2022-23 Academic Catalog

Recent events in France have highlighted the issues of free speech and religious intolerance, among other cultural questions. Some of the most fascinating and now canonized works in French and Francophone literature were once banned because they called into question the political, religious, or moral sensibilities of the day. Even today, Francophone books deemed to be subversive are routinely censored. Through texts, graphic novels, and films by Sade, Baudelaire, Camus, Frantz Fanon, Pontecorvo, Julie Maroh, Hergé (Tintin), and others, we will explore the crucial role of forbidden works in their cultural contexts. Prerequisite: French 204 or equivalent