French 230en - Colloquium: Topics in French Studies- Encountering Nature in the Early Modern World: Flora, Fauna, Empire

This course examines how writers from the 16th-18th centuries experienced their natural settings. These settings varied widely, encompassing both Europe and the Americas during early phases of colonization. The great variety of flora and fauna in these different locales prompted questions about what nature signified and for whom. How did such factors as gender, religion, ethnicity and social class combine with political influences in each century to cause shifting understandings and representations of the natural world? To explore this question, the class analyzes literary texts in multiple genres alongside illustrations, maps, paintings, historical documents and audiovisual materials. Students may receive credit for only one section of FRN 230. Enrollment limited to 18. Course taught in French.

[CE] FRN 230 Limit