French: Literary & Historical Contexts Flashcards
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Which literary movement, dominant in 19th-century France, emphasized realism and scientific observation of human behavior, as exemplified by Émile Zola's Rougon-Macquart series?
Answer: Le Naturalisme
Le Naturalisme, championed by Zola, applied scientific determinism to literature, depicting characters shaped by heredity and environment.
The French Revolution of 1789 produced a declaration whose principles—liberté, égalité, fraternité—continue to shape French identity. What is its full name?
Answer: La Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen
La Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen (1789) established the foundational rights of French citizens and influenced constitutions worldwide.
Victor Hugo's novel 'Les Misérables' (1862) is set largely against the backdrop of which historical event in Paris?
Answer: Le soulèvement de juin 1832
The barricade scenes in Les Misérables are set during the June Rebellion of 1832, a failed Parisian uprising following the death of General Lamarque.
Which period of French literary history (17th century) is characterized by adherence to strict rules, reason, and models from Greek and Roman antiquity?
Answer: Le Classicisme
Le Classicisme (17th century) emphasized reason, order, and imitation of antiquity, producing writers like Molière, Racine, and Corneille.
Albert Camus, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957, is associated with which philosophical concept central to his novel 'L'Étranger'?
Answer: L'absurde
Camus explored the concept of l'absurde—the conflict between humans' desire for meaning and the universe's silence—most prominently in L'Étranger.
The francophone literary movement 'La Négritude,' founded in the 1930s, was co-created by which poet who later became president of Senegal?
Answer: Léopold Sédar Senghor
Léopold Sédar Senghor co-founded La Négritude alongside Aimé Césaire and Léon-Gontran Damas, celebrating Black African identity and culture.
Which 18th-century French philosophical movement, known as Les Lumières, produced the Encyclopédie edited by Diderot and d'Alembert?
Answer: Les Lumières (l'Aufklärung)
Les Lumières (the Enlightenment) was an 18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason and knowledge, with the Encyclopédie as its landmark project.