2024/25 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

FREN2345 Twentieth and Twenty-First Century French Fiction

15 creditsClass Size: 20

Module manager: Professor David Platten
Email: d.p.platten@leeds.ac.uk/

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

Pre-requisite qualifications

Successful completion of Level 1 BA French programmes

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

The post-War French novel is characterised by a proliferation of styles and an expanding readership. We have seen fascinating developments in the art of storytelling, new ideas about society and politics, the continuing ascendancy of crime fiction, crises about French identity and the impact of new technologies. This module aims to explore these trends through extensive engagement with three key texts of the modern and contemporary periods.

Objectives

- To develop and nurture students' abilities to read critically a selection of modern and contemporary prose narratives written in the French language;
- To enhance students' appreciation of the content and style of these novels, by using a range of diverse teaching techniques;
- To enable students to assess the impact of these works on the culture and society of the period;
- To develop students' research skills through their identification and use of secondary sources to support original arguments or critical positions on the set texts;
- To promote a participative approach to the study of literature, highlighting the benefits of guided autonomous learning;
- To introduce students to concepts of literary reception and especially how the literary press shapes our readings of fiction;
- To provide opportunities for students to broaden their knowledge of a given writer through the close study of other parts of the oeuvre.

Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this module, students
- will be able to read critically and with more confidence prose narratives written in French;
- will have demonstrated their ability to evaluate a text with reference to how aspects of language and rhetoric inflect meaning;
- will have shown an enhanced understanding of how social and cultural contexts inform our understanding of fictional works;
- will have an enhanced understanding of literary reception and the roles of the press and the critic in determining meaning;
- will have developed more advanced research skills in relation to literary study
- will have a better appreciation of how teamwork and peer collaboration enhance independent study
- will have had the opportunity to apply their research skills and critical faculties via the conception and production of an independent research project based on primary sources derived from the oeuvre of a contemporary writer.

Skills outcomes
The module will help students to develop the following subject-specific skills:
- the ability to read, analyse and discuss important works of French literature in French
- improved French vocabulary and cultural awareness
- an understanding of the profound changes affecting French society since the 1960s.

Syllabus

The syllabus may vary from year to year. Past authors/texts have included Albert Camus, La Peste (1947) (Belin, Gallimard, 2012), Virginie Despentes, Apocalypse Bébé (2010) (LGF, 2012), & Edouard Louis, En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule (2014) (Editions du Seuil, 2015).

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	10	1.00	10.00
Seminar	10	1.00	10.00
Private study hours			130.00
Total Contact hours			20.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			150.00

Private study

Preparation for lectures and seminars: reading the primary texts, reading secondary sources, both material and online.
Preparation for seminar presentations.
Preparation for debate.
Preparation for formative course essay.
Preparation for assessed essays/takeaway examination.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Performance in seminars, including individual and group presentations.
Short practice essay in Semester 1.
Individual and collective feedback post mid-session examination (Semester 2)
Individual 'essay preparation' consultations (Semester 2).

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1,500 word essay 1 (submitted in January)	50.00
Essay	1,500 word essay 2 (submitted in January)	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 29/04/2024 16:14:23

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