HNRS-120 | Quotidian in French Liter

Full Title: The Quotidian in French Literature, Art, Cinema, and Thought

Topic Description:

In this course, we will reevaluate the quotidian, or everyday, aspects of life—the habits, rituals, people, creatures, objects, and places that structure our daily existence. We will study French literature, thought, art, and cinema—from Catholic Books of Hours to Surrealist assemblages—that push us to investigate the quotidian and apply the concepts and techniques they introduce to our own lives. In an interdisciplinary conversation stretching over centuries, French writers, artists, filmmakers, and theorists have built on each other’s explorations of the quotidian to create a vibrant cultural tradition of rethinking the ethics, aesthetics, and functionality of everyday life. Through readings, classroom discussions, and creative projects, we will enter into this long struggle to render the familiar strange, the mundane beautiful, and the overlooked valued. It will not be easy: to find meaning, purpose, mystery, and wonder in the quotidian might require prayer, reflection, practice, critique, cooperation, and even revolution. 

Counts as Global? No

Topic Approved: December 2024