Course Details in 2026/27 Session

Module Title	LH Adapting Nineteenth-Century France
School	Lan, Cult, Art Hist & Music
Department	Modern Languages
Module Code	09 26876
Module Lead	Andrew Watts
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-10 hours Seminar-20 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	The literature of nineteenth-century France continues to have a profound impact on both French and world culture. Focussing on Balzac, Flaubert and Zola, the aim of this module is to examine the richly varied contexts (social, economic, political and literary) in which their works were written, and in which they have subsequently been adapted and ‘reimagined’. The first part of the module deals with Balzac’s 1832 novel Le Colonel Chabert, and its adaptation for the screen in 1994, when tension within France’s immigrant community provided an updated context for the established Balzacian themes of lost identity and social exclusion. Analysis of the relationship between literature and its context will be developed in our reading of Dai Sijie’s award-winning novel Balzac et la Petite Tailleuse chinoise (2000), which considers Balzac through the unique prism of 1970s China, and Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Students will further their understanding of theories of adaptation and intertextuality by applying these to two longer novels, Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (1857) and Zola’s La Bête humaine (1890). In both cases, students will be required not only to discuss the works themselves, but to compare them against a selection of visual and literary artefacts that they have inspired. Among these are film adaptations by Jean Renoir and Claude Chabrol, and other innovative forms of cultural expression such as the graphic novel (Gemma Bovery, 1999). These works are combined in a module that will challenge students to re-evaluate the status enjoyed by nineteenth-century literature, both in its own time and since.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: demonstrate a thorough understanding of the texts under discussion, especially in terms of their relationship to the social, economic, political and literary preoccupations of the nineteenth century; explain, and illustrate through theoretical analysis, ways in which nineteenth-century texts have been reinterpreted in the modern period (up to and including the present day); construct, both orally and in writing, sophisticated analyses (and where appropriate, comparisons) of the texts under discussion; acquire and deploy transferable research skills appropriate to final-year study, ranging over both print and online materials;
Assessment	26876-03 : 4,000 word essay : Coursework (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessments: 1 x 4000 word essay (100%) Reassessment: No resits are permitted in final year. If students miss the assessed task owing to extenuating circumstances, the failed task would be rescheduled at a later date.
Other
Reading List