Fall 2024 French BC3104 section 001

Women Writers of Contemporary Middle Eas

WOMEN WRITERS MIDEAST AFR

Call Number 00514
Day & Time
Location
TR 11:40am-12:55pm
324 Milbank Hall (Barnard)
Points 3
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Melanie Heydari
Type LECTURE
Course Description

Since the last decades of the twentieth century there has been a dramatic increase in the number of women writers from the Middle East and North Africa. This advanced course, which will be taught mainly in French, provides a window into this rich and largely neglected branch of world literature. Students will encounter the breadth and creativity of contemporary Middle Eastern and North African women’s literature by reading a range of twentieth- and twenty-first-century novels, short stories, memoirs and poetry available in French or in translation, and by viewing films that are from or about Iran, Lebanon, Algeria, and Egypt. How do Middle Eastern women authors address women’s oppression – both social and physical – and enunciate issues such as the tension between tradition and modernity, sexuality, identity and class from a female perspective? What literary traditions and models do they draw on? How different are those texts written in French for a global audience, as opposed to those written in Persian or Arabic? What are the effects of reading them in translation? Authors will include Marjane Satrapi, Shahrnush Parsipur, Assia Djebar, Maïssa Bey and Nawal El Saadawi.

Web Site Vergil
Department French @Barnard
Enrollment 15 students (16 max) as of 9:05PM Thursday, December 5, 2024
Subject French
Number BC3104
Section 001
Division Barnard College
Section key 20243FREN3104X001