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How can we define a heroine? What distinguishes heroines from mere female protagonists? Who are the main heroines to have marked the French literary tradition? This course examines how writers have transformed the notion of heroism inherited from Ancient Greece and Rome to lend it different and distinctly gendered shapes in the figure of the female hero: bravery, scandal, crime, sacrifice, nationalism. Focus will be placed on the evolution of the concept from the 17th century to the end of the 20th century in novels and plays by Racine, Madame de Lafayette, Prevost, Balzac, Maupassant, Anouilh, Wittig, and Condé. Recommended Course Background: AS.212.333 or AS.212.334.