French Orientalism

This course examines the representation of the Orient in French literature. It shows that under the imperialistic assumptions underlying Western attitudes toward the East, including the racial, cultural, and sexual dimensions, the Orient emerged as an intellectual construction that was the opposite of the civilized West. The course includes a selection of canonical French literary texts from the 17th to the early 20th centuries (Montesquieu’s Les lettres persanes, Hugo’s Les Orientales, Balzac’s La fille aux yeux d’or, Nerval’s Voyage en Orient, Flaubert’s Salammbô, and Gide’s L’immoraliste). Literary readings will be supplemented by film adaptations and excerpts from travel literature and personal diaries.This course is taught in French.