English Literature: Black British Writers [ LGERM2826 ]

An introductory knowledge of English literature and a good proficiency in English (advanced level, B2 + in terms of the Common European reference framework).

The lecturer will have a choice between one or several authors of the Older Period (the Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century - e.g. William Shakespeare), or a more recent writer (e.g. T.S. Eliot, Toni Morrison, Caryl Phillips). The course will examine how the literary perception of this writer has changed in the course of time, and how his or her impact on literature and society has likewise developed.

The aim of this course is to help the student acquire a scholarly method to read and examine literary texts written by one or several authors, to analyze their impact, and to situate these texts in their historical, sociological and generic context. At the end of the course, the students will be able to read and write research papers in the field by relying on the literary and scholarly knowledge they have acquired. The course is also indirectly meant to increase the students' lexical skills. Their analyses will therefore have to reflect a command of the English language that corresponds to their level (Masters), as well as a good grasp of the various cultural concepts discussed in the course.

Oral and/or written exam. When the course is organized as a seminar, active participation (oral presentation, discussions, term paper) is taken into account.

Interactive lectures. Students actively participate in the seminar.

Term paper and in-class presentations.

This year the course GERM2826 will focus on the representation of the Congo in (post)colonial literary texts. The Congo, as Filip De Boeck suggests, has become an 'emblematic topos in the Western collective imagination' because of its association both with a violent colonial process and the complex and difficult struggle towards independence.

After a historical, anthropological and sociological contextualization of the Congolese situation, and an introduction to the 'invention of Africa' as a European construct of Africa as a primitive darkness participating in the extension of the dominant colonial system (Fanon, Césaire, Mudimbé, Mbembe, a.o.), we will first analyse how writers like Conrad, Doyle, Casement and Twain attacked Leopold II's exploitation of the country. The second part of this course will deal with the works of contemporary authors writing about the Congo in English (Naipaul, Kingsolver, Bennett, Taylor, Safari, Nottage) and French. We will explore several critical approaches to these texts and examine how they relate to colonial history, exile, interculturality and political instability. Last but not least, we will discuss the processes of (de)fictionalization (short story, novel, graphic novel, reportage, non fiction, testimony) and ideologization at the core of these texts.

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Teaching material : Secondary literature linked to the topic of the course. Reading of the selected literary works and of critical studies.