30073 - Literature of the French-Speaking Countries 1 (LM)

Learning outcomes

Students possess in-depth knowledge of the history and development of non-European francophone literatures, a with particular focus on the relationship between literary texts and the historical, artistic and linguistic context. Students know and can deal with practical methodologies for the analysis and interpretation of literary texts.

Course contents

From francophone literatures to World Literature. Language and narration

The course will provide a basic knowledge of Francophone literatures, postcolonial studies and Word Literature. A brief history of Francophone literatures will be outlined and the concept of F/francophone will be discussed and problematised.
We will then focus on two authors in particular, Ahmadou Kourouma and Kamel Daoud, for an in-depth about the choice of the language and the role of the narrative/narrator.
Students are asked to actively participate in class: most of the texts, critical and primary, will be presented half by the teacher and half by the students themselves. These presentations will be assessed and will contribute to the final grade.
The last part of the course will be devoted to writing, and in particular to writing critical reviews, of primary and secondary texts.

Readings/Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAFIA PROVVISORIA, COMUNE A TUTTI

Testi primari

A. Kourouma, Les Soleils des Indépendances (qualsiasi edizione)

A. Kourouma, Allah n'est pas obligé (qualsiasi edizione)

K. Daoud, Meursault, contre-enquête (Arles, Actes Sud, 2014)

Critica

MANUALE: Christine Ndiaye, Introduction aux littératures francophones. Afrique · Caraïbe · Maghreb, Montréal, Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 2004
Disponible en full text en ligne: https://books.openedition.org/pum/10652

Jean-Marc Moura, Littératures francophones et théorie postcoloniale, Paris, PUF, se possibile l'ultima edizione

Dominique Combe, Littératures francophones : questions, débats et polémiques, Paris, PUF, 2019, p. 7-23, 37-41

Edward Said, L'Orientalisme. L'Orient créé par l'Occident [1978], Paris, Seuil, "Points", 2004, p. 29-200 (possibile leggerlo anche in versione italiana o originale inglese)

Edward Said, Cultura e imperialismo: letteratura e consenso nel progetto coloniale dell'Occidente, Roma, Gamberetti, 1998, p. 7-20, 29-40, 87-105, 195-212

Silvia Albertazzi, La letteratura postcoloniale : dall'Impero alla World Literature, Roma, Carocci, 2013, p. 9-20, 75-81, 96-98

Massimo Brunzin, Il sincretismo linguistico nei romanzi di Ahmadou Kourouma, “Annali di Ca’ Foscari”, XXXVI, 1-2, 1997, pp. 279-298

Cécile van den Avenne, Passer d’un monde à l’autre, d’une langue à l’autre – Lecture de deux incipits d’Ahmadou Kourouma, in M. A. Mochet et alii, Plurilinguisme et apprentissage : Mélanges Daniel Coste, ENS Editions, 2005, p. 237-246

Robert Varga, Dictionnaire et norme dans Allah n'est pas obligé et Quand on refuse on dit non, "Roman 20-50", n. 73, 2022/1, <https://www.cairn.info/revue-roman2050-2022-1-page-99.htm>

Maria Chiara Gnocchi, Daoud entre Camus et Rushdie: intentions et implications de Meursault, contre-enquête, in Laura Brignoli (a cura di), Interartes. Diegesi migranti, Sesto San Giovanni, Mimesis, 2019, p. 97-116

Teaching methods

Lectures and seminars; presentations of authors and texts by students; workshop on writing techniques (reviews).

Assessment methods

For attending students:

In-class presentations (not necessarily all of them)
In-class discussions on texts presented either by the lecturer or by fellow students
Review workshop

In conclusion, written exam (open questions) and oral exam (discussion of the whole syllabus)

For non-attending students
Written and oral examination

Teaching tools

Power-point projections, documents uploaded on line.

Office hours

See the website of Maria Chiara Gnocchi