Module description
From the mid-twentieth century onwards, many readers and critics who might once have spent their time on canonical literature have turned their attention to texts promising to give voice to individuals and groups who in some way have been marginalized or muted. The texts studied on this module all fit within that broad framework, reflecting especially the tutors' research on women's writing and in francophone/postcolonial studies. On the one hand, these texts create a form of personal testimony, and one which seems to offer access to other people's experiences. They provide insights into issues of identity, origins, gender, ethnicity, sexuality and language, exploring the relation between individual and collective history. Many dwell on experiences of childhood and education, often in an alien or hostile environment. On the other hand, many of these writers have turned to literature as an arena of self-reinvention, aesthetic experimentation, and provocation. The aim of the module is to explore some of this rich body of material, and to consider how one learns from different experiences, from other people's experiences, and from the experience of reading – and writing – literature.
Assessment details
one 4000-word essay (100%)
Educational aims & objectives
This module aims:
- to provide a critical survey of major trends in modern/contemporary French literature, with a particular focus on francophone literature, women's writing and autofiction/lifewriting
- to examine the literary representation of relations between the centre and the
- periphery, whether postcolonial, gendered or other
- to examine the role of literature and education in the establishment of identity
- to analyse the relationship represented between the individual and the collective in a range of different contemporary writings
- to assess the role of literary aesthetics and experimentation in giving expression to the experiences portrayed
- to provide the basis for independent research into modern and contemporary francophone/women’s writing.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will:
- be able to demonstrate a detailed knowledge of a range of important texts in francophone literature and contemporary French women's writing
- have a good understanding of the socio-political and theoretical contexts informing these texts
- have developed an aptitude for the application of the appropriate methodological tools to an analysis of francophone literature and contemporary French women's writing
- be able to choose and pursue extended independent research on topics related to this work and its themes within the scope of the assessment for the course.
Teaching pattern
Two hours per week
Suggested reading list
Students will be provided with a small dossier containing a selection of short texts; some of these will provide a starting point in week 1 of the course.
- Marie Nimier, La Reine du silence (Paris: Gallimard, 2004)
- Linda Lê, Lettre morte (Paris: Christian Bourgois, 1999)
- Annie Ernaux, Mémoire de fille (Paris: Gallimard, 2016)
- Zahia Rahmani, France: récit d’une enfance (Paris: Livre de poche, 2006)
- Albert Memmi, La Statue de sel (Paris: Gallimard ‘Folio’, 1953)
- Denis Guénoun, Un sémite (Belval: Circé, 2003)
- Assia Djebar, Nulle part dans la maison de mon père (Paris: Fayard, 2007)