FFS 355 - Cross Currents in French Culture

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

Topic for 2024/25b: From Francophone Fantasy to Speculative Fiction. Voyage to the moon, dine on smoke, dive deep into the emotional life of a dolphin, and pay your tab with a poem. In this seminar, we explore how fantasy and speculative fiction writers imagine nearby and far-off worlds, and how their works are read and used in different cultural contexts. Whether as satirical critiques of social institutions, mediums for promoting themes of tolerance and cultural relativism, or as instruments for furthering radical political agendas, these narratives offer a rich field for examination. By tracing how speculative fiction has depicted the future throughout history, we gain insights into how the genre addresses the political, imperial, nationalistic, colonial, or neo-colonial concerns of its time. These texts also shed light on debates surrounding pivotal social issues related to feminism, urbanism, ecology, and justice. Our study spans multiple genres, including utopia, uchronia, bio-cyberpunk/transhumanism, steampunk, space opera, and afrofuturism, and examines a diverse array of media such as short stories, fairy tales, films, bandes dessinées (BDs), series, music, and blogs. Additionally, we consider the role of arts and material culture—including painting, dance, food, and architecture—in both pre-modern and contemporary contexts. Authors may include: Cyrano de Bergerac, Madame d’Aulnoy, Théophile Gautier, Jules Verne, René(e) d’Anjour, Pierre Boulle, Sylvia Saeba, Ketty Steward, Michael Roch, and Sylvie Lainé. Thomas Parker.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: CLS