Aims

Students will be expected to show their ability to relate the set texts to the historical and literary contexts explored in the module. They will have to produce an analysis that confirms their familiarity with the issues raised by the module, and with the poetics through which those issues are articulated.
The module 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 (3rd or 4th year), as well as a good grasp of the various cultural concepts discussed in the module.

Main themes

A different period will be studied each year. The choice is between :
1. The Elizabethan period
2. The Restoration
3. The Victorian period
4. The Interwar period
5. Post-1945

Each period will be studied in its political, economic, social, scientific and cultural aspects. There will also be an overview of the period's literature. The module will then focus on in-depth analyses of key works that are particularly representative of a specific genre.

Method : lectures and seminars

Content and teaching methods

(Im)migration Literature

As international migration increasingly becomes a global challenge, this course will offer an examination of several creative texts that convey and interrogate questions related to the experience of (im)migration. A first part will be devoted to forced migrations such as the (second) middle passage that led to slavery and indentureship. Boatpeople narratives such as Dandicat’s work will be analyzed within the context of more recent experiences of forced migration. A second part of the course will tackle the experience of various immigrant communities in the United States over the last century, opening debates around hybridity, cultural negotiation, gender and nationalism. A third and last part will consider more recent and complex migrations to certain metropolises (Windrush generation) and within certain nations (e.g. the move from the village to the city). How does migration affect families, identity, gender, and sexuality? How does one write about migration? How does migration affect one’s writing? More concretely, this course will consider the different experiences of (im)migration via 5 novels and several poems and films. The literary texts will be supplemented by readings from Literary Criticism, Cultural Studies, and History which address (im)migration from different perspectives. Major authors will be studied such as Anzia Yezierska, Pauline Melville, Fred d’Aguiar, Zakes Mda and Caryl Phillips.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Prerequisites : GERM 1226, GERM 1225 or equivalent modules (introductions to English literature). The set texts (ca. 4 books) should be read before each seminar.

Assessment: an oral exam and an essay.


Study aids : a booklet is handed out to the students at the first lecture. It includes a list of set texts, details about the organisation of the module, a selection of excerpts, a list of questions and a bibliography.

Others : students are invited to take an active part in the module.

Other credits in programs