Littérature anglophone

COURS DE LITTÉRATURE ANGLOPHONE 2024-25

SECOND SEMESTER

Première année

L1 S2 Majeure – UE6 Lire les littératures anglophones 2 - (18h)

Aims

· Introducing students to the basics of literary analysis and close reading

Contents

· In-depth continuation of the skills learnt during the first semester. The focus will be on how to comment a literary text (questions of viewpoints, plot, characterization, rhythm, imagery…). As for the first semester, a list of texts from a variety of genres and eras will be provided by each tutor

Evaluation

· Students will be asked to write or present critical reports, introductions to literary commentaries, short analytical paragraphs… 

Bibliography

Each tutor will provide their own bibliography and list of texts studied.

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Deuxième année

L2 S4 Majeure- UE13 Etude des littératures anglophones : Approfondissement - (30h)

DL24EM01

=> Group 1 : "A Little Envoi" from world literatures in English, or what can the short form do ?

Teacher : Andrée-Anne Kekeh-Dika

This course will address a range of various short pieces (fiction, nonfiction, concrete poetry, sketches, mock-prefaces, and other “in-beween” pieces). The aim is to ponder what is at stake in the little ways of the short form, and how it can improve our critical ability of reading and writing about literary pieces from a wide range of world literature (20^th-21th cent.) ?

Activities and tasks : Students will be expected to read the material before coming to class, participate in class discussions, and do critical work on the pieces discussed in class (further details will be provided in class).

* A class brochure and a bibliography will be circulated at the beginning of the semester.

=> Group 2  : Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Then and Now

Teacher : Stéphane Vanderhaeghe

This class will be devoted to the comprehensive reading and study of a classic of American literature, Mark Twain’s 1884 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, along with some of its contemporary rewritings or adaptations. The class will focus on issues of voice, humor, satire, and the picaresque tradition. Students are required to read the novel before the beginning of the semester to be able to participate in class discussions actively. The objective of the class is to help students develop a literary reflection and argue about literary issues in a critical way. Along with Mark Twain’s novel, students will be asked to choose from a list of contemporary works a text that they will read on their own in order to complement and contrast their understanding of Twain’s work.

Assessment : 2 written exams, 1 oral presentation, class discussions and a reading report

=> Group 3 : An Introduction to Children’s Literature and YA Fiction in Ten Objects

Teacher : Anne Chassagnol

In this module, we will revisit classic children’s books via a series of iconic objects – maps, keys, rings, dresses, shoes, beds, wands, mirrors, dolls and teddy-bears. Starting with fairy tales and their adaptations, we will focus on a variety of different genres, such as picture-books, illustrated texts, graphic novels, or fantasy. The objective of the class will be to combine Thing Theory and material culture to connect recurrent literary motifs and understand the meaning of these inanimate objects, object stories and object-narrators. We will also question the nature of these objects. Do they operate on a metaphorical, magical, narrative, educational, or transitional level ? Students will be expected to read a selection of short texts from the following writers : JM Barrie, Malorie Blackman, Lewis Carroll, Kate DiCamillo, Tove Jansson, Judith Kerr, Jon Klassen, Winsor McCay, AA. Milne, Philip Pullman, JK Rowling, Maurice Sendak, Shaun Tan, PL Travers.

Assessment :

• Students will be asked to do an oral presentation in English based on an object story in the children’s book of their choice.
• 2 written exams in class (mid-term + final exam)

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L2 S4 Mineure Litté, arts et médias - UE15 Littérature et arts - (36h)

Literary Heroines in Visual Arts

Tutor : Anne Chassagnol

This interdisciplinary course explores the portrayal of iconic literary heroines in paintings and literature, mixing classical and contemporary works. Students will confront text and image, analyzing how these characters have been reimagined across different artistic movements and historical periods. Each session will focus on a comparison between the original extract and its visual interpretation. Throughout the semester, we will study among other examples :

• Ophelia through John Everett Millais’ Pre-Raphaelite masterpiece and Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
• Titania in Richard Dadd’s Titania Sleeping alongside A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
• The transformation of Cruella de Vil in Keith Haring’s Pop Art reading of The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith
• Alice in Wonderland as seen through Yayoi Kusama’s surreal lens and Lewis Carroll’s original tale.
• The portrayal of Emily Dickinson’s white dress by Lesley Dill

Assessments include an in-class test, on oral presentation and regular prep work. Participation and regular attendance are essential to succeed.

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Troisième année

L3 S6 Majeure – UE21 - Etudes des littératures anglophones : niveau avancé 30h

DL26EM01

=> Group 1 : Doing Literature : advanced workshop in writing, analysis and critique

Teacher : Claire Joubert

Academic training must take stock of the rapid cultural changes of the last decades, with the shift to mass media, digital, and now IA forms of expression and communication which continue to recontextualise what we understand by literature and what we do when we study English literature. This course proposes a hands-on approach to explore what it means to do literature and do literature study in this transitional moment.

Texts and extracts from British and Anglophone literatures of the 20^th and 21^st century ; modalities of assessment (weekly in-class practice and final mini-thesis) to be specified at the beginning of term.

=> Group 2 : Crisis Fiction - The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus

Teacher : Stéphane Vanderhaeghe

This class will focus on The Flame Alphabet (2012) by Ben Marcus ; we will study how the literary depiction of a fictional crisis—here a peculiar language disease spread by children—affects the literary text in return. Not only is Marcus’s novel about a crisis, it also appears to be a crisis fiction, or a fiction itself undergoing a crisis. Part dystopia, part postapocalyptic novel, part speculation, The Flame Alphabet challenges conventional notions of how a novel operates and raises both aesthetic and critical issues that are paramount to a redefinition of contemporary American fiction. Students will also be asked to read another novel by a different writer to complement the class. 

Students should acquire and read the novel before the beginning of the class. 

Evaluation : class discussions, oral presentations, written exercises, 1 final exam, 1 reading report

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L3 S6 Mineure Litté, arts et médias – UE23 – Atelier et projet 2 – 30h

Par rapport à l’atelier du S5 (mutualisé avec Sociétés, culture, politique), l’orientation de cet atelier sera littéraire.

Teachers : Vincent Broqua et Stéphane Vanderhaeghe

Objectifs

Cours entre le cours traditionnel et l’atelier. On travaille à créer des textes, podcasts, vidéos, des présentations, des dossiers thématiques, des comptes rendus de lecture, sur une œuvre littéraire, un thème, un auteur/une autrice… pour alimenter le blog du département

· Préparer aux masters (notamment MC2L, MLCC, MEEF…), dans la suite de « Commenter le texte littéraire » de L2S3 et de « Argumentation critique de L2S4 »

· Expérimentation avec des formes d’écriture & de lecture

· Travail avec des outils : expérimentations avec la littérature numérique

Exercices

· travail en groupe, présentations orales diversifiées, élaboration de podcasts

· Expérimentation avec des formes d’écriture & de lecture  

Evaluation sera précisée en début de semestre

· Mini-oraux

· Présentations à plusieurs, productions collectives ou individuelles (ppt, podcast)

· Dossiers et comptes rendus