric of the text are eroticism and modesty, manipulation and revenge, emancipation and bondage. In this course unit, we will read the novel alongside two cinematographic adaptations (one French, one Hollywood production), and a short play written in the former East Bloc by Heiner Müller. We will address questions of adaptation (novel to film) and modes of epistolary expressions (letters vs short messages including text messages)
Aims
To provide an overview of the main themes of libertine literature
To familiarize students with pre-revolutionary French culture and literature
To provide students with key concepts of epistolary literature
To introduce students to theories of adaptation
Teaching and learning methods
Some of the lectures for this unit will be delivered online.
Knowledge and understanding
Analyse movie and theatrical adaptations
Study epistolary texts (letters and messages)
Intellectual skills
Use appropriate literary and film studies terminology to study the novel and its adaptations
Use suitable skills and appropriate terms to study epistolary and message rhetoric
Practical skills
Express ideas logically and elegantly in oral and written French
Communicate strategically using messages
Transferable skills and personal qualities
Refine critical skills
Develop original ideas and engage with existing theories
Improve public speaking and group participation.
Employability skills
- Other
- Confidence in written and oral expression Advanced communicating strategies
Assessment methods
Commentary - 40%
Essay - 60%
Feedback methods
1 practice commentary | Formative |
1 essay plan | Formative |
Recommended reading
Dagen (Jean), « D’une logique de l’écriture : Les Liaisons dangereuses », Littératures, no 4, 1981, p. 33-52.
Humbert (Brigitte), De la lettre à l’écran. « Les Liaisons dangereuses », Amsterdam, Rodopi, 2000.
Pomeau (René), Laclos, ou le paradoxe, Paris, Hachette, 1985.
Seth (Catriona), « Genre et ‘gender’ : des Liaisons dangereuses (1782) au Mauvais Genre (2000) », D’un genre à l’autre, M. Guéret-Laferté et D. Mortier éd., Rouen, PURH, 2008, p. 163-177.
Versini (Laurent), Laclos et la tradition. Essai sur les sources et la technique des Liaisons dangereuses, Paris, Klincksieck, 1968.
Study hours
Scheduled activity hours | |
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Lectures | 20 |
Seminars | 13 |
Independent study hours | |
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Independent study | 167 |
Teaching staff
Staff member | Role |
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Jerome Brillaud | Unit coordinator |