Module Content and Indicative Topics 

The socially critical and intellectually progressivist literature called Enlightenment writing, and published under, and against, the Ancien Régime, is much discussed for its role in fostering the collective atmosphere of the French Revolution of 1789, as well as the modern democratic and imperialist institutions that emerged after the Revolution.  For today’s specialists, the writings studied in this course had little or no impact on the ensuing social institutions, but certainly helped to give birth to the egalitarian sensibilities, values and attitudes fundamental to modern democracies.  This course studies tensions and clashes within the anti-authoritarian or non-authoritarian modes of writing, the hybrid, transgressive uses of genre, aesthetic preoccupations, philosophical and political principles and social critique contained in 5 controversial works, as well as the reverberation of events. 

 The module will cover the following topics, which may be subject to variation depending on developments in academic research and the interests of the class: 

Freedom, equality, colonialism and slavery, gender politics, democracy, justice and the law.  

Teaching Delivery 

The teaching will be delivered through short lectures and seminar discussions. Students will be set reading questions to prepare each week for discussion in the seminar.  

By the end of the module, you should be able to:  


 Understand and analyse important texts from the French 18th Century.  
 

 Understand key philosophical concepts such as freedom, equality, democracy, law and justice and appraise them critically.   
 

 Understand the literary and philosophical works that helped shape the intellectual context of the French Revolution.  
 

 Read texts in French at a high level and thereby improve your proficiency in French. 
 

 Construct a coherent argument in written and verbal forms. 
 

 Undertake independent research in preparation for the seminars and lectures and the course assessments.
 
Recommended Reading 

In preparation for the module, we advise reading the following core texts. These can be found in the UCL Library: 

Montesquieu, Lettres persanes (Folio)  

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Du contrat social (Folio)  

Denis Diderot, Sur Les Femmes (Folio) 

Denis Diderot, L’entretien d’un père avec ses enfants in Contes et entretiens (Garnier Flammarion)  

Olympe de Gouges, L’Esclavage des noirs ou l’Heureux Naufrage (Broché) 