On December 20th, the Lecture on French Literature, an essential part of a series of activities in French Culture Experience Month, was held by Phoenix School in Phoenix Language Village, Nanxi Garden. Jonas Jacuquemain, teacher of French and cross-cultural education from the Sino-French School of Nuclear Engineering and Technology at Sun Yat-Sen University was invited to be the guest speaker. The lecture was hosted by Ms. Li Yimeng, the project director of Phoenix Language Village. Teachers and students from BNU Zhuhai and BNUZ participated in the sharing activity.

Mr. Jacuquemain engaged the audience with a question at the very beginning, “Which country do you think of firstly, when it comes to the word ‘romance’?” The students answered in unison, “France!” Immediately, he gave a follow-up question, “Why do you think so,” which led to a pause and made the students fall into deep thinking.

It’s universally acknowledged that there is a long romantic history in French literature, where Rousseau, Voltaire, Chateaubriand and others are considered to be the most representative figures. Rousseau's classic work  The Dream of a Lonely Walker  was recommended, which is one of Mr. Jacuquemain’s favorites.

According to the development sequence of French literary history, Victor Hugo comes after Chateaubriand. Mr. Jacuquemain introduced that Victor Hugo is considered to be a very complex figure, who is not only famous in the history of French literature, but also influential in the world. Apart from the well-known works such as  Notre Dame de Paris  and  Les Misérables , Mr. Jacuquemain paid special attention to Hugo’s work,  Les Orientales . In the poetry, the scenes depicted are rich in strong eastern Mediterranean color, which could serve as an aid for students to learn European culture and European literature.

The next writer mentioned by Mr. Jacuquemain was De Nival, who has a pivotal position in the history of French poetry. In De Nival’s works, which are of the tone of sadness and mystery, all schools of modern French poetry can find their origins. Symbolism and Surrealism even regard him as their pioneers and originators, respectively.

When it comes to the middle and late nineteenth century, Baudelaire and Verlaine become the representatives of literature of that period. Verlaine, as the representative of romanticism and symbolism, is famous for his work  Romances sans paroles . However, the development of romanticism was not all smooth sailing, as the "century disease" phenomenon provided it with a new direction. The "century disease" refers to the phenomenon that romantic writers of that age wrote about the feelings, actions and tragedies of the characters who were experiencing suppression of the personality and living in the contrary conditions because they were unable to realize their personal wishes and aspirations. Moreover, it praises the resistance in the form of a futile confrontation between the individual and society.

Later, Mr. Jacuquemain recited two famous French poems for the students, explained the differences between the rhythms of the poems and briefly introduced the features of and similarities and differences between the Alexandrian poetry and the sonnet. The main feature of Alexandrian poetry is that each line has twelve syllables, with a pause after the sixth syllable. Although the students could not fully grasp the metrical culture of French poetry in the limited lecture time, they could still feel the unique charm of French poetry.

Other forms of art were also mentioned to illustrate the romantic feelings of French culture. When it comes to oil painting, Friedrich's masterpiece  The Traveler in the Clouds was introduced, since it not only described the beauty of the colorful natural environment, but also reflected the pure romance in the heart of French people for what the painting depicts is a lonely man standing in contemplation and self-reflection. In architecture and garden art, people could also sense the romantic feelings in French culture, such as the symmetric beauty of the Versailles Palace and the unique charm of the garden.

Translator: Xu Yifan

Proofreading: Martin Wittenberg