FFS 297 - The Afterlives of Carmen

Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 unit(s)

“L’amour est un oiseau rebelle/que nul ne peut apprivoiser” “(Love is a rebellious bird/that nobody can tame”). So go the lyrics from the famous aria “Habanera” of George Bizet’s 1875 opera Carmen, inspired by Prosper Mérimée’s novella of the same name. Originally published in 1845, Mérimée’s Carmen is the story of a Basque soldier’s infatuation with a high-spirited Romani woman. It inspired numerous dramatic and cinematic adaptations, including musical drama films. We begin with a focus on the novella’s musical elements in relation to the cultural anxieties it expresses about gender, race, class and nation. We then examine ways in which Bizet’s opera perpetuates the novella’s conflation of Spain with the Orient, and independent women with danger. Students complete bi-weekly blogs, take turns presenting on materials, and complete a final presentation on which a final paper is based. Possible topics include various adaptations of Carmen, bohemianism as a social and cultural movement, the status of the Romani people in France, and the nineteenth-century French fascination with Spanish culture. Kathleen Hart.

Prerequisite(s): FFS 212 or the equivalent.

Two hours every other week.

Course Format: INT