Conveying otherness: French imaginings of Asia

Elective Course

This course discusses the way French travelers, writers, and artists from the Renaissance to the 20th century have represented in their works countries such as India, China, Vietnam, and Japan — commonly regrouped under the Euro-centered term of “Extreme-Orient.” Students shall investigate a selection of key novels, narratives, essays, travel logs, memoirs, journalistic reports, films, as well as works of art that depict discoveries, encounters, and experiences with the view of identifying underlying trends and recurrent themes. While the question of the construction of the Far East as Other and its subsequent orientalization by Western visitors will come into play in our readings, the extent to which these various accounts have inspired and influenced the aesthetics and the literary production in France will also be examined. The medium of discussion will be French, as well as all the material under investigation.