FRNCH-406 What's so Funny? Laughter and the Comic in French Culture
What makes us laugh, and what is the social function of comedy? This course examines French comic literature, film, theater and performance from medieval fabliau and farce, modern comic fiction and theater, to contemporary cinema and stand-up comedy; works of imagination are read against the theories of Aristotle, Joubert, Baudelaire, Freud, Bergson, and Bakhtin. Authors and artists include Rabelais; Molière; Voltaire; Georges Feydeau; Albert Jarry; Eugène Ionesco; Jacques Tati; Agnès Jaoui; and Gad Elmaleh. Work includes a personal carnet du rire, an oral presentation, and a longer project.
Seminar (12)
Credits
1
Prerequisite
211 or above, or consent of instructor.