FRENCH LITERATURE 1

The course is part of the characterizing and related/integrative educational activities of the three-year course of study of “Languages, Civilizations and Language Sciences” and is intended for first-year students, onlyand exclusively for the International Politics curriculum.
It constitutes an introduction to twentieth-century French literature and culture through the study, historical contextualization and analysis of a sampling of novels. The course aims to develop the ability to read and comment a literary text with appropriate language and scientific methodology.

The course aims to provide the student with essential knowledge of the main literary, historical and cultural themes of the French 20th century and the linguistic and formal peculiarities of its fiction. Critical thinking will be promoted through the direct reading (in French) of some of the major examples of 20th century French fiction, providing the student with the ability to correctly place them in their historical/cultural context and develop a method to approach the literary text.

Knowledge of the broad outlines of 20th-century European historical and cultural development. Basic knowledge of the French language, at least for comprehension of written text.

“Aspects of Twentieth-Century French Fiction.” The course will follow the adventure of the twentieth-century French novel, from the perception of the aesthetic and expressive crisis at the beginning of the century, to the exploration of new horizons, both thematic (the existential drama of the human condition, between the two wars and immediately after), expressive, up to modern practices.

This course will examine passages (directly on the original French version) selected mainly from the following works:

1) Marcel PROUST, Du côté de chez Swann (1913)
2) COLETTE, Le Blé en herbe (1923)
3) André BRETON, Nadja (1928)
4) Louis-Ferdinand CELINE, Voyage au bout de la nuit (1932)
5) Jean-Paul SARTRE, La Nausée (1938)
6) Albert CAMUS, L’étranger (1942)
7) Raymond QUENEAU, Zazie dans le métro (1959)
8) Marguerite DURAS, Le ravissement de Lol V. Stein (1964)
9) Romain GARY (Émile AJAR), La vie devant soi (1975)
10) Annie ERNAUX, La place (1983)
11) Patrick MODIANO, Dora Bruder (1997)

Some of these titles are available for free on:
www.ebooksgratuits.com, http://www.ebooksgratuits.com/ebooks.php
Be sure to comply with copyright rules: https://www.ebooksgratuits.com/droitaut.php

Students must read at least three (3) books (in their entirety, not partially), either in their original French version or in an official translation in Italian or any language of the student’s choice. In all cases, the chosen titles must be read in any of their complete edition (we suggest the most recent, if available), while shortened versions must be avoided.
Regardless of the chosen titles, for all the authors listed above, the student will have to attain an in-depth knowledge of their anthological works in French language indicated by the teacher (that will be made available on the e-learning platform MOODLE, "Extraits obbligatori") and which will be also partially discussed in class.

Mandatory readings

1) 3 novels chosen from the above 11 novels (see "Contents")
2) the following manuals:

BERETTA ANGUISSOLA, A., Il romanzo francese di formazione, Bari, Laterza, "Manuali Laterza", 74-82 e 157-194.
CACCIAVILLANI, G., Profilo storico della letteratura francese, Panozzo Editore, 1983, 157-194.
TERONI, S. (ed.), Il romanzo francese del Novecento, Bari, Laterza, "Manuali Laterza," 2008, pp. 3-110. *
SOZZI, Lionello (ed.), European history of French literature: vol. II. From the eighteenth century to the contemporary age, Turin, Einaudi (coll. "Piccola Biblioteca Einaudi," no. 593), 2013, pp. 270-284, 291-305, 312-341.

Exchange students who find it difficult to read the textbooks in Italian may substitute those of Teroni and Sozzi, with:

TADIÉ, Jean-Yves (sous la dir.), La littérature française : dynamique & histoire. II, Paris, Gallimard (coll. " Folio Essais ", no. 495), 2007 ; in particular by A. COMPAGNON, XXe siècle, pp. 545-650, 676-701, 748-772.

Italian students who would prefer it can also substitute A. Compagnon’s text for those of Teroni and Sozzi.

Additional texts for in-depth analysis (optional)
CARPENTIER,Jean, LEBRUN, François, "Histoire de France", Points (Seuil), coll. « Points histoire », 2014. (limitatamente al XX secolo)
FAYET, Aurélien , "L’histoire de France. Une synthèse de référence", Editions Eyrolles, 2019.
GOETSCHEL, Pascale, LOYER Emmanuelle, "Histoire culturelle de la France. De la Belle Epoque à nos jours", Paris, Colin, coll. « Cursus », 5e édition, 2018.
TADIÉ, Jean-Yves (sous la dir.), La littérature française : dynamique & histoire. II, Paris, Gallimard (coll. « Folio Essais », n. 495), 2007 ; in particular di A. COMPAGNON, XXe siècle, pp. 545-650, 576-701, 748-772.
MITTERAND, Henri, La littérature française du XXe siècle, Paris, A. Colin, 20102, pp. 27-30, 35-42,63-72, 84-87, 93-98, 112-113.
Additional bibliographic references will be eventually provided during the course.
VIART, D. Le Roman français au XXe siècle, Paris, A. Colin, "Lettres sup", 2011.

The course will be in Italian (readings also in French).

The examination is an oral test. It will test the student's ability to independently formulate a description/interpretation of the proposed passages, emphasizing the most significant textual aspects of the issues addressed, as well as the ability to then freely extend these acquisitions to the three novels of his choice.
Adequate understanding of the most semantically relevant aspects of the text will be essential. Additionally, the student may be asked to provide insights regarding the logical analysis of the text, its lexical choice, and syntactic and grammar structures.

The oral test will be carried out in Italian, unless the student opts to take the test (partially or completely) in French. In any case, the student will have to know both the 10 indicated anthological texts and the three mandatory novels in their original French versions. More precisely, the student will be required to read aloud passages from these texts, translate them orally and comment them accordingly.

The examination (20'-30' minutes) is roughly divided in three sections:
a) general questions based on mandatory manuals and on what explained in the lessons;
b) questions on the three mandatory novels chosen by the student, of which the student must demonstrate knowledge of content and essential characteristics, while being able to properly place them within the author’s opera omnia;
c) questions on part of one or more of the 11 indicated anthological texts, which the student must know and be able to adequately read, translate (free translation or paraphrase) and explain, mostly relying on course notes and other course material.

The bio-bibliographic knowledge of the authors, not treated in class, but indicated and specified in the above-mentioned authors list of the Teroni manual, is an integral part of the study and will be verified during the examination.
It should be noted that, in order to pass the oral test, the student's preparation must be sufficient in all 3 sections (a, b, c).

oral

The minimum grade is 18, the maximum grade is 30 cum laude. The grades will be assigned as follows:
A. range 18-22: sufficient content knowledge; limited ability for independent discussion; limited knowledge of basic textual analysis tools; limited ability to translate the text into Italian properly, limited knowledge of the author poetry's and others bio-bibliographical informations, limited knowledge of the cultural-historical context and issues in the texts.
B. range 23-26: decent content knowledge; decent independent discussion skills, decent knowledge of basic textual analysis tools, decent ability to translate the text into Italian properly, decent knowledge of the author poetry's and others bio-bibliographical informations, decent knowledge of the historical-cultural context and issues present in the texts.
C. range 27-30: good content knowledge; good independent discussion skills, good knowledge of basic textual analysis tools, good ability to translate the text into Italian properly, good knowledge of the author poetry's and others bio-bibliographical informations, good knowledge of the historical-cultural context and issues present in the texts.
D. Cum Laude: awarded in case the content knowledge, independent discussion skills, knowledge of basic textual analysis tools, ability to translate the text into Italian properly, knowledge of the author poetry's and others bio-bibliographical informations and knowledge of the cultural-historical context and issues present in the texts is excellent.

Lectures in Italian (weekly). However, all anthological passages will be read and analyzed in the original French.

Students who do not have French as a three-year language in their syllabus may answer all questions in Italian (but will need to know the anthology excerpts in the original French).

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development