French V/VI: Women in 17th-Century Literature and Society

Prerequisite: French IV or instructor approval, grades 10-12
This upper-level literature seminar will prepare you for college-level work in French with an emphasis on analyzing works of literature, as we continue to learn and refine vocabulary and grammar structures through reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Texts and topics studied will alternate each year to allow students to take a class at this level two years in a row. In 2022–2023, we will focus on women authors and intellectuals from 17th-century France. We will begin the year studying the Préciosité movement and its major players. We will then read texts by women who invited new literary genres: the fairy tale, the historical novel, and the memoir. We will finish the year studying a satirical play, Les Précieuses Ridicules, by Molière.