Francophone Literature in Translation

                            English 205/ MFL 205

                        
Syllabus, Fall, 2009  Office hours:     Mondays                    2:30-4:00, 

Dr. Lynn Herkstroeter                                                             Wednesdays              2:30-4:00,

241 Brown Hall                                                                                                            or by appointment      

(989) 964-4333                                               

email: herks@svsu.edu

                                                                                    webpage: http://www.svsu.edu/~herks 

OBJECTIVES
Students will:

●          read closely and critically the literature of various francophone cultures

●          learn characteristics of various francophone cultures

●          analyze various literary genres

●          consider differing values expressed in texts

●          write about their opinions using standard MLA form

●          pay attention to both process and product when writing

●          edit and refine what they write

●          learn to use various library and internet sources

●          discuss and defend their point of view

REQUIREMENTS:

●          class attendance (more than two unexcused absences will result in the lowering of your grade)

●           four short papers (1000 words each) on assigned topics, each to be revised and resubmitted. Papers will be turned in both via email to turnitin.com

●           and paper copy. Rubric for grading may be seen at the following link:

            http://www.svsu.edu/emplibrary/fywrubric.rtf

            Definition of plagiarism:    http://www.svsu.edu/english/first-year-writing-program/plagiarism.html

●           midterm exam

●           final exam

●           class participation, including literary circles

Grading scale:                           A          93-100

                                                    A-        90-92

                                                    B+        88-89

                                                    B          83-87

                                                    B-         80-82

                                                    C+        78-79

                                                    C          70-77

                                                    D          65-69

                                                    F          less than 65

TEXTS:
Camara Laye            The Dark Child, (New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1954)
Albert Camus             The Stranger, (New York:  Vintage International Edition, 1989)
Jean-Paul Sartre       No Exit and Three Other Plays, (New York:  Vintage International Edition, 1989)
Simone de Beauvoir  The Woman Destroyed, (New York:  Pantheon Books, 1969)
Anne Hébert               The First Garden.

Mariama Bâ                So Long A Letter.

August 31        INTRODUCTION :  Francophone cultures.
Read Camara Laye The Dark Child .

Discussion of autobiography, narrator, Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sept. 7             LABOR DAY

Sept. 14         Camara Lays: Adulthood, changes French Colonial Africa: Guinea; childhood, tone, structure.      NOTES

Read handout on Negritude and start So Long a Letter.

Sept. 21        Negritude:  Senghor, Césaire, poetry;  Senegal, Martinique.

Draft of First paper due. 

                     Mariama Bâ: the role of the woman
Read Mariama Bâ So Long A Letter.

Sept. 28         Mariama Ba; Algeria, Camus:

Camus:  the character Meursault; style.

Read Camus, The Stranger, ( Part I).

Oct. 5             Camus:  the trial; the absurd and Existentialism        notes

Read Camus, (Part II)

Revised first paper due.

Oct. 12          France and the world wars: Jean-Paul Sartre.

Midterm Exam  
Read Sartre:  No Exit

Oct. 19            Sartre: Characters, Drama, Action.
Draft of paper 2  due.

 Read Sartre:The Flies                 notes

Oct. 26         Sartre:  Existentialism                                        

Sartre: mythology reinterpreted.

Read Simone de Beauvoir The Woman Destroyed,"The Age of Discretion".

Nov. 2             Simone de Beauvoir, Sartre and Existentialism.

Beauvoir:  Feminism and intellectualism                    notes
Read "Monologue"in The Woman Destroyed.
Second paper due.

Nov. 9           Beauvoir's female characters, the short story.
The unreliable narrator.

Read the last story in The Woman Destroyed.

Beauvoir:  the diary, the first person narrative.
 

Nov. 16           Quebec: French Canadian Literature and History, Anne Hébert
Start The First Garden  

Nov. 23       Hébert style.

                    Draft of paper 3 due.

Nov. 30          Hébert

Dec. 7         Review

Dec. 14       Revision of fourth paper due.

Final exam