Death and Afterlife in the Literature of the Global South
(Taught in French or English)
Course Overview
This is an advanced undergraduate literature course taught in French or English where students will learn and practice the skills of close reading, interpretation, and literary analysis through class discussions and critical writing about representations of death in Global Literature. We will study important works concerned with the topos of death during the 20th and 21st centuries within their historical contexts, aiming to establish connections across time and between writers.
Death, sometimes referred to as “the great equalizer of men”, has found its way into religious, artistic and literary expressions since the beginning of recorded time, in what can be understood as an attempt to demystify the inescapable end that awaits all men. For all its diverse expressions, a literature that deals with the question of death is ultimately grappling with existential preoccupations that point towards a very particular way to live. We will examine the historical, cultural and aesthetic implications of how different writers have confronted this question in the Global South.
The course will seek to introduce representative texts, enhance students’ awareness of the global dimension of literature as an art form, stressing intellectual, political, and historical significance. Its goal is to help students develop their ability to communicate meaningfully, and with critical sophistication and maturity, about the interpretive implications of written texts.
Objectives
In this course, students will learn:
- To see the global dimension of literature and the way written works and authors relate to culture and history.
- To familiarize themselves with major concepts of literary analysis, interpretation and critical reading.
- To develop critical reading strategies.
After successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of global culture and society through the study of major literary works.
- Read and analyze critically.
- Discuss representative works concerned with the topos of death in literature.
- Understand various cultural aspects and social issues of the regions under discussion.
Required Reading
Albert Camus, Jonas or the Artist at Work
Aimé Césaire Notebook of a Return to the Native Land
Maryse Condé, The Story of the Cannibal Woman
Edwidge Danticat, Create Dangerously
René Depestre Hadriana in All my Dreams
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Cheikh Amidou Kane, Ambiguous Adventure
Mario Mendoza, Satanas (film)
Emile Ollivier, Passages
Gisèle Pineau, Exile According to Julia
Assignments and Requirements:
Four (1 page) reading responses on the class blog site (20%)
First (4-5 page) paper (25%)
Short 5-minute presentation (10%)
Second paper, (7-8) pp (35%)—includes 250 word final paper “abstract”
Attendance and Participation (10%)
Week 1 Introduction to the course; The Global South
Caroline Levander and Walter Mignolo, “Introduction”, The Global South and World Dis/Order
Week 2 The Caribbean in Spanish
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Chronicle of a Death Foretold
René Girard, The Scapegoat (excerpts)
Week 3 Negritude Poetics
Aimé Césaire, Notebook of a Return to the Native Land
Jean-Paul Sartre “Black Orpheus”
Week 4 French Caribbean Diaspora – Haiti
René Depestre, Hadriana in all my dreams
André Breton, The Surrealist Manifesto (excerpts)
Week 5 French Speaking Africa – Senegal
Cheik Hamidou Kane, The Ambiguous Adventure
Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture (excerpts)
Week 6
Mariama Bâ, So Long a Letter
Week 7 The French Overseas Departments and Territories
Maryse Condé, The Story of the Cannibal Woman
Dawn Fulton, “Imperfect Genealogies,” Signs of Dissent
Week 8
Gisèle Pineau, Exile According to Julia
Bernabe, Chamoiseau, Confiant, In Praise of Creoleness
Week 9 Haitian Diaspora
Emile Ollivier, Passages
Edouard Glissant, Poetics of Relation (excerpts)
Week 10 The Role of the Artist
Edwidge Danticat Create Dangerously
Albert Camus, Jonas or the Artist at Work
Week 11
Mario Mendoza Satanas (Film)
Raymond Chandler, The Simple Art of Murder”
