Module manager: Dr Nigel Saint
Email: n.w.saint@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
Satisfactory completion of Level 1 French or equivalent (French language skills equivalent to B2 of the CEFR)
This module is not approved as a discovery module
The post-War French novel is characterised by a proliferation of styles and an expanding readership. We have seen fascinating developments in the art of storytelling, new ideas about society and politics, the continuing ascendancy of crime fiction, crises about French identity and the impact of new technologies. This module aims to explore these trends through extensive engagement with two key texts of the modern and contemporary periods. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
- To develop and nurture students' abilities to read critically a selection of modern and contemporary prose narratives written in the French language;
- To enhance students' appreciation of the content and style of these novels, by using a range of diverse teaching techniques;
- To enable students to assess the impact of these works on the culture and society of the period;
- To develop students' research skills through their identification and use of secondary sources to support original arguments or critical positions on the set texts;
- To promote a participative approach to the study of literature, highlighting the benefits of guided autonomous learning;
- To introduce students to concepts of literary reception and especially how the literary press shapes our readings of fiction;
- To provide opportunities for students to broaden their knowledge of a given writer through the close study of other parts of the œuvre.
On successful completion of this module, students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes specific to the subject:
1. Evaluate increasing confidence prose narratives written in French.
2. Analyse a text with reference to how aspects of French language and rhetoric inflect meaning.
3. Discuss how social and cultural contexts in the French-speaking world inform our understanding of fictional works written in French.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
4. Make connections across differing critical perspectives to explore ideas and select appropriate approaches.
5. Develop your own research questions and identify appropriate and inclusive methods and sources through which to address them.
6. Present a structured and nuanced argument, using terminology and concepts appropriate to the field(s) of study.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supervision | 1 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Lecture | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Seminar | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Private study hours | 179.5 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20.5 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Regular seminar presentations (mainly involving group presentations, although individual presentations will also be possible) and a one-to-one discussion of an essay plan.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Essay | 100 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Resit is by the same method of assessment.
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 07/05/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team