This course will examine the major literary currents in French literature from the Belle Époque to World War II, as well as the historical and cultural events connected with them. After an introduction to the popular bourgeois farces, the roman fleuve, and detective fiction, this course will focus on the emergence of new literary movements, such as naturalism, symbolism, dadaism, surrealism, and existentialism. Students will analyze these movements through the study of prose, poetry, theatre and theoretical texts.