L0028 - FRENCH LITERATURE I

courses

ID:

L0028

Duration (hours):

54

CFU:

SSD:

LETTERATURA FRANCESE

Located in:

PESCARA

Url:

Course Details:

MODERN LANGUAGES, LITERATURES AND CULTURES/CORSO GENERICO Year: 1

Year:

2025

Course Catalogue:

https://unich.coursecatalogue.cineca.it/af/2025?co...

Date/time interval

Secondo Semestre (15/02/2026 - 25/05/2026)

Course Objectives

Training objectives:
The course, which constitutes a significant stage in the completion of the literary education begun in the first year of the three-year Degree course, aims to provide students with a method of analysis and understanding of any literary phenomenon, both diachronic and synchronous, on the basis of the knowledge acquired in previous years. Through the analysis model of some contemporary French works, students will be guided towards an in-depth study of formal analysis and the biographical and autobiographical genres, focusing on the underlying structures of the texts. The course also aims to provide students with advanced knowledge of the history of French literature and culture and to consolidate the acquisition of theoretical and applicative tools for linguistic and literary analysis.
Expected learning outcomes:
As part of the Master’s Degree Course, the course aims to complete the students’ training in the literary field and to strengthen their ability to understand the problems and epistemological horizon of French literature. It constitutes an advanced stage in the consolidation of critical skills, knowledge of methodological techniques of literary analysis and the ability to develop an autonomous critical thinking.
Knowledge and comprehension abilities:

knowledge and understanding of various forms of narrative and linguistic hybridisation;
indepth knowledge of variations in the autobiographical genre;
ability to understand, analyze and contextualize Frenchlanguage literary texts at all levels.

Autonomy of judgment:

ability to describe and interpret literary phenomena of any period and of any kind of French literature;
ability to reformulate issues related to social and historicalcultural contexts of various literary eras;
ability to develop and apply original ideas relating to the various literary manifestations of the culture and language of reference.

Communication skills:

ability to present, in oral and written form, in consideration of the various types of text, information, ideas or problems relating to any phenomenon of French literature to specialist and nonspecialist interlocutors.

Course Prerequisites

Optimal general culture with particular attention to the main turning points of French history from its origins to the present day. Complete knowledge of French literary history from the Middle Ages to the present day. Good ability to analyse literary texts.

Teaching Methods

The teaching is semester-long and is structured in 54 hours of lectures, divided into lessons of 1 or 2 hours according to the timetable. The course, entirely held in French as decided by the Departmental Council of which the LM-37 Study Course is a part of, will take place in such a way as to stimulate the involvement of students in order to verify the gradual consolidation of knowledge. In addition to lectures, possible seminars and conferences will be held by scholars of the field.

Assessment Methods

The verification of the learning will take place through a final oral test in French with a score in thirtieths, which will assess the knowledge relating to the reference texts of the teaching program and the related historical-literary context. The ability to elaborate independent critical thinking and the ability to understand and analyze a literary text in depth will also be evaluated; to this end, the student will be asked to comment on a passage from one of the works in the program.

Texts

Emmanuel CARRÈRE, Un roman russe, Paris, Gallimard («Folio»), 2008;
Emmanuel CARRÈRE, D’autres vies que la mienne, Paris, Gallimard («Folio»), 2017;
Emmanuel CARRÈRE, Yoga, Paris, Gallimard («Folio»), 2022;
Emmanuel CARRÈRE, Kolkhoze, Paris, P.O.L., 2025.

Recommended readings for in-depth study (these readings are highly recommended for students who do not attend):

Laurent DEMANZE (dir.), Roman 20-50. Emmanuel Carrère. Un roman russe, D’autres vies que la mienne et Limonov, n. 57, juin 2014;
Laurent DEMANZE – Dominique RABATÉ (dir.), Emmanuel Carrère: faire effraction dans le réel, Paris, P.O.L., 2018;
Alexandre GEFEN, “Soi-même comme un autre” : présupposés et significations du recours à la fiction biographique dans la littérature française contemporaine, in Anne-Marie MONTLUÇON – Brigitte FERRARO-COMBE – Agathe SALHA (dir.), Fictions biographiques, Presses Universitaires du Mirail, 2007, pp. 55-75. URL : https://hal.archives-ouvertes/hal-01624182;
Marianne HUBAC, Emmanuel Carrère, écrivain en eaux troubles, Saint-Étienne, Presses Universitaires de Saint-Étienne, 2022;
Antoine JURGA, D’autres vies que la mienne ou la récit vrai du témoin, in «Lublin Studies in Modern Languages and Literature», vol. 45, n. 4, 2021, pp. 69-78, DOI: 10.17951/lsmll.2021.45.4.69-78;
Philippe LEJEUNE, Le Pacte autobiographique, Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1975 (2005);
Frédéric REGARD, De l’empathie biographique. Réel, fiction et imagination dans les “vies de peu”, in «Littérature», n. 203, septembre 2021, pp. 73-87, DOI: 10.3917/litt.203.0073;
Christophe REIG – Alain ROUMESTAING – Alain SCHAFFNER (éds.), Emmanuel Carrère: le point de vue de l’adversaire, Paris, Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2016;
Dominique VIART, Essais-Fictions : les biographies (ré)inventées, in Marc DAMBRE – Monique GOSSELIN-NOAT (dir.), L’Éclatement des genres au XXe siècle, Paris, Presses de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2001, pp. 331-345;
Dominique VIART, Dis-moi qui te hante. Paradoxes du biographique, in «Revue des Sciences Humaines», n. 263, 3/2001, pp. 7-33;
Dominique VIART – VERCIER Bruno, La littérature française au présent. Héritage, modernité, mutations, avec la collaboration de Franck Evrard, 2e édition augmentée, Paris, Bordas, 2008.

N.B. The French Literature Lessons (9 CFU – TAF D) of the Degree in Foreign Languages for Business and International Cooperation (LM-38) is borrowed from this course. The program of these lessons is identical to that of French Literature I A and B (LM-37).

Emmanuel Carrère’s autobiographical project: between récit de soi and récit des autres
This course examines several works by Emmanuel Carrère, a prominent figure in contemporary French literature, and the literary trends that characterised the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. Through analysing the texts, we will investigate how Carrère gradually developed an autobiographical project after abandoning fiction, revealing its stages of elaboration to the reader from one work to the next. The works examined trace the self-portrait of a personality that confronts itself with others and draws nourishment from their biographies to construct its own autobiography, thus arriving at the récit de filiation. The course will reflect on the variations in autobiography that have emerged in the French literary landscape from the 20th to the 21st century, analysing Emmanuel Carrère’s personal interpretation.
Combining an in-depth study of the historical and literary context, the various “turning points” that have marked French literature from 1980 to the present day, an analysis of the works on the syllabus and a reflection on the concept of literary autobiography, the course will focus on the following topics:
- the historical and cultural context between the 20th and 21st centuries;
- récit de soi and récit des autres;
- various forms of writing about the self: biography, autobiography, récit de filiation;
- contemporary autobiography;
- analysis and interpretation of the works on the programme: Emmanuel Carrère, Un roman russe; Id., D’autres vies que la mienne; Id., Yoga; Id, Kolkoze.

Course Language

French

More information

Continuous class attendance is highly recommended. Students who do not attend are invited to go to at least one tutoring hour of the Professor (which takes place weekly according to the time indicated on the web page) to illustrate the program and / or for any clarifications.