Module description
This module explores the first encounters between the French and the so-called ‘New World’ of America. Using travel narrative, essays, and letters, we look at how first-hand and critical accounts represented the encounter to French audiences, and how these representations underpin the European colonial project. We also explore the possibilities of finding an indigenous voice in the French accounts and compare the historical material with the work of a contemporary French-Innu poet. During the module, we practise literary-critical approaches on historical material to help us reconstruct the representation of the encounter and of the American ‘other’ in French writing. You will discover a fascinating historical perspective on contemporary questions of difference, otherness, and colonial and post-colonial theory.
Assessment details
One 3-hour exam in May (100%)
Educational aims & objectives
- To introduce students to early modern travel writing
- To introduce students to the historical contexts of French writing about the Americas and the colonial project
- To introduce students to modern critical theories of otherness and to encourage reflection on their connections with the primary material
- To familiarise students with a range of different literary genres (fiction and non-fiction) and to encourage reflection on the differences between them
- To encourage reflection on the construction of French national identity and concepts of otherness
- To develop students’ analytical abilities in relation to the themes and primary and theoretical material of the module
- To develop students’ ability to articulate their reflections in classroom discussion
- To develop students’ research and writing abilities
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, the students will be able to demonstrate intellectual, transferable and practicable skills appropriate to a Level 6 module and in particular will be able to demonstrate:
- Detailed knowledge of the primary material on the syllabus
- An ability to discuss the themes of the module with relation to both primary and secondary sources
- An ability to research the questions raised by the module independently
- An ability to distil their learning and research to produce coherent, well-supported and well-structured arguments in either essay or exam conditions
Teaching pattern
Two classes a week.
Suggested reading list
Core texts
- Jacques Cartier, Première Relation (1534)
- Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, Brevis narratio (1591) (English translation provided)
- Jean de Léry, Histoire d’un voyage fait en terre de Brésil (1578)
- Michel de Montaigne, ‘Des cannibales’ and ‘Des coches’, Essais (1595)
- Marie de l’Incarnation, Lettres de la vénérable mère Marie de l’Incarnation première supérieure des Ursulines de la Nouvelle France (1681)
- Joséphine Bacon, Bâtons à messages (2009)
Most of the core texts will be available as e-books through the KCL library. Students are expected to buy their own copies of Jean de Léry’s Histoire d’un voyage in this edition:
- Jean de Léry, Histoire d’un voyage fait en terre de Bresil, ed. Frank Lestringant. Paris: Livre de poche, 1994 (by far the best unabridged edition)
Recommended English Translations of Core Texts
- Joséphine Bacon, Message Sticks, trans. Phyllis Aronoff. Toronto : Mawenzi House, 2013
- Jacques Cartier, The Voyages of Jacques Cartier, trans. H. P. Biggar, ed. Ramsay Cook. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2020
- René de Laudonnière, A Notable Historie, trans. Richard Hakluyt (1587)
- Jacques Le Moyne de Morgue, Brevis narratio (1591) (English translation provided)
- Jean de Léry, History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, trans. Janet Whately. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992
- Marie de L’Incarnation, Correspondence, trans. Lauren King and Colette H. Winn, in Far From Home in Early Modern France. New York: Iter, 2022
- Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Works of Montaigne, trans. Donald Frame. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1957
These core texts in translation are available as e-books through the KCL Library; if students wish to buy copies, they should buy these editions.