Through considering the biographical and creative dynamics between literary couples of various kinds, this course explores literary and historical dimensions of nineteenth-century literature. Examples of such pairings include George Sand’s novel Elle et Lui and Alfred de Musset's play Lorenzaccio, both products of the authors’ romance and romanticism; the historical pairing between Baudelaire and Flaubert, each put on trial for “outraging public morals” with the “realism” of Les Fleurs du Mal and Madame Bovary; and at the end of the century, the tumultuous creative and personal partnership between symbolist poets Verlaine and Rimbaud, one of whom then moved into the modern form of prose poetry. Prerequisite: FREN 314 or placement.