This course, taught in French, will examine major works of French literature from a variety of genres as well as literary and cultural trends from the 18th and 19th centuries. Topics include the French Enlightenment, philosophical tales, the literature of the French Revolution, Realism, Naturalism, Romanticism, Symbolism and fin-de-siècle decadence. The course will focus on authors such as Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Staël, Balzac, Sand, Flaubert, Zola, Maupassant, and Baudelaire.