Contemporary Literature in French (Level 5)

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 5
• Convenor: Professor Akane Kawakami
• Assessment: two 2500-word essays (50% each)

In this module you will have a taste of contemporary works of French prose and poetry, and have the opportunity to read widely and make comparisons with contemporary developments in other languages. You will also gain an insight into what is happening today in literary culture in France.

Indicative syllabus

• Maylis de Kerangal, Tangente vers l'est (2012) (translated as: Eastbound)
• Nina Bouraoui, Tous les hommes désirent naturellement savoir (2018) (translated as: All Men Want to Know)
• Nathalie Quintane, extracts from Tomates (2010) (translated as: Tomatoes)
• Michel Houellebecq, Soumission (2015) (translated as: Submission)
• Sorj Chalandon, Retour à Killybegs (2011) (translated as: Return to Killybegs)
• Annie Ernaux, Mémoire de fille (2016) (translated as: A Girl’s Story)
• Michaël Ferrier, Scrabble: une enfance tchadienne (2019) (translated as: Scrabble: A Chadian Childhood)

By the end of this module, you will have:

• knowledge of the French and Francophone texts, contexts and issues under discussion
• evaluated the prescribed texts at a thematic as well as linguistic and stylistic level
• worked within historical and theoretical frameworks in the interpretation of the prescribed texts.