Learning objectives
During the course, the student will learn how to understand and toanalyze literary
texts both from the formal point of view and from that of its contents;
- to put them in relation to the author’s poetic output;
- to investigate in depth some of the topics covered in an independent and original way;
- to formulate, communicate and discuss (in French) contents, analyses and opinions concerning the
texts under examination.
Student will also refine their ability to
- identify the formal and generic characteristics of the texts, and to relate them to the cultural background of the time;
- find independently additional information and bibliography on the topics using both print and digital resources;
- make motivated judgments based on a careful decoding of the text;
- extend also to other texts the critical reading skills acquired during the course, addressing the relationship between an author’s poetry and the aesthetic trends of his time.
Course unit content
Title of the course:
Memory and representation of slavery in the Francophone literature of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Caribbean Francophone literature bears the trademark of transatlantic slavery that marks the history of those societies. Often dissatisfied with the answers provided by the official story about their past of slaves, the writers thus decide to fill the gaps by taking charge of rewriting the story from the point of view of the victim, of the one whose word was denied. The course will deal in a first part with the slave system and the resulting society and then deal with the narrative fictions of Antillean and Haitian authors. Slavery will also, at a later stage, be questioned in the works of African writers highlighting their differences and finality.
Bibliography
Aimé Césaire, Cahier d’un retour au pays natal, Présence Africaine, 1939.
Patrick Chamoiseau, L'esclave vieil homme et le molosse, gallimard, 1999.
Leonora Miano, La Saison de l’ombre, Pocket, 2013
Fabienne Kanor, Humus, Paris, Éditions Gallimard, coll. « Continent noir ».
Evelyne Trouillot, Rosalie l’infâme, Dapper.
Leonora Miano, La Saison de l’ombre, Pocket.
Léonora Miano, Les aubes écarlates, Plon
Louis-Philippe Dalembert, L’Autre face de la mer, Le Serpent à plumes.
Wilfried N’Sondé, Un océan, deux mers, trois continent, Actes Sud.
Kangni Alem, Esclaves, Editions JC Lattès.
Maryse Condé, Moi, Tituba Sorcière, Folio.
Edouard Glissant, Le Quatrième siècle, Paris, Gallimard.
Patrick Chamoiseau, Chronique des sept misères, Folio
Patrick Chamoiseau, un dimanche au cachot, folio.
Daniel Maximin, L’isolé soleil, Point.
Maryse Condé, Ségou, Pocket.
Teaching methods
The course consists of lectures, during which the presentation of historical and literary contents will be supplemented by commentary and analysis of extracts from texts in the original language.
Assessment methods and criteria
The knowledge acquired during the course will be assessed through an oral exam in Italian. Specialist students of French will be asked to read and translate passages in the texts studied in the original language. The following knowledge and skills will be assessed:
- knowledge about the authors and works covered in the course and their accurate insertion into historical and cultural contexts;
- the ability to express content in correct Italian, using the appropriate terminology of literary studies;
- an adequate level in the ability to analyze and rework the basic contents in an autonomous way.
A fail is determined by the absence, demonstrated by the student during the oral examination, of the ability to understand the basic contents of the course, the lack of autonomous preparation and the inability to solve problems related to information retrieval and the decoding of complex texts, as well as the formulation of independent judgments.
A pass (18-23/30) is determined by the ability, demonstrated by the student, to have acquired the basic content of the course, a sufficient level of autonomous preparation, an acceptable ability to solve problems related to information retrieval and the decoding of texts, as well as the formulation of independent judgment. Middle-range marks (24-27/30) are assigned to those student who produce evidence of more than sufficient (24-25/30) or good (26-27/30) levels in the evaluation indicators listed above. Upper-end marks (from 28/30 to 30/30 cum laude) are awarded on the basis of the demonstration of a very good to an excellent level in the evaluation indicators listed above.
