Teaching code

4S002946

Teacher

Valeria Averoldi

Coordinator

Valeria Averoldi

Credits

6

Language

French

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-LIN/03 - FRENCH LITERATURE

Period

I semestre (Area Lingue e letterature straniere) dal Sep 22, 2025 al Dec 24, 2025.

Courses Single

Authorized

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

In accordance with the periodization adopted in our French literature courses (first year: from 1850 to the present ; second year: Eighteenth century and first half of the Nineteenth century; third year: Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries), this course aims to present the French Literature of the 16th and the 17th Centuries and the artistic and philosophical culture of those historical periods. Moreover, the professor intends to provide students with the theoretical and methodological tools for the literary and linguistic analysis of the proposed texts. The lessons will be held in French, with the purpose of improving the students’ linguistic level as well. The courses will consist in lectures and seminars. Remedial courses will be organised as well.

Prerequisites and basic notions

According to the prerequisite criteria, the student must have passed the exams of French Literature 1, French Literature 2, French Language 1 and French Language 2.

Program

Part I
An introduction to the historical-literary context of the 16th century will be provided, with particular focus on the troubled existence of Mary Stuart, a key figure of the century whose fertile literary vocation will be studied, from the queen's rich collection of books to the poetic production that developed between Scotland and England. The themes that characterise the Sonnets de la cassette, Petrarchist-inspired poems that marked the queen's final downfall, and the poèmes conceived in England, during her years of imprisonment, in which the poetess lays the foundations of the portrait of a stoic, constant and imperturbable woman that will influence all the works of the dramatists of the time, will be analysed in depth.
Part II
We will focus on the analysis of the theatrical production of Antoine de Montchrestien, a playwright active between the two centuries (16th and 17th) and a witness to a complex epoch of transition that came to life in the Tragedies (1601 and 1604). We will study, in particular, La Reine d'Escosse, a play that marks a real turning point in the representation of the ‘affaire Marie Stuart’, and Les Lacènes, a Plutarchean-inspired tragedy that makes the Constance of female characters the centre of a profound political and philosophical reflection. The complex intertext underlying the two tragedies and the stoic attitude characterizing Montchrestien's female characters will be the main focus of study, while at the same time paying particular attention to the political, religious and editorial context within which the Norman playwright operates. A part of the course will also be devoted to the presentation of the main and most current projects that apply Digital Humanities to 16th century French Theatre (DHT; BVTTR; MELPONUM).
A detailed program with bibliographical information, as well as a selection of literary and critical texts, will be given at the beginning and during the course.
Bibliography:
A) Marie Stuart, reine-poète
Textes critiques :
M. STUART, Œuvres littéraires. L’écriture française d’un destin, sous la direction de Sylvène Édouard, Irène Fasel et François Rigolot, Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2021 ;
V. AVEROLDI, Le lys et le chardon : Marie Stuart, femme de pouvoir et femme de lettres, Alessandria, Edizioni dell’Orso, 2024 ;
V. AVEROLDI, «Que vertu vient de l’estude des bonnes lettres»: Maria Stuarda e i poeti della Pléiade, «L’Universo Mondo», no. 49, 2022 ;
«In my end is my beginning: Maria Stuarda regina di Scozia tra storia e mito, a cura di V. Averoldi, « Sidera », no. 5, Collana del Gruppo di Studio sul Cinquecento francese, 2023;
Reading Monarchs Writing: The Poetry of Henry VIII, Mary Stuart, Elizabeth I, and James VI/I, Arizona, Arizona Board of Regents for Arizona State University, 2002.
B) Antoine de Montchrestien, La Reine d’Escosse et Les Lacènes
Textes critiques :
V. AVEROLDI, « Que tout soit esbranlé, son ame ne chancele » : Les Lacènes (1604) d’Antoine de Montchrestien entre tyrannie, constance et heureux trépas, « L’Universo Mondo », 51, 2024 (https://www.cinquecentofrancese.it/index.php/l-universo-mondo/711-um51) ;
M. BUSCA, « La vertu n’est jamais de Fortune outragee » : Notes sur les sources des Lacènes de Montchrestien, « L’Universo Mondo », 51, 2024 (https://www.cinquecentofrancese.it/index.php/l-universo-mondo/711-um51) ;
A. DE MONTCHRESTIEN, La Reine d’Escosse, étude et édition critique avec introduction, variantes et notes par J. Crivelli, Paris, Mouton, 1975 ;
F. CHARPENTIER, Le discours héroïque chez Montchrestien, « Cahier des Annales de Normandie », no. 9, 1977, pp. 111-120 ;
F. CHARPENTIER, Les débuts de la tragédie héroïque : Antoine de Montchrestien (1575-1621), Lille, Service de reproduction des thèses, Université de Lille III, 1981 ;
J. CONROY, Terres tragiques: l’Angleterre et l’Écosse dans la tragédie française du XVIIe siècle, Tübingen, Gunter Narr Verlag, 1999 ;
G. DOTOLI, Le théâtre de l’histoire contemporaine : la tragédie de La Reine d’Escosse de Montchrestien, in D’un siècle à l’autre. Littérature et société, sous la direction de P. Desan et G. Dotoli, Fasano-Paris, Schena-Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2001 ;
L. FRAPPIER, L’éthos féminin dans Les Lacènes, in Antoine de Montchrestien, une aventure tragique : textes et contextes, sous la direction de R. GORRIS CAMOS, Genève, Droz, sous presse ;
M. MASTROIANNI, Tragedia storica e tragédie sainte. La Reine d’Escosse di Antoine de Montchrestien, in Due storie inglesi, due miti europei. Maria Stuarda e il conte di Essex sulle scene teatrali, a cura di D. Dalla Valle e M. Pavesio, Alessandria, Edizioni dell’Orso, 2007;
J. RUFO, La tragédie politique : Antoine de Montchrestien’s La Reine d’Escosse Renconsidered, « Modern Philology », vol. 111, no. 3, 2014, pp. 437-456 ;
F. A. YATES, Some New Light on L’Écossaise of Antoine de Montchrestien, « The Modern Language Review », vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 285-297.
Per la storia della Letteratura francese del Rinascimento:
F. LESTRINGANT, J. RIEU, A. TARRÊTE, Littérature française du XVIe siècle, Paris, PUF, 2000.
oppure :
R. CRESCENZO, Histoire de la littérature française du XVIe siècle, “Unichamp”, Paris, Champion, 2001.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

In-person lessons. The supporting teaching materials will be uploaded to the teaching Moodle platform. For any other information regarding the course, the teacher is available via email or during office hours.

Learning assessment procedures

The evaluation will take place through an oral assessment of the knowledge relating to the Course.

Evaluation criteria

The following will be assessed: the quality of the oral expression in French, the clarity and coherence of the argumentation, the completeness of the information and the ability to critically deepen the knowledge acquired.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The final grade, out of thirtieths, will be assigned by averaging the grades for the evaluation criteria.

Exam language

Francese