FRENCH LITERATURE
Successful acquisition of skills and knowledge will be assessed at the end of the course, through final oral examination to be taken in French.
Being acquainted with 20th century French Literature and its most important writers;
Drawing connections between Literature and History;
Knowing how to read, discuss and analyze a literary work.
For the academic year 2016/2017, the French Literature programme is named “Voyages aux îles : départ pour Haïti et la Polynésie française”. In this course we study contemporary francophone literature. Starting with the task of defining, as best we can, the term “francophonie”, we will investigate two central areas: Haïti and the French Polynésia with with an emphasis placed on greatest contemporary writers. Aims for you include textual analysis and the relationship between text and context, and substantive knowledge of particular moments and texts. Along the way you will also have the opportunity to hone your research.
MODULE A - ANTILLES
Students are required to study 3 authors (for a total of 5 books) to be chosen among the ones listed below:
• Aimé Césaire Cahier d’un retour au pays natal (1939);
• Maryse Condé, Moi, Tituba sorcière… Noire de Salem (1986);
• Maryse Condé, La Migration des cœurs (1995);
• Maryse Condé, Victoire, les saveurs et les mots (2006);
• Patrick Chamoiseau, Éloge de la créolité (1992);
• Patrick Chamoiseau, Texaco (1992);
• Patrick Chamoiseau, L’Empreinte à Crusoé (2012);
• Ernest Pépin, Le tango de la haine (1999);
• Lyonel Trouillot, Rue des pas perdus (1998);
• Lyonel Trouillot, Bicentenaire (2004);
• Lyonel Trouillot, La Belle amour humaine (2011);
MODULE B – POLYNÉSIE FRANÇAISE
Students are required to study 3 authors (for a total of 4 books) to be chosen among the ones listed below:
• Flora Aurima Devatine, Tergiversations et rêveries de l’écriture orale (1998)
• Chantal Spitz, L’Île des rêves écrasés (1991);
• Chantal Spitz, Elles. Terre d’enfance. Roman à deux encres (2011);
• Chantal Spitz, Cartes postales (2015);
• Nicolas Kurtovitch, Good night friend (2006)
• Nicolas Kurtovitch, Les heures italiques (2010);
• Nicolas Kurtovitch, Dans le ciel splendide (2015);
Lectures will be in French; using texts as a starting point, multimedia tools like movies, audio-books, photos, translations, social media, etc. will be used to have students widen the scope of their literary knowledge.
Suggested reading:
Édouard Glissant, Introduction à une poétique du divers (1996)
Silvia Albertazzi, La letteratura postcoloniale (2013)
Christiane Ndiaye, Introduction aux littératures francophones (2004)