Senior Seminar: Reimagining Community in Modern French Fiction
We will examine imagined communities as they are portrayed in a variety of modern (post-1789) French and francophone novels in which the association of individuals of distinct social, ethnic, racial and national origins engenders innovative forms of partnership. Whether Breton peasant and Parisian revolutionary (Hugo), Caribbean slave and Salem woman accused of being a witch (Condé), Muslim boy and Jewish stepmother (Gary), Québecois adolescent and Indian lover (Lalonde), Spanish and French déportés on their way to Buchenwald (Semprun), Canadian expatriate and Algerian exile (Huston/Sebbar), each work explores how characters of diverse social and ethnic backgrounds collaborate in the creation of new cultural practices. Readings may include: Victor Hugo: Quatre-vingt-treize (excerpts); Jorgé Semprun: Le grand voyage; George Sand : Nanon ; Robert Lalonde: L'été indien; Leïla Sebbar et Nancy Huston: Lettres parisiennes; Romain Gary: La vie devant soi, Sijie Dai: Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise. This seminar will include an important research component. (Open to French Senior Majors, other students by waiver). 3 hrs. lect./disc.