FRE 254 FRENCH WOMEN WRITERS IN TRANSLATION

Diane G. Crowder

College Hall 310, ext. 4345, e-mail dcrowder@cornellcollege.edu

Texts:

Colette, The Vagabond

Nathalie Sarraute, Tropisms

Monique Wittig, Les Guerilleres

Simone Schwartz-Bart, The Bridge of Beyond

Darrieussecq, Pig Tales

handouts

This course examines women writers of the 20^th century who crossed boundaries of geography, sexuality, culture, and style. Our goal is to appreciate the daring leaps each writer took to challenge the accepted ideas of her time, and to understand the evolution of women’s writing in the century just past.

This is a discussion course, so it is imperative that you be in class each day prepared to talk about what you have read. Class participation will be a big factor in your final grade. Of course, quality, not quantity, is our aim, but those who don’t participate cheat themselves and the rest of us by not sharing their experiences and insights. Unexcused absences will lower your class participation grade. Pop quizzes over readings are always possible!

Written work:

            1. JOURNAL: You are to keep a journal (separate from your class notes) with an entry for each class day. This is not intended to be a diary of your personal life, but a journal of your thoughts, reactions, reflections, etc. as you read these works and participate in the class. You will NOT be graded on this according to what you say. You will be graded only in terms of completeness (at least one entry per day of at least one paragraph), and on whether in general you are thinking substantively about the course materials. Feel free to criticize me, the texts, your comrades in the class, etc. Journal entries will be kept strictly confidential.

            2. BOOK REPORT: Select a book from the attached list, and write a 2-3 page report on it. You should choose your book early on, and be reading it as you keep up with the required texts. The report should tell us what the book is about, how it relates to the other works we will discuss, and your evaluation of the work. These will be duplicated and handed out to the whole class after you turn them in on the third Friday. They must be on computer disk or e-mailed in Word or WordPerfect format.

            3. MIDTERM EXAM

            4. PAPER: A 7-10 page paper on one of the texts we have read. This is not necessarily intended to be a research paper per se, but your own analysis of one of the books.

The college drop policy will be enforced.

RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTARY WORKS

You may choose your book for your report from any of these writers or you may read another work by a writer on our syllabus. Those of you who plan to count this course toward a French major must read at least one book in French -- either for your report or for one text we discuss in class. Many of these writers' works are available in our library in English, or I may have a copy of the book in translation if the library doesn't. See me if you want to read someone's work not in the library. Authors marked with an asterisk are from the francophone world outside Europe.

*Miriama Bâ, So Long a Letter

Simone de Beauvoir: Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, or A Sweet Death

*Marie-Clair Blais (Québec): A Season in the Life of Emanuel, or Nights in the Underground

*Louky Bersianik (Québec): The Eugelionne

*Calixthe Beyala (Africa): anything

*Nicole Brossard (Québec): anything

HélPne Cixous (Originally from North Africa): Portrait of Dora

Colette: anything!

*Maryse Condé (Antilles): anything

Marguerite Duras (Originally from Viet-Nam): anything

Françoise d'Eaubonne: The Shepherdesses of the Apocalypse.

*Anne Hébert (Québec): anything

Jeanne Hyvrard (Originally from Carribean): anything

Violette Leduc: anything

Christiane Rochefort: anything

*Gabrielle Roy (Québec): anything

Albertine Sarrazin: Astragal, Prison Notebooks

Nathalie Sarraute (Originally from Russia): anything

Renée Vivien (Originally from Britain): A Woman Appeared to Me, or a book of her poetry

Monique Wittig (emigrated to U.S.): anything

Marguerite Yourcenar (emigrated to U.S.): anything

Reference Works to Consult in Cole Library:

DeJean, Joan, & Nancy K. Miller. Displacements: Women, Tradition, Ilteratures in French. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1991). 840.99287.D632

Hollier, Denis, et. al. A New History of French Literature (Harvard UP, 1989). Reference collection.

King, Adele. French Women Novelists: Defining a Female Style (NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1989). 843.09/K58f

Marks, Elaine, & Isabelle de Courtivron, eds. New French Feminisms (NY: Schocken Books, 1980). 305.42/N42

Sartori, Eva, & Dorothy Zimmerman, eds. French Women Writers (NY: Greenwood, 1991). REF840.99287/F887

Stanton, Domna. French Feminist Poems from the Middle Ages to the Present (Series “the Defiant Muse”) 841.08/F887

FRE 254 Tentative Schedule

Readings are listed on the day we will discuss them. You should have prepared the reading ahead of time.

Class Hours: 9-11:30 MWF, 9-11 & 1-3TTH on days marked with *. You should not schedule yourself for work or other commitments for the TTh afternoon hours, as we will probably need to schedule some additional discussion sessions or conferences in the pm.

Office Hours: 11:30-12:30 MW, 12-1:00 TTh (3-4 T, 3-3:25Th on days marked with *), or by appointment.

Week 1

Day 1 Introduction , Labé preface (handout), background reading (handout)

Day 2* am. Selected poetry (handout) p.m. Colette, The Vagabond.

Day 3 Vagabond

Day 4 * " ", p.m. film Club des femmes

  Day 5 Vagabond,

Week 2

Day 6 Sarraute, Tropisms

Day 7* a.m. Film: “Hiroshima, mon amour” P.m. (1:30) discussion of film, finish Tropisms

Day 8 Midterm exam, turn in journals

Day 9 Wittig, Les Guérillères

Day 10 ""

 Week 3

Day 11 Wittig

Day 12* Schwartz-Bart, The Bridge to Beyond

Day 13 ""

Day 14 ""

Day 15 Darrieussecq, Pig Tales , Book Report due.

Week 4

Day 16 “ “

Day 17 “”

Day 18 Papers and Journals due 9:00 am. Final discussion