FR 453y: La Belle Époque: Politics, Society, and Culture in France, 1880-1914
FR 453y with Dr. Silverman was one of the last French courses I took at Penn State. After coming back from my study abroad, I finally felt like I had made enough progress with my speaking capabilities to truly engage and participate fully in my French courses back home.
This was one of those courses. Through a highly interactive and intensive course of study, we learned about the Belle Époque from multiple angles such as through Guy de Maupassant’s classic Bel-Ami. We gained historical contexts through Michel Winock’s succinct book, La Belle Epoque as well a collection of important writings from and about the time period.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1WoMUz2JqgqWUoX-NY34GarD3HsRF-T7G8WtH-CVpnGo/edit
Throughout the year, we chose partners, working on specific topics that came up with our literary reading of Bel-Ami. I had the pleasure of presenting on Feminism during the Belle Époque with Nadia Lehtihet. You can access a copy of the Google presentation slides here.
Another fun project we decided to do as a class was map the novel and create online content for others to see while reading the book. We split into groups of two and three, each group selecting a couple places to research. It was really helpful to see the map markings and literally map the ascension of Georges DuRoy into Paris’s elite society. You can check out my part of the project out here. (The writing contained on that page is my own -with a few edits from Professor Silverman and my partners.)