MDL207   France in the Fifties   (20 credits)

Description

The course examines the 1950s as a 'watershed' period in French cultural history. It was an era characterised by exciting innovations in film, literature and thought: a 'nouvelle vague' of cultural practice challenging and usurping outmoded formulae of the past and setting the parameters for the anti-establishment discourses of the 1960s and 1970. Examples of innovatory cultural expression over the period are examined against the turbulent social, political and economic conditions in which they were produced. The contextual backdrop comprises a broad range of themes ranging from economic modernisation and urbanisation to consumer society and leisure culture. Materials illustrative of the cultural production of the period cover a range of expression including literature, philosophy, film and the mass media of press, television and radio.

Reading List