Overview

Marguerite de Navarre—writer, reformer, patron—was a key figure of the French Renaissance. Her works, however, were critically reassessed by scholars only in the twentieth century. Today her Heptameron is widely anthologized and frequently taught in undergraduate and graduate classrooms. But teaching this collection of novellas presents challenges: the work is in Middle French, complex in its construction, and far-reaching in its use of historical context. This ninety-fifth volume in the Approaches to Teaching World Literature series aims to show teachers how to unravel the intricacies of the Heptameron for students. The first part, “Materials,” reviews editions and translations, surveys sources that are useful in the classroom, and considers audiovisual and technological resources available to instructors. The second part, “Approaches,” features twenty-seven essays that explore the Heptameron and its cultural and historical contexts; the religious and political ideas and the literary genres that influenced it; its publishing history; and its relation to other works by Marguerite. Experienced instructors share insights about how to teach this work in foreign language and survey courses; how to incorporate film and visual art in the classroom; and how to approach the subject of gender in discussing Marguerite’s writing.

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9780873525916

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Reviews

I have taught the Heptameron numerous times in undergraduate and graduate classes, in French and in English, and I benefited from the scholarly content of this volume and from its valuable pedagogical perspective. --Richard L. Regosin, University of California

Author Information

Colette H. Winn is professor of French at Washington University. She has published critical editions of early modern women writers (Madeleine de L'Aubespine, Mlle de Bealieu, Charlotte de Brachart, Marguerite de Cambis, Gabrielle de Coignard, Marie Le Gendre, Jacqueline de Miremont, Suzanne de Nervèse, etc.) and collections of essays on women and early modern literature.

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