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French 675 Studies in Francophone Literature
France and the World — Journeys—Encounters—Exchange
ED-025A (CAC) Tu 4:30-7:10
Office Hours: Tu 2:45-3:45 RAB 103 (DC), 8:45-9:45 LLB 108 (CAC)
This course surveys the literature resulting from the various forms of encounter
between France and three regions of the world: the Americas, China and Tibet,
and the Near East broadly defined. We will read both famous and therefore
delightfully unavoidable texts such as Montaigne’s “Des cannibales” and
Montesquieu’s Lettres persanes, while also turning our attention to lesser-known
texts such as Alain Grandbois’s Voyages de Marco Polo and Hector Banciotti’s
Comme la trace de l’oiseau dans l’air. We will read shorter works in their
entirety and selections of longer works.
Among the questions we will ask are: How does the encounter with the rest of the
world affect the way the French have come to understand themselves? How has
the French language adapted to the need to represent geographies, peoples, and
histories beyond the scope of the Hexagon? How have the non-French engaged
with the French language and literature in response to their experience of
colonization and assimilation?
Requirements of the course:
1) Weekly submission of questions
2) 15-minute oral presentation introducing us to the week’s primary reading
through the secondary reading
3) Term paper 15-20 pages
Because I want the course to address the interests of the students as much as
possible, by midnight of the Sunday preceding the course meeting each of you will
send me two questions. One will be a small question and one will be a large
question. The small question will be something specific, concrete and particular
(about an image, a passage, a reference, etc.), while the large question will be
about the text as a whole (predominant themes, historical context, theoretical
approach, etc.). This will allow me to spend Monday crafting a seminar session
attuned to the needs of the students.
Texts to be purchased (the others are available online or on Sakai, as indicated
on the schedule)
Jonathan Spence. The Question of Hu. 978-0679725800
Alain Grandbois. Les Voyages de Marco Polo. 978-2762134940
Albert Camus. L’Exil et le royaume 978-2070360789
Driss Chraïbi. La Civilisation, ma mère! 978-2070379026
Hector Banciotti. Comme la trace de l’oiseau dans l’air 978-2070379026
SCHEDULE:
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02 September
Primary Texts:
Charles Baudelaire: “L’invitation au voyage,” “Le voyage”
http://fleursdumal.org
Stéphane Mallarmé: “Brise marine”
http://poesie.webnet.fr/lesgrandsclassiques/poemes/stephane_mallarme/brise_marine.html
Jean de la Ville de Mirmont:
http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/L’Horizon_chimérique
09 September
Primary Texts:
Montaigne: “Des cannibales”
http://artflsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:2:31.montaigne.619004
Montesquieu: Lettres persanes
http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Lettres_persanes
read Introduction, letters 1-6, 24-30, 52, 55, 57, 85, 99, 107, 147-161
Secondary reading:
David Quint “A Reconsideration of Montaigne’s Des cannibales” (Sakai)
Lisa Lowe “Rereadings in Orientalism: Oriental Inventions of the Orient in
Montesquieu’s “Lettres persanes”” (Sakai)
16 September
Primary Text:
Françoise de Graffigny: Lettres d’une Péruvienne
http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=IeoFAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=lettres+
d'une+peruvienne&hl=en&sa=X&ei=1xaEUbOMJKG1iQfKi4GQDw&ved=0CDEQ6AE
wAA#v=onepage&q=lettres%20d'une%20peruvienne&f=false
Secondary reading:
Martin Calder “Language and Self-Affirmation in Françoise de Graffigny’s Lettres d’une
Péruvienne” (Sakai)
23 September
Primary text:
Jonathan Spence: The Question of Hu
Secondary reading:
Bruce Mazlish “The Question of The Question of Hu” (Sakai)
30 September
Primary text:
Flora Tristan: Pérégrinations d’une Paria
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009833833
read: Volume I, Avant-propos (xxxv-xlvii), 199-400
Secondary reading:
Catherine Nesci “Promenades dans Lima: la peinture des moeurs dans les Pérégrinations
d’une paria de Flora Tristan” (Sakai)
Fernando Carvallo “Double Regard sur Flora Tristan” (Sakai)
Christine Planté “Entre le rêve et l’action: Les Pérégrinations d’une paria” (Sakai)
07 October
Primary text:
Paul Claudel Connaissance de l’est
http://www.archive.org/stream/connaissancedele00clau#page/n5/mode/2up
read: 7-16, 23-27, 31-44, 48-52, 55-57, 60-61, 68, 76-80, 118-122
Secondary reading:
Christopher Bush “Reading and Difference: Image, Allegory, and the Invention of
Chinese” (Sakai)
14 October
Primary text:
André Gide L’Immoraliste
Secondary reading:
Roger Pensom “Narrative Structure and Authenticity in L’Immoraliste” (Sakai)
21 October
Primary text:
Victor Segalen Stèles
http://www.steles.net
Secondary reading:
Haun Saussy “Impressions de Chine; or, How to Translate from a Nonexistent Original”
(Sakai)
Timothy Billings “Untranslation Theory: The Nestorian Stele and the Jesuit Illustration
of China” (Sakai)
28 October
Primary text:
Eduarda Mansilla Pablo, ou la vie dans les pampas
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k58417297/f14.image.r=Pablo%20pampas.langES
Jules Supervielle L’Homme de la pampa
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL23312519M/L'_homme_de_la_pampa.
Secondary reading:
Francine Masiello, “The Years of Confrontation,” from Between Civilization &
Barbarism: Women, Nation, and Literary Culture in Modern Argentina (Sakai)
04 November
Primary text:
Alexandra David-Néel Voyage d’une Parisienne à Lhassa
http://www.yellobook.cm/admin/uploads/Voyage_dune_Parisienne_a_Lhassa_-_DavidNeel_Alexandra.pdf
Secondary reading:
Geneviève James “Alexandra David-Néel: l’orientaliste méconnue” (Sakai)
11 November
Primary text:
Alain Grandbois Les voyages de Marco Polo
Secondary reading:
Yves Bolduc “Alain Grandbois et le Voyage” (Sakai)
18 November
Primary text:
Albert Camus L’Exil et le royaume
read: “La femme adultère,” “Les muets,” “L’hôte”
Secondary reading:
Mary Pratt “Mapping Ideology: Gide, Camus, and Algeria” (Sakai)
02 December
Primary text:
Driss Chraïbi La Civilisation ma mère!
Secondary reading:
Hédi Bouraoui “Ambivalence structuro-culturelle dans La Civilisation, ma mère!”
(Sakai)
09 December
Primary text:
Hector Banciotti Comme la trace de l’oiseau dans l’air
Secondary reading:
Axel Gasquet “L’Autofiction en langue française chez Hector Bianciotti” (Sakai)