FREN 017D. First Year Seminar: The French Philosophical Novel (W Course)

(Cross-listed as LITR 017FD)
[W course conducted in English]. From the eighteenth century to the present day, French literature has a rich tradition of authors who are at once novelists and philosophers. From the Enlightenment tales of Voltaire and Diderot, to the existentialist works of Sartre and Beauvoir, to the relational ontology of Glissant’s postcolonial literary universe, several of the central figures of French letters have turned to the novel both as a platform for showcasing their philosophical systems and as a vessel to give shape and meaning to these very systems. The following course proposes to study the interdependence between the novelistic and philosophical enterprises of these authors in order to explore fundamental questions tied to knowledge, identity, and justice.
Humanities.
Writing course.
1 credit.
Eligible for FREN
Fall 2026. Robison.
Catalog chapter: Modern Languages and Literatures: French and Francophone Studies
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/french-francophone-studies/courses

Access the class schedule to search for sections.