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851-0347-00L 3 Credits DS , DR , MSC D-GESS

The Worlds of Literature

Les mondes de la littérature

Lecturers & Examiners: Didier Eribon
VVZ CR n/a

Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:53:37

Abstract

We will try to see how literature has tackled multiple historical, social, political questions by inscribing them in individual and collective trajectories, through biographical, autobiographical, autofictional, autoanalytical writing.

Objective

In this light, we will reread French-speaking authors such as Paul Nizan, Aimé Césaire, Léon-Gontran Damas, Edouard Glissant, Maryse Condé, Patrick Chamoiseau, André Gide, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Genet, Violette Leduc, Annie Ernaux, Edouard Louis… By placing their works next to those of non-French-speaking authors who proceed in a comparable manner.

Content

"I was born in 1842" writes Assia Djebar in the first volume of her autobiography, “L’amour, la fantasia”, published in 1985. That is, when the French colonial troops burned down the village of her ancestors. For her, born in 1936, restoring her personal history therefore amounts to restoring and exploring the history of Algeria for a century and a half. Taking this striking example as a starting point, we will try to see how literature has tackled multiple historical, social, political questions by inscribing them in individual and collective trajectories, through biographical, autobiographical, autofictional, autoanalytical writing. In this light, we will reread French-speaking authors such as (among others, of course) Paul Nizan, Aimé Césaire, Léon-Gontran Damas, Edouard Glissant, Maryse Condé, Patrick Chamoiseau, André Gide, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Genet, Violette Leduc, Annie Ernaux, Edouard Louis… By placing their works next to those of non-French-speaking authors who proceed in a comparable manner.

General Information

Language
French
Levels
DS , DR , MSC

Examination

Type
graded semester performance

Course Components

Type Title Time & Place Hours
lecture Les mondes de la littérature
Die genauen Unterrichtszeiten von ONLINE - Veranstaltungen werden von den Dozierenden kommuniziert.
  • Tue 16:00-18:00 (ON LI NE)
2 h weekly

Offered In