Over the course of the Spring quarter, we will read Emile Zola's classic La Bete humaine at the rhythm of its original publication. A founding work of the "thriller" genre, the novel features a hopeless love affair, murders, and speed, in an era that saw the mechanization of human relationships. It appeared in weekly installments in the magazine La Vie populaire between 1889 and 1890. Digital scans of La Vie populaire will allow us to recover and reflect on the original experience that standard single-volume editions make invisible: a way of reading literature that, not unlike many of today's series on streaming, was deliberately spaced across time, to be awaited from week to week. The magazine also mediates the encounter with the feuilleton by printing it literally on the same page as articles about politics, real murders, stock-exchange bulletins, advertisements, and so on. Topics include literature and the press, mass culture, and interactions between form and content. PLEASE NOTE: French proficiency is required. All classes and readings will be in French. However, under special circumstances, individual exceptions may be made to allow assignments to be written in English.
3-5 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
Over the course of the Spring quarter, we will read Emile Zola's classic La Bete humaine at the rhythm of its original publication. A founding work of the "thriller" genre, the novel features a hopeless love affair, murders, and speed, in an era that saw the mechanization of human relationships. It appeared in weekly installments in the magazine La Vie populaire between 1889 and 1890. Digital scans of La Vie populaire will allow us to recover and reflect on the original experience that standard single-volume editions make invisible: a way of reading literature that, not unlike many of today's series on streaming, was deliberately spaced across time, to be awaited from week to week. The magazine also mediates the encounter with the feuilleton by printing it literally on the same page as articles about politics, real murders, stock-exchange bulletins, advertisements, and so on. Topics include literature and the press, mass culture, and interactions between form and content. PLEASE NOTE: French proficiency is required. All classes and readings will be in French. However, under special circumstances, individual exceptions may be made to allow assignments to be written in English.
Offered in Spring 2027 at Stanford University.