29065 - European Francophone Literatures (1) (2nd cycle)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student is led to the awareness of the importance of Francophone literatures in the European tradition and of the dialectic between the European tradition and the French-speaking literatures scattered throughout the world. The student is invited to deepen an identity vision of each of the literatures taken into consideration as well as an anthropological vision of the common elements in the cultural areas of the French-speaking literatures.

Course contents

Myth and Identity in 20th Century Francophone Belgian Theatre.

 The course analyses the presence of the myth in 20th century Francophone Belgian theatre. It aims to show how, by means of the re-elaboration of themes and motifs dear to European civilization, Belgian literature has brought to the scene, under the veil of myth, some fundamental contemporary themes, such as the crisis of the subject and the changed role of men and women in an era marked by two world wars, the collapse of ideologies and the rise of feminist claims.

Readings/Bibliography

• Theoretical texts (only for non-attending students):

M. Quaghebeur, Histoire, forme et sens en littérature: la Belgique francophone, Bruxelles, P.I.E.-Peter Lang, 2015, tome I (L’engendrement: 1815-1914);

S. Lilar, Soixante ans de théâtre belge, Bruxelles, La Renaissance du livre, 1952.

• Literary texts:

Michel de Ghelderode, Don Juan ou les amants chimériques, 1928;

Marguerite Yourcenar, Électre ou la chute des masques, 1943;

Suzanne Lilar, Le Burlador, 1945;

Henry Bauchau, Gengis Khan, 1955;

René Kalisky, Dave au bord de mer, 1978;

Michèle Fabien, Jocaste, 1981;

Jean Louvet, Un Faust, 1985.

All the texts are available at the Library of the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures of the University of Bologna.

Teaching methods

Lectures aimed at understanding the texts and issues addressed in class and discussing interpretative hypotheses with the course participants through the use, mainly, of the following critical methodologies: history of literature, history of ideas, textual analysis.

Assessment methods

Attending students will be required to know the program carried out in class and the analysis of two literary texts of their choice. Non-attending students will instead be required to know the two theoretical texts indicated in the bibliography and the analysis of two literary texts of their choice.

The assessment will take into consideration the student’s knowledge and analytical, critical and oral expression skills:

- in-depth knowledge of the issues and texts addressed during the course, combined with personal re-elaboration of contents and good language skills will lead to a very positive evaluation;

- the understanding of the fundamental aspects of the texts and issues addressed during the course, combined with the use of partially correct language will lead to an intermediate evaluation;

- in the presence of large gaps and insufficient linguistic skills, the exam will be evaluated negatively.

Teaching tools

ppt (see Virtuale).

Office hours

See the website of Benedetta De Bonis