Teaching code

4S002991

Academic staff

Paola Perazzolo, Stefano Genetti

Coordinator

Paola Perazzolo

Credits

6

Language

French

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-LIN/03 - FRENCH LITERATURE

Period

II semestre (Lingue e letterature straniere) dal Feb 19, 2024 al May 25, 2024.

Courses Single

Authorized

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

In the context of the theoretic and critical investigation of French literary studies provided in the two-year master’s degree program, this course aims at developing both historical and methodological competences with a special focus on the literature of Francophone countries and on the richness of the cultural and linguistic expression that defines such literatures. The course aims to initiate students to an in-depth and critical study of some Francophone writers “venus d’ailleurs”, who came from different European and non-European countries and intended to change them radically by means of a new language. Moreover, the professor intends to provide students with all the theoretical and methodological tools for the literary and linguistic analysis of the proposed texts. The lessons, both lectures and seminars, will be held in French, in order to improve the students’ linguistic level as well. At the end of the course, students shall therefore acquire overall knowledge of Francophone literature, along with critical competences and the capacity of applying them to the comparative analysis of texts belonging to different literary genres (poetry, narrative prose, essay, and theatre). Moreover, they will be able to present the topics of the course in French.

Prerequisites and basic notions

Second part of the course.

Program

P. Perazzolo
After providing a brief historical-political introduction relating to the history of French colonization, to the consequent (collective) identity problems of countries such as Québec, to the socio-political implications of the use of French - linguistic expression of otherness or, conversely, vindication of a national identity –, lectures will focus on Wajdi Mouawad's play Incendies (first staged: 2003). Conceived as the second chapter of Le sang des promesses, a tetralogy focused on memory, the search for roots and individual identity, this contemporary rewriting of the Oedipus myth was adapted for the cinema by Denis Villeneuve in 2011. The comparison between the two works - theatrical and cinematic - will allow us to propose some reflections on the different ways of approaching the treatment of an identity drama in which individual and collective dimensions irreparably intersect.
All the texts provided during the lessons, as well as the complete reading of the play and the viewing of the film are an integral part of the program.
The detailed program and all bibliographic indications will be indicated at the beginning of the course.
Non-attending students are requested to contact the teacher for information on the program dedicated to them.
S. Genetti
Identities in conflict, precarious identities
After a few preliminary considerations, two works that deal with the topic of homosexuality in distant cultural contexts - Quebec and the Maghreb - and in different literary genres (the theatre and the novel) will be presented and analyzed. On the one hand, the drama of homophobia Tom à la ferme by Michel Marc Bouchard, first staged in Montéral in 2011 and, two years later, adapted for the big screen by the director Xavier Dolan in collaboration with the playwright (a comparison between the play and the film will be proposed). On the other hand, the polyphonic epistolary novel Celui qui est digne d'être aimé, in which the Moroccan writer active in France Abdellah Taïa tells about himself and goes back to his own adolescence through the character of Ahmed. Juxtaposed to each other, these two works will allow us to approach the identity issue at the intersection of various approaches: ideological, socio-economic and generational, linguistic, ethnic-religious and postcolonial, but also aesthetic, intertextual and meta-literary.
The complete reading of the two literary works in the program is required.
Detailed program, study materials and bibliographic references for individual study will be provided at the beginning of the course.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

Lectures in attendance.

Learning assessment procedures

P. Perazzolo
Oral examination
S. Genetti
At least 10 days before the date in which they intend to take the official exam, each student will send to the address stefano.genetti@univr.it an essay written in French of a maximum of 20,000 characters (spaces, notes and bibliography included) ) on a topic agreed with the teacher, who will communicate the partial and provisional evaluation related to this part to the interested person and the course coordinator.

Evaluation criteria

The completeness and precision of the knowledge, the pertinence and solidity of the critical argumentation, the correctness and clarity of the exposition will be evaluated.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The final grade will result from the average of the assessments obtained in the two respective modules

Exam language

Francese