Questions of General and Comparative Literature

LFIAL2230  2016-2017  Louvain-la-Neuve

Questions of General and Comparative Literature
5.0 credits
22.5 h
1q

Teacher(s)
Dehoux Amaury (compensates Durante Erica) ; Durante Erica ;
Language
Français
Online resources

Moodle website

Prerequisites

/

Main themes

1. Introduction to the history of the discipline, its theoretical framework, methodologies and subfields through the teaching of specific research instruments.

2. Provide an example of a completed study in comparative literature.

Aims

Analyze one period and one or more streams of European literature using a comparative perspective. Provide students with a basic understanding of this period and streams of literature, placing the latter in the broader context of the connections that European culture has progressively established across different countries, constituting a unique civilization sharing common evidence, references and connivances. Familiarize students with the aims, essence and methodologies of comparative research, and introduce them to the theoretical foundations of the comparative approach. Students are expected to demonstrate that they have acquired the skills taught during the course and that they have mastered the historical background and literary material characterizing the period and the streams of literature analyzed throughout the course.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Evaluation methods

The writing assessment of this course will be a paper in French (length between 2500 and 3500 words). In this paper, students will compare one novel of the required reading with one novel of the selected reading, on an issue related to the Global South.

The paper will be submitted on the first day of the exam session of January (and/of September). Two versions will be submitted: a printed version in the teacher's pigeonhole (Erasme College, 3rd floor, B-wing) and an electronic version (PDF) posted on Moodle.

The evaluation mode is the same for each session.

Teaching methods

1) Formal lectures

2) Personal reading of 3 novels (2 from the required reading and 1 from the selected reading)

3) Discussions on the novels

4) Required participation to a scientific event related to the topic of the course

Content

The Global South will be the topic of this course of Comparative Literature during the academic year 2016-2017. This topic will consider the globalization as a main paradigm of the novelistic representation of the contemporary world. During this course, we will study how the globalization and its issues are used by the fiction in its figuration of the South. By doing this, we will try to better understand the concept of the Global South. This course will also introduce the students to the so-called emergent and/or peripheral literatures.

Bibliography

Required reading

ASLAM Nadeem, Le Jardin de l'aveugle, traduit de l'anglais par Claude et Jean Demanuelli, Paris, Seuil, 2015 (Points), 504 p.

 

LAFERRIERE Dany, Vers le sud, Paris, Le Livre de Poche, 2012, 240 p.

 

Selected reading

BERBERIAN Viken, Le Cycliste, traduit de l'anglais par Claro, La Laune, Au Diable Vauvert, 2012, 304 p.

 

HOUELLEBECQ Michel, Plateforme, Paris, J'ai Lu, 2010, 350 p.

Other information

The required reading may also be read in the original language if the language skills of each student permit.

Faculty or entity<


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Program title
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Master [120] in Modern Languages and Letters : General
5
-

5
-

Master [120] in French and Romance Languages and Letters : French as a Second Language
5
-

Master [120] in Ancient and Modern Languages and Letters
5
-

Master [120] in Modern Languages and Letters : German, Dutch and English
5
-

Master [120] in Translation
5
-

Master [120] in French and Romance Languages and Letters : General
5
-