Contemporary Literature in French (Level 6)

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 6
• Convenor: Akane Kawakami
• Assessment: a 2500-word essay (40%) and a 3500-word essay (60%)

This module provides you with the opportunity to study present-day literature in the original language, with a variety of francophone texts, so that you can experience a range of uses of the French language and of cultural viewpoints. You will gain the theoretical tools to analyse literary texts in depth and will be encouraged to read more widely while making comparisons with contemporary developments in other languages.

Indicative module syllabus

• Fatou Diome, Le ventre de l'Atlantique (2003)
• Nina Bouraoui, Tous les hommes désirent naturellement savoir (2018)
• Michel Houellebecq, Soumission (2015)
• Sorj Chalandon, Retour à Killybegs (2011)
• Annie Ernaux, Mémoire de fille (2016)
• Michaël Ferrier, Scrabble: une enfance tchadienne (2019)

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• demonstrate in-depth understanding of the French and Francophone texts, contexts and issues under discussion
• critically evaluate the prescribed texts at a thematic as well as linguistic and stylistic level
• work comparatively within a wide range of historical and theoretical frameworks in the interpretation of the prescribed texts.