French 331 - Topic: Le Roman D'Initiation

In this course, we will study novels (and a few films) that chronicle and analyze the coming-of-age process of a principal character. In each case, we will travel with the character as she/he moves from ignorance to knowledge, from naïvet to sophistication, from inexperience to experience, from adolescence to adulthood. Comparing and contrasting a number of works from several different historical periods, we will define both the constants and the variables of the subgenre of the roman d'initiation and examine its corollary themes: the family, the individual and society, gender, sexuality, travel, education, egotism, and introspection.

Prereq: Two of the following courses: French 215, 219, 225, or 230