Readings:

See description.

Course Description:

Alternative facts, kleptocratic regimes, vulgar authoritarians who claim to speak in the voice of the people—for generations, francophone authors have grappled with these and other aspects of postcolonial rule. In this seminar, we will read a number of literary texts that narrate uneasy passages from the colonial period through the era of independence and on into variously configured neocolonial states and totalitarian regimes.  In the first part of the semester, we will focus primarily on novels from the 1970s and 1980s, all of which register deep disillusionment with postcolonial nationalism.  In the second part of the semester, we will consider a group of more recent novels that extend the critique of nationalism even as they take on contemporary dynamics of globalization, debt, and private indirect government.  Throughout our discussions, we will focus on the literary forms and stylistic practices that characterize these texts, paying particular attention to questions of narrative structure, generic affiliation, and the experimental use of language and writing to represent the tortuous speech of the dictator, as well as the possibility of its undoing.  In addition to selected secondary material, readings are likely to include: Aimé Césaire, La tragédie du roi Christophe; Maryse Condé, Heremakhonon (En attendant le bonheur); Sony Labou Tansi, La vie et demie; Ousmane Sembène, Le dernier de l’Empire; Henri Lopes, Le Pleurer-Rire; Aminata Sow Fall, L’ex-père de la nation; Ahmadou Kourouma, En attendant le vote des bêtes sauvages; Mongo Beti, Trop de soleil tue l’amour; Alain Mabanckou, Verre Cassé; Boubacar Boris Diop, Kaveena; Yasmina Khadra, La dernière nuit du Raïs.

Section times and locations in the Schedule of Classes