Francophone Literature and Film

Catalog description

This course is designed to give students a basic historical and theoretical groundwork in Francophone and postcolonial studies, and to help them develop their skills in literary and filmic analysis. It will provide an introductory survey of the richly diverse literature and film of the French-speaking world, from the 1950s through to the 21st century. Beginning with the gradual breakup of the French colonial empire, we will investigate the construction of individual and collective Francophone identities in such regions as the Caribbean, Africa, and the Maghreb, while exploring an equally wide range of literary and cinematic genres. Other histories and regions such as Quebec and Lebanon will also be discussed. Throughout the course we will remain especially attentive to questions of space--public and private spheres, urban and rural topographies, borders and migrations, as well as the complex dynamics between the Francophone regions and France itself--and to the ways in which these tensions are mapped onto the textual and visual surfaces of the works studied.