African Literature of French Expression

Catalog description

Genesis of Franco-African literature in the 1930s; phases of the negritude movement; colonial and national literature. FR 458 African Literature of French Expression (3) (IL)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. African literature in French is one of the most vigorous of the many new literatures in French that are emerging throughout the vast francophone world. Writers from a variety of countries, from Senegal to Djibouti, from Algeria to Congo, are producing works in French, that reflect their own very distinct cultural experiences. They must often modify both the French language and traditional Western genres such as the novel to convey African ways of speaking and narrating. In this course, students will read novels, poems and an epic that has been translated into French from an African language. The subjects range from autobiographical accounts of growing up in an African town and going off to Europe to study during the colonial era to sharp criticism of both the French colonial regime and the subsequent national governments that took over after independence, an event that occurred in 1960 in most francophone African countries. For the new wave of women writers that has emerged on the literary scene in the last two decades, more personal themes such as love, family, personal freedom, and the task of balancing traditional customs with the needs of contemporary life in large cities have marked their works. Students who take this course will discover the diversity of African literature written in French, the traits that distinguish this literature from metropolitan French literature, the links between the oral tradition and the written tradition, and the changing role of women in society today. Students will be evaluated on written essays, submission of questions in advance of classroom discussion of each work, presentation of a talk in class on some aspect of the works read, a midterm and final exam. French 458 satisfies the literature course requirements in the French major and the 400-level course requirement in the French minor. It can also satisfy the diversity requirement for General Education. FR 458 will be offered once a year with 18 seats per offering.