Introduction to French and Francophone Women Writers

Content:
This course will provide students with an introduction to / overview of the literary representation
of gendered experiences in personal stories authored by a range of leading contemporary female
French-speaking writers.

By reading selection of critical writings alongside literary texts, we will explore the relation
between sexual identity and literary practices and between gender and genre.
How do stories shape our understanding of gender roles? How do they reveal stereotypes about
feminity, masculinity, sexuality and ethnicity? How does literature deconstruct common attitudes
about sex, gender, abortion, sexual difference, sexual politics, language, culture and society? What
is the role of women’s writing in contemporary France in reimagining and reshaping sexual and
racial identities? How does the representation of gendered and racialized experiences in women’s
literature challenge the dominant patriarchal and colonial discourse of contemporary France?

Course sessions will include:
- Lectures
- Discussions
- Close reading analysis 
- Individual and group presentations
- Wrap-up and evaluation

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the course, the students should:
- Acquire knowledge of women's writing in contemporary France
- Acquire the critical vocabulary used in the field of literature and women’s studies
- Develop an ability to use concepts of literary and cultural analysis
- Develop an ability to engage in focused discussion and formal presentation
- Develop an understanding of the issues involved in writing autobiographically
- Improve reading skills through close readings of texts
- Understand various critical approaches to women’s writing 

EDUCATIONAL METHODS
This course will explore these questions through class discussions, presentations and close readings.

RESOURCES
We will read extracts from the following texts:
Nina Bouraoui, Tomboy.
University of Nebraska Press, 2007.
Marie Darrieussecq, Pig Tales: A Novel of Lust and Transformation.
New York: The New Press, 1997.
Virginie Despentes, King Kong Theory.
New York: Feminist Press, 2010.
Faïza, Guène, Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow.
Orlando: Harcourt, 2006.
Anne Garréta, Sphinx
Deep Vellum Publishing, 2015
+ Essays by Simone de Beauvoir, Judith Butler, Franz Fanon, Michel Foucault, and critical scholarship 
on the authors.