Main expressions of existential thought in Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Albert Camus. Attention to the French existentialists? concern for commitment in political and social affairs of the times. Examines absurdist literature since the 1950?s in the ?theatre of the absurd,? in fiction, and in critical work of other contemporary French writers. Covers Ionesco, Beckett, Genet, Robbe-Grillet, and Barthes; precursors of the absurd such as Kafka and C?line; and practictioners of the absurd outside of France (e.g., Pinter, Albee, Barthelme).

French (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks