French Literary Theory and Criticism

Departing from the 'prehistory' of literary theory and criticism in France (the poets of the Pleiade in the 16th century, the conflict between the 'Ancient' and 'Modern' in the 17th century), the subject addresses the development of French literary theory and criticism in the 19th and 20th centuries. The main topics are as follows: Diderot as literary critic, Mme de Staël and Benjamin Constant, Sainte-Beuve and his biographical method, H. Taine and positivism; Lanson and his approach to literary history; Morne and the beginnings of spiritual history; Bachelard and the beginnings of thematic criticism; thematic criticism and its most important representatives (Richard Poulet, Starobinski); Ch. Mauron and the psychological criticism; structuralism (R. Barthes, M.L. Goldmann), the beginnings of semiotics (the group "Tel Quel"); G. Genette.