Subject Area: French Studies

Key French Texts focuses on several major literary and cinematographic works in French. The texts and films may include the following: Camus' narrative "La Chute"; his play "Les Justes" and Resnais' film "Hiroshima mon Amour", including Duras' screenplay. The course entails a study of political, ethical and social issues in these works. It also addresses the question of what makes these texts works of art, in particular in analyses of the forms of narrative, drama and film. Questions which recur in these works relate to justice, terrorism, war and peace, forgiveness, history and memory.

Key Topics: Conceptions of justice in the set texts; Terrorism; The limits of violence; Survival and self-sacrifice; Truth and fiction; Language, style and genre of the set texts.