Do human beings need solitude to discover our true, authentic selves, to confront our mortality, to push ourselves to the limits of human experience? Or are we essentially sociable beings who find meaning and even transcendence through solidarity and fraternity? We will explore variations of these visions of the human condition in writers from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. Authors include Montaigne, Pascal, Voltaire, Rousseau, Michelet, Maupassant, Saint-Exupery, Mauriac, Camus, Ionesco, and Beckett. Conducted in French. Format: seminar. Requirements: three short papers and three class presentations Prerequisites: any course in French literature. No enrollment limit (expected: 12).