Introducing the Novel (271-0-20)

Instructors

Eric Essono Tsimi

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-425: Tues, Thurs 9:30AM - 10:50AM

Overview of class

Textual interpretation and analysis of short French and Francophone novels from different periods, with special attention to how novels think and do politics through form. Moving through a set of formally audacious fictions that sparked scandal, controversy, or intense debate, the course treats the novel as a laboratory for testing authority, desire, and belonging. Close readings foreground narrative voice and address, focalization and unreliability, temporal design, framing and paratext, and genre-hybrid strategies (confession, satire, chronicle, testimony). Primary texts range from Denon's libertine Point de lendemain to Rachilde's gender‑transgressive Monsieur Vénus, Darrieussecq's metamorphic satire Truismes, Nganang's Cameroonian chronicle narrated by a dog Temps de chien, and Depestre's Haitian carnivalesque zombie novel Hadriana dans tous mes rêves. Discussion and written work in French.

Learning Objectives

Develop a working vocabulary in French for narratological and stylistic analysis.
Produce persuasive close readings and interpretive essays in French.
Compare how novels across periods and francophone spaces reinvent the genre's forms.
Analyze how formal choices (voice, perspective, structure) stage questions of intimacy, authority, and collective life.

Teaching Method

Seminar (discussion-based; close-reading workshops)

Evaluation Method

Attendance & Participation
Short reading responses & Oral presentation
Analytical essays & Final paper

Class Materials (Required)

Dominique Vivant Denon, Point de lendemain (Folio) (ISBN: 9782073014412)
Rachilde, Monsieur Vénus (Gallimard) (ISBN: 9782072968082)
Marie Darrieussecq, Truismes (Folio) (ISBN: 9782070403073)
Patrice Nganang, Temps de chien: chronique animale (Motifs) (ISBN: 9782842614195)
René Depestre, Hadriana dans tous mes rêves (Folio) (ISBN: 9782070382729)
Additional short critical excerpts will be provided on Canvas.

Class Attributes

Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: Students must have completed FRENCH 210-0 or FRENCH 211-0. Other students may register with instructor permission.