Cross-listed with FREN439L; Credit only granted for FREN639L or FREN439L.

Decamping from Paris to establish the royal court at Versailles, Louis XIV, the self-proclaimed "Sun King," outlawed Protestantism, cultivated state control of the arts, and encouraged colonial expansion based on slave labor in the Americas. Focusing on documents produced during the "grand siecle" itself, we will examine the theory and practice of Louis's authoritarian initiatives as well as expressions of resistance to them, with a special emphasis on journalism and poetic literature.