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From its origins – in Socrates's homoerotic mythologies, in the poetry of pre-Islamic Arabia, and in the currents that crossed from medieval Al-Andalus into Italy and Southern France – love has been a paradoxical, transgressive phenomenon: mystical longing, counter-religion, con game, parlor game, alienation, or self-affirmation. Contemporary sociologists have reported its demise, brought about by too many right- and left-swipes. In this course we explore a few crucial moments in the history of love, from Socrates's female teacher, Diotima, to today's dating shows, and we'll bring a literary, a sociological, and an anthropological approach to the challenges posed by love's protean discourse. Works by Plato, Ovid, Saint Augustine, Majnûn, Ibn Hazm, the abbess Héloïse, Pierre de Marivaux, Simone Weil, Annie Ernaux. The course is conducted in French.