Ss French Topic: Writing the Other

SS FRENCH TOPIC: WRITING THE OTHER

ASSESSMENT ESSAY TITLES 2011-12

Biography (Semester 1 essay titles)

1. ‘In contemporary biography, the issues and problems faced by the biographer feature as strongly as the biographee’s life.’ Compare and contrast any two works studied on the course in the light of this observation.

2. ‘Entre le portrait d’un autre et l’autoportrait, où placer la frontière?’ (J.-B. Pontalis on modern biography). Compare any two works studied on the course by different authors that seem to embody a practice of writing in which biography and autobiography become inextricably intertwined.

3. ‘The writer’s choice of biographee will determine to a considerable extent the formal and thematic characteristics of the resulting biographical work.’ Discuss.

4.. ‘The biographer’s commitment to capturing the individuality or singular identity of his/her subject does not rule out an interest in showing how that subject might also embody a broader, more representative identity.’ Discuss.

Biography/Photography (Semester 2 titles)

1. ‘Photographs seem to have special relevance and resonance in the context of narratives of loss and mourning.’ Discuss with reference to at least two works studied on the course.

2. Taking any two works studied on the course featuring both text and photographs, discuss the extent to which the latter serve more than a merely secondary, illustrative or supportive role in relation to the written narrative.

3. Discuss the relationship between photography and memory in any two of the works studied on the course, whether or not they include actual photographs.

4. ‘What matters to the writer is less the status of the photograph as a record of the past than its capacity to incite the imagination and generate writing.’ Discuss with reference to at least two relevant works studied on the course.

OR (either semester)

A topic of your own choosing, in which case, please put your proposal to me at an early opportunity.