Questions of Literary History

Teacher(s)

Zanone Damien;

Language

French

Prerequisites

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Main themes

Literary history is a critical construction, ever shifting, which tells us just as much about the context in which it is produced as the periods to which it refers: discourse which brings together past and present.
The course invites students to become aware of this phenomenon by discovering the principles and elements involved in the construction of this discourse.
Each year, a specific subject is chosen (an aspect of literary life, the development of a genre or a theme), which provides the main topic for study.

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	By the end of the course, students should be able to: -         set discourse on literature in a historical context and know how to recognise the principles they employ. To identify accounts of literary history as examples of built discourse. -         establish a link between literature theory (view of the the phenomenon of literature in general) and critique (view of individual works). -         set literary studies in the context of social sciences. -         produce a critique of the critique : to treat accounts of literary history as structures for analysis ; to highlight the strategies employed by different forms of criticism.

Content

The title of the course is: "Genres and Gender of Autobiography". It proposes the study of autobiographical writing through the different kinds it can take on, playing on two meanings of the word "genre" in french: formal (autobiography / autofiction / self-portrait / memoirs) and gendered (masculine / feminine / neutral).

Teaching methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

The course will begin by studying the theoretical question it poses from a general point of view before approaching it through the study of particular texts that make up the corpus of study. It will take a masterly form. Depending on the number of registered students, the sessions will be given in an auditorium in Louvain-la-Neuve ("face-to-face"), remotely on a digital platform ("distant"), or with the combination of both ("comodal").

Evaluation methods

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the information in this section is particularly likely to change.

Bibliography

Corpus d’étude principal

• Roland, Jeanne-Marie [Manon, Mme], Mémoires particuliers [1795], dans La Fabrique de l’intime. Mémoires et journaux de femmes du XVIIIe siècle, éd. Catriona Seth, Paris, Robert Laffont, « Bouquins », 2013, p. 497-679 ; éd. Cl. Perroud, Paris, Plon-Nourrit, 1905, 2 vol., vol. II, p. 1-277 [mis à disposition sur moodle : p. 516-800 du fichier pdf].
• Chateaubriand, François René de : Mémoires d’outre-tombe, éd. Jean-Claude Berchet, Paris, Librairie générale française, « Le Livre de poche », 1989-1998, 4 vol., vol. I
• Leiris, Michel : L’Âge d’homme [1939], Paris, Gallimard, « Folio », 1973.
• Sarraute, Nathalie, Enfance [1983], Paris, Galliard, « Folio », 1985.
• Levé, Édouard, Autoportrait [2005] Paris, P.O.L., « formatpoche », 2013.
• Ernaux, Annie, Les Années [2008], Paris, Gallimard, « Folio », 2010.

Faculty or entity

ELAL