Littérature française: entre urbanité et nature

6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 2 with catalog number 1023270BNR for all students in the 2nd semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester

2nd semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

Students must have taken ‘Littérature française: entre urbanité et nature’, before they can enroll in this course. Enrolling for this course, means that you simultaneously take 'Literature and intermediality' or have successfully passed it. If you are enrolled in a preparatory programme you can register this course without restrictions If you are enrolled in a preparatory programme you can register this course without restrictions.

Taught in

French

Faculty

Faculty of Languages & Humanities

Department

Linguistics and Literary Studies

Educational team

Tatiana Pieters
Sara Buekens (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

26 contact hours Lecture
90 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

This course aims to provide an overview of Francophone novels and poetry from France and Belgium (second half of the 19th century - 21st century, through chapters/extracts of a literary anthology) in which the city and nature play an important part. The course will give insight into the emergence of an environmental conscience in Francophone literature which is situated on the interface between fiction and reality, aesthetics and ethics.

Using the methodology of ecocriticism, ecopoetics and geopoetics, this course offers an overview of the way in which literature, from the second half of the 19th century onwards, deals with ecological problems in the city and in natural environments (the countryside, forests, rivers…). Attention will be paid to the dialectical relation between the text and the external world, the role of scientific knowledge in fiction, and the functioning of the text as an ecological reality that could enable to restore the imagination of a place (city or nature).

By studying the solutions described in fictional texts (proposals for political, economic and social reform) and the metafictional thoughts expressed by writers, students will be encouraged to reflect on the role of literature in societal and ecological issues.

Course material

Course text (Required) : powerpoint presentation + literary anthology, Sara Buekens

Additional info

This course is taught in French.

The anthology of French literature will be provided at the start of the academic year.

Guidelines for the presentation will be provided at the start of the academic year.

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

Students are able to apply the methodology of ecocriticism, ecopoetics and geopoetics to examples from the literary anthology. Through a framework focusing on the way in which stylistic and narrative choices go hand in hand with specific ethical points of view, students are able to explain how ecological concerns are addressed in works of fiction.

During the final classes of this course, the students are able to give an oral presentation on one of the literary works of the anthology (read integrally for the presentation) in which they study the representation of the city and nature from a chosen ethical-aesthetic angle.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Schriftelijk examen with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Note: De docent houdt op het examen rekening met de taalkennis, overeenstemmend met het taalverwervingsniveau dat verwacht wordt verworven te zijn, en sanctioneert fouten wanneer deze zich voordoen. Het verwachte taalkennisniveau, en het daaraan gekoppelde aantal en type van aanvaardbare taalfouten, varieert uiteraard naargelang het studiejaar.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context