Increasing Engagement in French and Francophone Studies: Structured Journaling on the Emotions in La Fayette's La Princesse De Clèves

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10-2015

Increasing Engagement in French and Francophone Studies: Structured Journaling on the Emotions in La Fayette's La princesse de Clèves

Logan Connors Bucknell University, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Connors, Logan. "Increasing Engagement in French and Francophone Studies: Structured Journaling on the Emotions in La Fayette's La princesse de Clèves." PMLA (2015) : 1476-1480.

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Increasing Engagement in French and Francophone Studies: Structured Journaling LITERARY REPRESENTATIONS OF EMOTIONS FASCINATE US AS READERS; THEY CONNECT TO US LOGICALLY AND NATURALLY BECAUSE WE EXPE- on the Emotions in La Fayette’s La princesse rience in our daily lives many of the emotional events depicted in novels, plays, and poems. Students are intrigued by the similarities de Clèves and diferences between their everyday feelings and the emotions represented in literature. Emotions are thus interesting processes to study, and in classroom discussions and activities most students logan j. connors have something to say about them. For this reason, I use emotion (broadly deined) as an important subject of inquiry in my literature and culture classes. In what follows, I share a structured journaling assignment based on emotion that helps students read with more detail, improves their foreign language skills, and boosts their engagement with diicult subject matter. Emotions are complex, socially constructed states that have “both cognitive and afective components” (Matravers 4). When we focus student reading, journaling, and discussion on the sources, LOGAN J. CONNORS is the NEH Chair in deployments, manifestations, and consequences of emotion, we can the Humanities and associate professor of French and francophone studies at beneit from the growing academic interest in emotion in the ields Bucknell University. He is the author of of neuroscience, psychology, and animal behavior, which are some Dramatic Battles in Eighteenth-Century of the most popular majors at my school and, according to a few re- France: Philosophes, Anti-philosophes cent studies, around the country.1 More signiicantly, reading, writ- and Polemical Theatre (Voltaire Founda- ing, and talking about emotion tap into the experienced reality of tion, 2012), a critical edition of Pierre de our college students—young and not-so- young adults who are go- Belloy’s Le siège de Calais (Mod. Humani- ties Research Assn., 2014), and numer- ing through periods of profound self-questioning and change. Re- ous articles about French theater, the cent changes to how I teach Madame de La Fayette’s La princesse European Enlightenment, and literature de Clèves in a survey class on French literature serve as examples pedagogy. In 2015 he edited a double is- of how to build transferable skills and boost the quality and attrac- sue of Restoration and Eighteenth- Century tion of courses through close- reading techniques and the analysis of Theatre Research devoted to antitheatri- emotion in novels. From a broader perspective, this close- reading as- cal discourses in early modern Europe, signment helps assert the knowledge- building power of the emotions and he is working on a book about theo- ries of emotional response in the writ- and of iction and perhaps even serves to combat several possible ings of antitheatricalists and proponents reasons behind student attrition in early modern French studies, a of the stage in early modern France. particularly vulnerable subield in an already vulnerable discipline.2

La Fayette’s novel, published in 1678, at that student motivation was determined by the changing profession the height of Louis XIV’s reign, is the cen- forces outside my control and pedagogy: stu- terpiece of my survey course of French lit- dents with a preexisting interest in literature erature and culture from the Middle Ages to seemed engaged; those who were in the class the Revolution. he course is a requirement because it was a requirement or because they for the French and francophone studies ma- had a vague interest in history or general jor, yet students are oten reluctant to enroll: French culture or a desire to improve their many can’t bring themselves to take the class French were not. until their senior year. Most have never been I decided to make a change: I refocused exposed to texts, in any language, from the my emphasis from people, places, and things medieval or early modern period, and some to the ambiguous emotional lexicon that sophomores (who brave the class early in characterizes early modern France and the their studies) have never read a complete inner lives of the characters in the novel. My novel in French. he students’ initial feelings primary goals remained the same: I wanted of strangeness and distance vis-à- vis the size my students to read closely in order to engage and diiculty of the texts and the remoteness with the text on a meaningful level. I wanted of the periods in question are diicult to over- them to analyze formal elements of the narra- come. Halfway through the semester, we read tive (character development, foreshadowing, our irst long novel, La princesse de Clèves, a stylistics) as well as cull information about seventeenth-century masterpiece and grand early modern French society from the novel. classique of French literature that, despite its In this new version of my survey course, renown in the French canon, reveals a host our discussion of the emotions starts before of diiculties for my (mostly) American stu- I assign any reading. In the classroom, the dents. How do I get students through the irst students and I examine together several pas- section of the novel—an onslaught of dates, sages in the first thirty pages that describe characters, and relationships? How do I get emotions. I draw the students’ attention to them not to give up before the main narra- terms such as “touché” (50), “modestie noble” tive, the princess’s story, even begins? And (50), “respect” (51), “ambition” (53), “chaleur how do I overcome the seemingly impos- extraordinaire” (55), “reconnaissance” (61), sible cultural differences between the rigid and “inclination” (61).3 I do not provide much sixteenth- century court that Clèves and com- context; I ask the students what these words pany navigate in the novel and the everyday mean to them as twenty-irst- century college experiences of my students? students and urge them to pay attention while I began teaching this course with a rather reading to the diferences between their per- standard approach: I assigned the irst thirty sonal deinitions and how the words are used or so pages of La princesse de Clèves and then by La Fayette. hen I assign a journal exercise asked the students to tell what happened in conjunction with the reading for the next there, focusing on people, places, and things. class, inviting students to write about some If they better understood the plot of La Fa- of the emotion words that we had studied to- yette’s novel, I thought, they would be more gether in class. I ask them to contextualize, in motivated to continue reading. On the day the irst part of the story, words like inclina- when the irst section was assigned, I asked tion, trouble, passion, rougeur, froideur, mo- such plot questions as, What is the relation- destie , respect, and intelligence—words that ship between the king and Diane de Poitiers? La Fayette uses to describe the emotional Who is the duc de Nemours? Which families events of the novel and that sometimes have are in conlict? Since when and why? I found radically different definitions today. I give 1478 Increasing Engagement in French and Francophone Studies [ PMLA

