University of Bordeaux

The first half of the course analyzes Ralph Ellison's INVISIBLE MAN in relation to its context within the African American tradition as well as the many narrative strategies Ellison uses to write about such a subject, including but not limited to his use of oral wordplay in a written work and the methods through which a person can attempt to identify themselves. For the second half of the course, students examine LEAVES OF GRASS in the epic and lyric traditions, its major themes, its modernity of form and content, and the Whitman legacy in modern American poetry. Discussion groups emphasize oral expression, the technique of close reading and textual commentary, and essay-writing strategies.

This course focuses on theater and film in the 20th and 21st centuries. The first part of the course explores the representation of masculinities in crisis since 1945 in the major film genres (thriller, melodrama, horror, social realism, war film) of British cinema. The concept of hegemonic masculinity in British cinema is also explored. The course consists of watching and discussing short clips from films, with additional readings and a final paper. The second part of the course engages in theatrical, film, and textual analysis by providing an understanding of the issues of mise-en-scéne, adaptation, and transsemiotizing. It focuses on recent adaptations of British texts, canonical or not, to navigate between the close analysis of text, stage, and film, and the more comprehensive approach to works within their contexts. Starting with the analysis of Canadian-Armenian director Atom Egoyan’s adaptations of two of Samuel Beckett’s shorter plays, the course questions the issue of fidelity in the light of poststructuralist theories. It then focuses on different recent scenic versions of Shakespeare’s RICHARD III, one British and two Continental ones, to show how cultural contexts and aesthetic conventions impact the receptions of the text(s). Finally, the course considers a successful contemporary play and how it was transformed to meet the demands of filmic conventions and the film industry when adapted for the big screen.

This course serves as an overview of eighteenth-century literature. The curriculum focuses on the works of major authors of the Enlightenment within their respective philosophical and literary concentrations. This includes reflections on society and manners, religious and political criticism, and texts concerning human rights and the French Revolution (Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, the encyclopedia, etc.) This course also looks at the upset of the novel genre (Diderot), epistolary writings, (Montesquieu and Rousseau).