Readings/Films:

Texts considered will likely include: René Maran, Batouala; Albert de Teneuille and Truong Dinh Tri, Bà-Dầm; André Malraux, La voie royale; Albert Camus, L’étranger; Marguerite Duras, Un barrage contre le Pacifique; Mongo Beti, Le pauvre Christ de Bomba; Ferdinand Oyono, Une vie de boy.

Course Description:

In this course we will read a number of twentieth-century novels published in the last decades of the French empire, all of which are set in colonized territories.  Produced in a variety of modes and genres (autobiographical fiction, roman d’aventures, philosophical novel, quasi-ethnography, journal novel), these novels emerge out of a variety of cultural situations and geographic locations (including Southeast Asia, the Maghreb, and sub-Saharan Africa), and were written by authors positioned differently with respect to the opposition between colonizer and colonized. In our discussions, we will consider the historical specificity of each text while remaining open to insights made possible by reading comparatively; in other words, our goal will be to analyze individual texts while attempting to be attentive to common textual strategies, formal elements, and practices of representing colonial space, dynamics of power, and cultural difference.

Prerequisites:

French 102 or consent of Instructor.

Additional Information:

This course satisfies 1 “Literature/Genre” or 1 “Elective” course requirement in the French major.  Satisfies one course requirement in the French minor.