each student a diferent word but assign the erly used emotions to remind the reader of most ambiguous words (e.g., inclination and earlier events in the novel. trouble) to multiple students if the class is Through these in- class and homework large. (Although the number varies from year activities, students saw irsthand that there to year, there are typically between twelve was a lot of confusion over how the emotions and twenty- four students in my survey class.) worked in early modern times—a psychologi- This change to how I approach the be- cal ambiguity that undergirds the period yet ginning of La princesse de Clèves boosted the provides for a host of exciting moments in energy of the class in discussions and overall La Fayette’s novel. To introduce the students student engagement with the novel. A student to research methods in early modern litera- the changing profession changing the who was asked to work on trouble, for example, ture and speciically to the use of secondary traced the term to a process of visual or touch sources in literary research and analysis, I perception that is catalyzed by social factors, discuss excerpts of several works by schol- such as the relationship between the person ars of early modern emotionality, including, troubled and the one who troubles, the class for example, Daniel Gross. In his analysis of and social status of both parties, and the layout early modern European philosophers, rheto- of the venue in which the troubling occurs (a ricians, and literary authors, Gross conirms party, a ceremony, an intimate salon, etc.). he this confusion during the period over the student then examined an instance in more de- source, path, and goals of the passions. He tail, following the journal prompt “How is the argues that early modern writers wondered emotion manifested: through a bodily change, (like my students): a behavioral modification, or another process?” he student detailed the consequences of Are passions tangible “things” residing in this moment of trouble, following the prompt the soul, or are they dispositions of the heart, “What happens in the story as a result of that or beliefs of the Mind? Is passion a matter of emotional event?” personal expression, or is it something essen- tially social that a person performs? Do they In class I invited students to write deini- come from our interior, or from the things we tions of their words, using the context of the perceive? Can they be measured and manipu- novel as justiication. A student who exam- lated—their causes controlled—or do passions ined trouble wrote, “Un trouble est un senti- elude control by their very nature? Are they ment d’attirance sexuel immédiat, souvent divine, diabolical, or human, and can we dis- vite caché sous une froideur forcée” (“Un tinguish them according to their origin? (21) trouble is a feeling of immediate sexual at- traction that is oten quickly hidden behind Gross’s take on the passions shows my students a forced coolness”). that their confusion about the emotions in the I found that this activity increased stu- novel is not a foreign language comprehension dents’ interest in the novel and in early mod- problem but a valid perception of the ambigu- ern society; students paid more attention to ity of emotionality during early modernity. textual detail and to the complexity of La hus, through primary-source research and Fayette’s use of language. Students correctly discussion of secondary sources, my students picked up on ambiguities in conceptions enter the scholarly dialogue on literature and of the emotions during this period. They the emotions in early modern France. pointed out how some emotions seemed tied his new approach to the beginning of La to immediacy and the body and others more Fayette’s novel did not change my fundamen- to the mind. hey saw how emotions changed tal course objectives: students still must use lit- behavior. hey realized that La Fayette clev- erary analysis and linguistic comprehension to 130.5 ] Logan J. Connors 1479 igure out people, places, and things, but now sorority wing of the dorm where she lives and the changing profession they do so through the lens of emotion. For in her home. his observation generated a fas- instance, they discussed the princess’s imme- cinating discussion about the distinction be- diate physiological response in the presence of tween an emotion and its expression, leading a man owing to her mother’s lessons on galan- us to reexamine the text in even iner analytic terie, the man’s reputation, and the strict rules detail. Many students—and this is what I was for eye contact at court. his discussion about waiting for—talked about how the complex- emotion led to broader conversations about ity in the representation of emotions in La female education in early modern France, Fayette’s novel is not too distant from current family values at the time, and the question of mind- body, emotion- knowledge, and afect- the reader’s perspective in La Fayette’s novel, cognition discussions in their psychology and which is often called the first psychological biology courses. In other words, students ar- novel in European literature. his new focus gued that La princesse de Clèves, like the lec- on emotion continued to inform discussions tures and experiments in their cognitive and of the novel until its conclusion, even though behavioral sciences courses, informs their un- I originally had planned to use the strategy derstanding of how the emotions work. merely as a starting point—a way of jumping Close reading proves that we cannot sepa- into the book’s challenging irst pages. rate content from form in the literature class- hat early modern literature and culture room. It is a vital activity for comprehension, are oten more diicult for students to relate but it need not be a mere exercise in textual to than the novels, ilms, and other cultural minutiae; close reading can also build bridges discourses of more recent times concerns between distant worlds and everyday expe- me, given that my research and teaching are riences. Yet, to provide students with more grounded in early modernity and that relat- than a picture of the local or the speciic and ability—a word oten used by my students—is give them something to say beyond the text at an increasingly critical criterion for text ap- hand, close- reading activities need to be struc- preciation and course selection. But when tured or themed, like the emotional- lexicon course assignments and class discussions assignment detailed in this essay. Through were focused on emotions, students enthusi- such exercises, students come to understand astically related to the text because it evoked that analyzing iction is as useful an exercise emotional events in their own lives, both se- in knowledge building as the experiments and rious and lighthearted, in a way that did not clinical observations that characterize disci- occur in previous versions of the course. Stu- plines in the natural and social sciences—the dents uninterested in literature grasped the disciplines that students deem useful and that idea of emotion as a link between their lives they are quick to call their irst or real majors. and the lives of the characters in a book that In short, through the close analysis of emo- was written hundreds of years ago. tions in works like La princesse de Clèves,4 Many students were quick to point out courses in French and francophone studies that, like the princess de Clèves, they of- emerge as valuable, professionalizing experi- ten feel a physical change, like sweating or ences for our students because the students an increase in their heart rate, before be- learn (and realize explicitly that they have ing mindful of its origin in an emotion like learned) at least one essential lesson from lit- embarrassment, shame, or anger. Some re- erature: that it helps us better understand our- marked that how they feel is influenced by selves, our family and friends, and our world. their social settings. A student noted a difer- ence in her ability to express sadness in the 1480 Increasing Engagement in French and Francophone Studies [ PMLA

