French 311 - Topic: Le Roman de la Rose

'After first defining 'courtly love' via Chretien's Lancelot and other representative texts, we shall read the two-part, 13C Roman de la rose, begun as a serious allegorical love-quest by one author, then, years later, 'continued' in an opposite vein by another author using virtually all knowledge and controversy to define love, and life, against Church and state dogma. The Rose's learned yet irreverent, schizoid nature and manuscript images made it an international blockbuster admired and/or reworked by Dante, Chaucer and others. It also sparked the first literary debate about women, pitting Christine de Pizan against the Parisian male intelligentsia, whose debate letters we shall also examine.'

Prereq: Two of the following courses: FREN-215, 219, 225, 230