Iz literature seminar : Introduction to Francophone literature of the Americas (Caribbean, Quebec) 3304-1DPXW-KL-026

The aim of the course is to provide students with an in-depth introduction to the main intellectual and aesthetic currents of contemporary francophone literature in the Americas, with a particular focus on the Caribbean and Quebec. The course will analyze the various literary expressions present in these geo-cultural spaces, reflecting the richness of tradition, history and socio-political experience. Particular emphasis will be placed on the importance of oral literature, which in many contexts not only precedes written literature, but also continues to coexist with it as a living form of transmission, important for the construction of cultural identity and collective memory.

The course also takes into account references to indigenous cultures, which bring unique perspectives and sensibilities to the literary space, especially in Quebec's social and aesthetic context. The class will be taught using a socio-critical and post-colonial approach to analyze literary texts in their historical, political and cultural contexts. Literature - both written and oral - will be approached as a tool for expressing individual and collective identity, as well as a space for reflecting on the complex relationships between tradition, family, environment, history and the political world.

The course will discuss selected excerpts from the works of authors and women authors from Haiti (Jacques Stephen Alexis, Dany Laferrière, Edwidge Danticat, Joujou Turenne), Martinique (Aimé Césaire, Ina Césaire, Patrick Chamoiseau), Quebec (Michèle Lalonde, Michel Tremblay, Marco Micone), as well as the literature of the indigenous peoples in Quebec (Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, Naomi Fontaine, Emilie Monnet). These fragments will be selected by the class instructor and will form the basis for joint analysis and discussion.

Through an interdisciplinary approach that combines textual analysis with elements of history, sociology, anthropology and cultural theory, students will gain the tools necessary to work independently and critically with texts representing a variety of postcolonial, diasporic and indigenous cultural experiences.