Syllabus
This cycle traces the birth of modernity from the mid-19th century to the 1910s. Its concept is based on the interweaving of two additional axes. 1) The first axis follows the general lines of development that transcend specific literary genres, types and individual arts.
In them we will look at the continuity and logic of the movement of literature at a given time in integrating moves and in interaction with close fields of culture (aesthetics, philosophy). The predominant moves are defined by the following concepts: general crisis, crisis of artistic representation, problem of mimetic principle, radicalization of ancient topos-antinomy old versus new, crisis of traditional conception of subject and current conception of reality, paradigm shift. 2) The second axis will follow the genre classification and it shall concretize the general lines in selected manifestations of poetry and prose of the relevant period: a) Symbolism and decadence in poetry: Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Valéry; pre-avant-garde: Apollinaire. b) Symbol-decadent prose: preparation period: Flaubert; peak period: Huysmans; Gide.
Annotation
This cycle traces the birth of modernity from the mid-19th century to the 1920s and follows it in selected manifestations of poetry and prose (Baudelaire, Valéry, Apollinaire ; Flaubert, Huysmans, Gide) accenting either diachronic and synchronic polarisation between the "traditional" and the "modern".