COURSE DETAILS

WEEK 2:
LECTURE: Introduction à la littérature africaine et antillaise de langue française; l'espace francophone.
SEMINAR: Ousmane Sembène: Le docker noir and Les bouts de bois de Dieu: the impact of the colonial régime
1. In what ways can the colonial system be seen to be responsible for affecting the actions and responses of the characters in these two novels?
2. Identify ways in which the different cultural systems represented by France and Africa come into conflict in these novels. What are the consequences of these conflicts/ misunderstandings?

WEEK 3:
LECTURE: Sembène et le roman africain: un regard tourné vers l'avenir
(Before this seminar, read the extract from Frantz Fanon: Les Damnés de la terre)
SEMINAR: Les bouts de bois de Dieu: tradition and modernisation
1. Prepare a commentary on the following passage: p. 228 'Dès les premiers jours, il s'était lancé dans une activité nouvelle' to p. 230 (end of section).
2. Identify the elements of traditional African life which are shown to undergo a process of change in Les bouts de bois de Dieu. In what direction are these changes leading? How do the characters of the book regard these changes? What attitude does Sembène display towards the changes you have identified?

WEEK 4:
LECTURE: La statue de sel: Langue et identité
SEMINAR: La statue de sel:
1. Identify the series of choices made by the protagonist in La Statue de sel. What are the factors that motivate them?
2. To what extent can France be held responsible for the difficulties faced by Alexandre? Trace the attitudes he shows towards the country.

WEEK 5:
LECTURE: Maryse Condé: Traversée de la mangrove: une littérature des marges?
SEMINAR: La statue de sel:
1. Prepare a commentary on the following passage: p. 238 'Peut-etre cette hostilité meme' ­ p. 239. 'sans méditation'

WEEK 7:
LECTURE HOUR: Class test: commentary passage (timed, 1 hour). Passage to be taken from Les bouts de bois de Dieu or La statue de sel.
SEMINAR: Traversée de la mangrove: une communauté et son passé.
(Before this seminar, read the extract from Edouard Glissant: Le Discours antillais)
1. What picture of Guadeloupe does Maryse Condé offer in Traversée de la mangrove?
2. Discuss the importance of the structure that MC chooses for her text.

WEEK 8:
LECTURE: Maryse Condé: Traversée de la mangrove: expression d'une ésthétique antillaise
SEMINAR: Femmes d'Alger
1. Prepare the following commentary passage: pp. 57-58: 'Je ne vois pour nous -- [] -- Ma mère, murmura Sarah.'
2. What is the relationship shown in the passage between words and gestures? How does this correspond to the analysis the Djebar gives of the condition of Algerian women in the

WEEK 9:
LECTURE: Assia Djebar: Femmes d'Alger dans leur appartement: Culture et sexualité.
SEMINAR: Femmes d'Alger and La Nuit sacrée
1. Compare the importance of the body, veiled and unveiled, in the two texts.

WEEK 10:
LECTURE: Tahar Ben Jelloun: La Nuit sacrée: réalité et fabuleux.
1. Identify the different genres and styles used by TBJ in La nuit sacrée. What is their function? Do you deem the book to have a goal other than the purely poetic?

Recommended reading

Books:
GENERAL:

• R. Antoine, La littérature franco-antillaise, 1992.
• J. Arnaud, La littérature maghrébine de langue francaise, 1986.
• K. Harrow, Faces of Islam in African Literature. 1991
• L. Ibnlfassi and N. Hitchcott (ed.),African Francophone Writing, an Introduction, 1996. (includes study of La Statue de sel).
• B. Jack, Francophone Literatures, an Introductory Survey, 1996.

SEMBENE:

• S. Gadjigo, Ousmane Sembene, dialogues with critics and writers, 1993.
• L. Kesteloot, Les écrivains noirs de langue francaise: naissance d'une littérature, 1963.
• Sada Niang ed., Littérature et cinéma en Afrique francophone : Ousmane Sembène et Assia Djebar, 1997 (see especially: Frederick Ivor Case, Esthéthique et discours idéologique dans l'oeuvre d'Ousmane Sembène et d'Assia Djebar, pp.35-48)
• Anthère Nzabatsinda, Normes linguistiques et écriture africaine chez Ousmane Sembène,1996

MEMMI:

• A. Memmi, Ce que je crois, 1985.
• A. Memmi, Portrait du colonisé, 1985.
• J. Roumani, Albert Memmi, 1987.

CONDÉ:

• N. Araujo (ed.), L'uvre de Maryse Condé: à propos d'une écrivaine politiquement incorrecte, 1996.
• M. Condé, M. Cottonet-Hage, Penser la créolité, 1995.
• F. Pfaff, Entretiens avec Maryse Condé, 1993.
• Sam Haigh ed., An introduction to Caribbean francophone writing, 1999
• Mireille Rosello, Littérature et identité créole aux Antilles, 1992
• J. Bernabé, P. Chamoiseau, R. Confiant, Eloge de la créolité, 1993.

DJEBAR:

• M. Mortimer, Assia Djebar, 1988.
• M. Mortimer, Les femmes algériennes dans les romans d'Assia Djebar.
• F. Touati, Desperate Spring, lives of Algerian women, 1987

BEN JELLOUN:

• R. Bourkhis, Tahar Ben Jelloun, La poussière d'or et la face masquée, 1995.
• Colloque Tahar Ben Jelloun 1988, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Stratégies d'écriture, 1993.

Articles:
SEMBENE:

• James A. Jones, 'Fact and Fiction in God's Bits of Wood', Research in African Literatures, 31.2, 117-30.
• Craig V. Smith, 'The Stereography of Class, Race and Nation in God's Bits of Wood', Research in African Languages 24.1, pp51-66.

MEMMI:

• Frederic Michelman 'French and British Colonial Language Policies: A Comparative View of their Impact on African Literature, Research in African Languages 26.4, pp216-25.

CONDE:

• Maryse Condé, 'Order, Disorder, Freedom and the West Indian Writer', Yale French Studies, 83..2, pp.121-35.
• Maryse Condé, 'O Brave New World', Research in African Languages 29.3, pp1-7.
• Patrick ffrench, 'Community in Maryse Condé's Traversée de la mangrove' , French Forum 22.1, pp.93-10.
• Ruthmarie H. Mitsch, 'Maryse Condé's Mangroves', Research in African Literatures, 28.4, pp.54-70.

DJEBAR:

• Assia Djebar, 'Fugitive et ne le sachant pas', L'Esprit Créateur, 33.2, pp.129-34.
• Ann Donadey, 'Assia Djebar's Poetics of Subversion', L'Esprit Créateur, 33.2, pp.107-18.
• Danielle Marx-Scouras, 'Muffled Screams / Stifled Voices', Yale French Studies, 82, 172-82.
• Mildred Mortimer, 'La femme algérienne dans les romans d'Assia Djebar', French Review, 49.5, pp.759-62.
• ________, 'Language and space in the Fiction of Assia Djebar and Leila Sebbbar', Research in African Literatures, 19.3, 301-11
• ________, 'Entretien avec Assia Djebar, écrivain algérien', Research in African Literatures, 19.3, 197-205.

BEN JELLOUN

• Thomas Spear, 'Politics and Literature: an Interview with Taha Ben Jelloun', Yale French Studies 83.2, pp.121-35.
  

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