Language and Empire in Early Modern France

Throughout early modern Europe, and in France in particular, literary, and linguistic reinvention coincided with, and was perhaps inextricable from, the beginnings of European global imperialism and nationalism. This course serves as an introduction to the development, politics, and aesthetics of early modern French literary practices as they are contextualized in this global colonial history. By examining a number of early modern texts of a variety of genres-travel narratives, linguistic manifestoes, poetry, dialogues, and essays-this course will explore interconnections between the development of the French language and imperialism.