10005 - French Literature II

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be able to read a literary text in French, both in textual and intertextual mode, with the necessary references to the history of French literature in relation to European literature. They will sharpen, as much as possible, their stylistic competences within their linguistic competences. They will have an active knowledge of French.

Course contents

The course will focus on voluntary or forced migrations of intellectuals from and to France from early modernity to the 20th century. In the wake of a recent essay by Peter Burke, it will try to highlight the importance and peculiarity of the contribution made by exiles and expatriates to the creation and dissemination of knowledge, with particular consideration, of course, for literary production.

Readings/Bibliography

1. Literary History

   [second year]

   Lionello SOZZI, Storia europea della letteratura francese. I. Dalle origini al Seicento, Torino, Einaudi, 2013. [except for the chapter on the Middle Ages]

   [third year]

   Lionello SOZZI, Storia europea della letteratura francese. II Dal Settecento all’età contemporanea, Torino, Einaudi, 2013. [Escluso Letterature francofone e Appendice]

2. Readings

   Voltaire, Lettres anglaises, 1733.

   Madame de Staël, De l’Allemagne, 1810-1813.

   Jorge Semprún, L’Écriture ou la vie, Paris, Gallimard, 1994.

   Emmanuel Carrère, Un roman russe, Paris, P.O.L., 2007.

3. Texts analized during classes (uploaded to the VIRTUALE platform) and the following articles/chapters of books uploaded to the VIRTUALE platform:

• Peter BURKE, Espatriati ed esuli nella storia della conoscenza, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2019, pp. 11-50. [ALMARE risorse elettroniche UNIBO]
• Two articles of your choice from the following:

  Leszek KOŁAKOWSKI, In Praise of Exile, in Modernity on Endless Trial, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1990, pp. 55-59. [GOOGLEBOOKS] and Catherine BRICE, Mobilités créatrices?, in «Diasporas», vol. XXIX, 2017, pp. 9-15. [https://doi.org/10.4000/diasporas.696]

  Edward SAID, Riflessioni sull’esilio, in Nel segno dell’esilio. Riflessioni, letture e altri saggi, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2008, pp. 216-231.

  Carlo GINZBURG, Straniamento. Preistoria di un procedimento letterario, in Occhiacci di legno. Nove riflessioni sulla distanza, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1998, pp. 15-39.

  Vladimir JANKELEVITCH, L’irréversible et la nostalgie, Paris, Champs, 1974, pp. 340-386.

  Ralph SCHOR, Les ambiguïtés identitaires et La sociabilité de l’exil, in Écrire en exil. Les écrivains étrangers en France. 1919-1939, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2013, pp. 107-159.

  Maurice BLANCHOT, Être juif, in L’Entretien infini, Paris, Gallimard, 1969, pp. 180-191.

• Two articles of your choice from the following:

  Hans BOTS, Les journalistes de Hollande, traducteurs ou intermédiaires dans la République des Lettres, in Jens Häseler-Anthony McKenna (a cura di), La vie intellectuelle aux Refuges protestants. II. Huguenots traducteurs, Paris, Champion, 2002, pp. 27-36.

• Myriam YARDENY, Assimilation and Integration, in Raymond A. Mentzer-Bertrand van Ruymbeke (a cura di), A Companion to the Huguenots, Leiden-Boston, Brill, 2016, pp. 273-290.

• Juliette REBOUL, Émigrés, Refugees and French Emigrants to Great Britain in Response to the French Revolution. War, Culture and Society. 1750-1850, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, pp. 1-30.

• Claire GANTET-Markus MEUMANN, Introduction, in Les échanges savants franco-allemands au XVIII^e siècle, Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2019, pp. 7-18.

  Gérard NOIRIEL, Transferts culturels: l’exemple franco-allemand. Entretien avec Michel Espagne, «Genèses», vol. VIII, 1992, p. 146-154.

  Bernard FRANCO, Émigration et traduction: l’apport du «Spectateur du Nord», in Bernard Banoun et alii (a cura di), Migration, exil et traduction, Tours, Presses universitaires François-Rabelais, 2018, pp. 49-67.

  Gilles BERTRAND, Voyage et cosmopolitisme dans la tourmente de la Révolution française. Du voyage de connaissance aux effets de l’émigration et de l’exil, in Maurizio Bossi et alii (a cura di), Il gruppo di Coppet e il viaggio. Liberalismo e conoscenza dell’Europa tra Sette e Ottocento, Firenze, Olschki, 2006, pp. 67-91.

  Marie-Claire HOOCK-DEMARLE, Un lieu de l’interculturalité franco-allemande: le réseau épistolaire de Coppet, in «Romantisme», vol. LXXIII, 1991, pp. 19-28.

  Lowry NELSON Jr., Baudelaire and Virgil: A Reading of “Le cygne”, in «Comparative Literature», vol. XIII, 1961, pp. 332-345.

• An article on Carrère

  Annie OLIVER, Kotelnitch, allers et retours, in «Roman 20-50», vol. LVII, n° 1, 2014, pp. 23-34.

• An article of your choice from the following on Semprún:

 

David CARROLL, The Limits of Representation and the Right to Fiction: Shame, Literature, and the Memory of Shoah, in «Esprit créateur», vol. XXXIX, n° 4, 1999, pp. 68-79.

Emanuela CAVICCHI, Jorge Semprún, la verità della letteratura, in «Publifarum», vol. XX, 2013.

Sharon MARQUART, Authoritative Witnessing and the Control of Memory. On Jorge Semprún’s L’Écriture ou la vie, in «French Forum», vol. XXXVI, n° 2-3, 2011, pp. 147-161.

Susan SULEIMAN, Historical Trauma and Literary Testimony: Writing and Repetition in the Buchenwald Memoirs of Jorge Semprún, in «Journal of Romance Studies», vol. IV, n° 2, 2004, pp. 1-19.

Non-attending students will prepare the final exam following the previous bibliography, but they are advised to study the chapters concerning authors analyzed during classes in Antologia cronologica della letteratura francese, Milano, LED, 1996-1999.

Teaching methods

Frontal lectures; participation is nevertheless highly encouraged.

Assessment methods

The exam consists in an oral interview during which the methodological and critical skills acquired by the student will be evaluated . The student will be invited to discuss the texts covered during the course and to move within the sources and bibliographical material in order to be able to identify in them the useful information. The achievement of an organic vision of the issues addressed during the classes and their critical use, which demonstrate ownership of a mastery of expression and specific language, will be assessed with marks of excellence (28-30). Mechanical and / or mnemonic knowledge of matter, synthesis and analysis of non-articulating and / or correct language but not always appropriate will lead to discrete assessments (23-27); training gaps and / or inappropriate language - although in a context of minimal knowledge of the material - will lead to votes that will not exceed the sufficiency (18-22). Training gaps, inappropriate language, lack of guidance within the reference materials offered during the course will lead to failed assessments.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en ) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

 

Teaching tools

At the end of the course texts analized during classes will be uploaded on VIRTUALE.

Office hours

See the website of Bruna Conconi

See the website of Michele Morselli