This course is a study of neo-classical tragedy and comedy as illustrated in select texts of Corneille, Mohère, Racine, Marivaux, and Beaumarchais. It experiments in narrative fiction, including works by Mme de Lafayette and Prévost. The art of epistolarity: Pascal and the polemical letter, Mme de Sévigné and the personal letter, Voltaire and the traveler's letter. Focus on topics: préciosité and sensibility; feminism and modernity; rationalism and esprit critique.