FR HA Lorsque j’étais une œuvre d’art, Schmitt

Firstly, the students read Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt's novel / philosophical tale Lorsque j'étais une œuvre d'art, published in 2002, and studied extracts that got them thinking about the genre of the philosophical tale and the moral issues raised by the text : appearance, identity, freedom. They were then asked to produce a slideshow in French based on 5 lines of thought :

1- A topical novel : identify 3 hot topics justified by a quotation and associate them with 3 current events / photos 

2- A retelling of 2 modern myths : justify the fact that the author drew inspiration from the myth of Faust and the story of Frankenstein and find an image of each of them

3- Justify the quote from a literary critic ‘A moral tale as disturbing as it is entertaining’ (L'express, François Busnel) with 3 arguments and 3 examples from the novel

4- Find 3 questions about the Art posed by the novel and ask yourself how the author answers them

5- Think about the 2 artists : Zeus-Pater-Lama, body art & Carlos Hannibal, the blind painter, and compare them to 2 real artists / 2 works of art. 

Finally, they had to summarise their research in English, either on a slide or in video.

The students used a philosophical tale as a starting point for thinking about topical issues. This reading and their research enabled them not only to develop their general knowledge (literature, art, society) but also to question the foundations of our identity and our freedom, the quest for recognition and the sacrifices we are prepared to make to achieve our goals and our place in the world.