Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The course will focus on contemporary South African fiction of the post-Apartheid period.
After a general introduction to South African history and recent politics, including the passage to a democratic system under the leadership of Nelson Mandela in 1994, we shall discuss a selection of fictional works variously encoding the moral confusions and the political ambiguities of white liberal subjects who share a feeling of disorientation in the face of the very political dispensation (democracy and racial equality) which they themselves always desired.
One aspect of our reflection, which may be more than incidental, will concern the relevance of this classic post-colonial situation to our own unavoidable schizophrenia in an age of migration and climate "crises".
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
A gain in political self-consciousness, perhaps.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
An interest in literature, and in the world.
A good grasp of English may help.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Thinking, collectively and individually, within heuristic seminars.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
Face to faces, but I may turn around.
Recommended or required readings
Compulsory reading:
Nadine Gordimer, The House Gun (1998; Bloomsbury)
J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace (1999; Vintage)
Damon Galgut, The Impostor (2008; Atlantic Books)
Assessment methods and criteria
An oral examination will provide the students with an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to think by themselves about the texts considered in class, based on a personal selection of relevant critical material.
Work placement(s)
Not applicable.
Organizational remarks
The course will be organised in the first term (2019-2020), from 9 to 11am in room A2/4/15 (starting on 30 September 2019).
Contacts
Prof. Marc Delrez, marc.delrez@uliege.be
Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the May-June 2020 session
Teaching methods implemented : distance-learning
Assessment subjects
Assessment methods
Contacts
Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the Aug-Sept 2020 session
Assessment subjects
Unchanged, see above.
Assessment methods
Oral exam online. The texts examined in class, together with the students' selection of critical material, are susceptible of being discussed.
Contacts
Unchanged.