French 275 - DESIGN BY FICTION

Fiction writers produce design and invite us to think about it in various ways. In our mind's eye, we see a virtual world created in their pages. We may discover design physically before us, on the page, or looking at the book itself as an object designed to tell us something quite different from the fiction it contains. Finally, a text may explore the seductions and dangers of the desire to design and to create. Authors include Guillaume de Lorris, Montaigne, Louis XIV, Alfred Jarry, Balzac, Zola, Huysmans, Apollinaire, Colette. Course may include observation of class meetings in art, architecture, landscape studies, engineering, and dance. Prerequisites: FRN 230 and one other 200-level course, or permission of the instructor. (E)