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

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student is brought to the awareness of the importance of French language literatures in the European tradition and of the dialectic with the European tradition by the French-speaking literatures scattered throughout the world. The student is invited to deepen an identity vision of each of the studied literatures and an anthropological vision of the common elements in the various cultural areas in which the French-speaking literatures are.

Course contents

Leaving....

Leaving one's country to join another, unknown. What are the issues? What problems are displayed? The course analyzes the vision that some contemporary writers offer of an increasingly topical phenomenon. The chosen authors allow different points of view (travel, language, memory...) and open up to an international perspective.

The course will be held in French.

Readings/Bibliography

The program includes the analysis of the following novels:

Michèle Rakotosan, Elle, au printemps, Sepia, 1996 (Madagascar/France)

Agota Kristof, L'analphabète, Zoe, 2004 (Hungary /Switzerland)

Kim Thuy, Ru, Libre expression, 2009 (Vietnam/Canada)

Marie Ndiaye, Trois femmes puissantes, Folio, 2013 (France/Senegal)

Georgia Makhlouf, Les absents, Editions Rivages, 2014 (Libanon/France)

Scholastique Mukasonga, Un si beau diplôme !, Gallimard, 2020 (Rwanda/France)

Texts to support the analysis :

Rajaa Stitou, Les uns, les autres. Épreuve de l'exil et blessures de la langue, dans « Cahiers de psychologie clinique, pages 159 à 170, en ligne

Maria Lafitte, Entre origine et rupture. Le sujet à l'épreuve de l'exil, in « Autres Temps », 1999, pp. 103-116, en ligne

Amin Maalouf, Les identités meurtrières, en ligne

Lamia Chaib, Amine Maalouf: Les Identités Meurtrières ou le meurtre des identités ?, en ligne

 

Teaching methods

During the course, students will be asked to actively participate, presenting themselves the works in the program and then proceeding to a collective analysis. Mme Vencatesan (University of Mumbai, India) is invited to join the discussions.

Assessment methods

The assessment is made on the basis of an oral exam of what is proposed during the course. The critical and methodological skills of the student are evaluated, who must also propose his own analysis of the texts. It is important that the student is able to demonstrate his / her ability to read and analyze a text by making it interact with the problems and theoretical texts proposed during the course. A broad vision of the problems, linked to a good ability of textual analysis and the demonstration of a good knowledge of the French language will be appreciated. The flat and repetitive knowledge of the work, a not very correct knowledge of the language lead to an average evaluation. Large gaps and poor knowledge of the language lead to a negative evaluation.

Teaching tools

For some novels  the analysis with computer supports (Sketch Engine; Ant-conc ....) will be used.

Office hours

See the website of Anna Soncini