Francophone literatures and identities

Elective Course

This course offers a broad introduction to leading authors from the French-speaking world outside France, with a special emphasis on Quebec, the Caribbean, the Maghreb, West Africa, and Vietnam. The discussions will be based on a selection of works involving the issues of race and minorities, identity and nationality, colonization and self-determination, native land and exile, as well as multilingualism and universality, modernity and tradition. In investigating the way these various themes appear in Francophone literary texts and essays, students shall aim to gain a better understanding of how the use of the French language as a medium of expression may facilitate creativity and reception or, on the contrary, distort or hinder cultural distinctiveness. The medium of discussion will be French, and the supporting material will be in French.