Anatomy of Desire with Lila Azam Zanganeh

Meeting Dates:
6/2, 6/23, 7/14, 8/4, 9/8
Online via Zoom

The course will take its readers through 900 years of French desire. We will focus on desire as the engine of the novel, both as psychic energy and pure libido.

We will begin with The Romance of Tristan and analyze the relationship between desire and obstacle(s) in the realm of courtly love but also in the genesis and history of the European novel. With our second book, Dangerous Liaisons, we will delve into the architecture and erotic philosophy that allow the characters (and us, as readers) to desire and expand desire into an ethic. The Charterhouse of Parma, our third book, will delve into the rise and fall of the romantic hero and the ultimate staying power of “the happy few.” Our fourth work, Memoirs of Hadrian, will help us analyze the close and mesmerizing relationship between desire and loss. And finally, our last book, A Girl’s Story, will take us through a contemporary exploration of desire and its tortuous, sensual, relation to shame. Who have we been? And who are we now?

• Session I: The Romance of Tristan by Alan Beroul
• Session II: Dangerous Liaisons by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
• Session III: The Charterhouse of Parma by Richard Howard Stendhal
• Session IV: Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar
• Session V: A Girl’s Story by Annie Ernaux

What to expect from this reading group:  This course will be a mix of conversational and instructor-driven.

Please Note: All virtual classes are recorded. Please click here for information about our recording policy.