Human, culture and power in contemporary Francophone prose 3304-1DPXW-KL-025-OG

The aim of the course will be to acquaint students with basic intellectual and aesthetic currents expressed in contemporary Francophone prose. In sociocritical and postcolonial terms, the course will focus on developing the ability to analyse literary texts, taking into account the socio-political conditions prevailing in the French-speaking areas where the texts in question come from. In the analysis, the basic axes of reflection will be the human being and his representation in the text, society as the cultural framework for the functioning of the individual and power, understood in many ways - as the strength of tradition, of the family, of the environment, of the political and economic world.
The area known as "Francophonie" (written with a capital letter as the abbreviated name of the countries affiliated to the International Francophone Organization, as well as with a lowercase letter, suggesting an understanding of the term in cultural terms) is an arena of long-standing political, social and artistic tensions, dating back to the colonial past of the countries that comprise it. The literature of the area, diverse and multifaceted, seeks to give expression to the various power relationships that link individual human beings to their social environment and the world of political games. Working through the novels of writers such as Dany Laferrière, Yannick Lahens (Haiti), Nicolas Dickner (Quebec), Tahar Ben Jelloun (Morocco), Frantz Fanon (Martinique/Algeria), among others, will familiarize students with this multiple and multidimensional reality as well as present possible interpretive tropes for the works, while sensitizing them to the aesthetic explorations of Francophone novelists.