Giants of French Literature: Balzac, Flaubert, Proust, and Camus

In this series of lectures, Professor Katherine Elkins details the lives and works of the premier French writers of the last two centuries. With keen insight into her subject material, Professor Elkins discusses the attributes that made classics of such works as Balzac's Human Comedy, Flaubert's Madame Bovary, Proust's In Search of Lost Time, and Camus' The Stranger. Literary immortals all, these four French authors produced works that reflected their times and exerted a continuing and lasting influence on all the generations that followed.

Lecture 1 Themes and Influence

Lecture 2 Honoré de Balzac: Life and Early Work

Lecture 3 Honoré de Balzac: The Wild Ass's Skin and Père Goriot

Lecture 4 Honoré de Balzac: The Human Comedy

Lecture 5 Flaubert: Life and Times

Lecture 6 Flaubert's Madame Bovary

Lecture 7 Flaubert's Sentimental Education

Lecture 8 Proust: Life and Work

Lecture 9 Proust: In Search of Lost Time, Part One

Lecture 10 Proust: In Search of Lost Time, Part Two

Lecture 11 Camus: Life and Work

Lecture 12 Camus's The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus

Lecture 13 Camus's The Plague, The Fall, and The First Man

Lecture 14 Legacy and Questions Raised


Professor Katherine L. Elkins
(Kenyon College)
Katherine L. Elkins is an associate professor of humanities at Kenyon College, where she teaches “Odyssey of the West” in the Integrated Program in the Humane Studies and where she has won a number of teaching awards. She also teaches intellectual and cultural history from the mid-nineteenth century…