NOTES WORKS CITED

1. Psychology’s rise to prominence as an academic Brint, Steven, et al. “Declining Academic Fields in U.S. major is stunning. In 1990 four- year colleges in the Four-Year Colleges and Universities, 1970–2006.” United States awarded approximately 55,000 bachelor’s U.S. Department of Education Statistics Report. Rpt. degrees in psychology; by 2008 that number had jumped in Chronicle of Higher Education. Chronicle of Higher to 92,000 (Halonen 4). Neuroscience, a smaller disci- Educ., 14 Feb. 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. pline, has also witnessed a meteoric rise in popularity. Connors, Logan J., Nathalie Dupont, and John West- In 2000 approximately 600 students graduated from a brook. “hree Strategies for Promoting Intellectual four-year college with a degree in neuroscience; by 2008 Engagement in Advanced Undergraduate Seminars.” French Review 87.4 (2014): 111–26. the number had grown to approximately 2,100. In 1996 23 schools ofered the major; in 2008 105 did (Ramos et Gross, Daniel M. he Secret History of Emotion: From Ar- the changing profession changing the istotle’s Rhetoric to Modern Brain Science. Chicago: al. 67). U of Chicago P, 2006. Print. 2. he percentage of schools that ofer a major in any Halonen, Jane S. “Are here Too Many Psychology Ma- Romance language has plummeted from seventy- six per- jors?” White Paper Prepared for the Florida Board of cent in 1976 to fifty-one percent in 2006; this number Governors. Council of Graduate Depts. of Psychology, is certainly worse now, following the closing of several 5 Feb. 2011. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. language departments ater the 2008–09 recession (Brint La Fayette, Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne de. La prin- et al.). cesse de Clèves. 1678. Paris: Gallimard, 2000. Print. 3. he novel begins on page 37 in the Folio classique Folio classique. edition of La princesse de Clèves. Matravers, Derek. Art and Emotion. Oxford: Clarendon, 4. For another example of how I bring the analysis 2005. Print. of early modern emotions into the undergraduate class- Ramos, Raddy L., et al. “Undergraduate Neuroscience Educa- room, see my case study on teaching the abbé Prévost’s tion in the U.S.: An Analysis Using Data from the National Manon Lescaut in Connors, Dupont, and Westbrook Center for Education Statistics.” Journal of Undergradu- (111–16). ate Neuroscience Education 9.2 (2011): 66–70. Print.