French authors key-in with students

Francais a la Internet: Gathered around Professor Durand (seated) are Martha Holmes, Alexis Percival, Becky Miller, Sarah Feeley, Cécìle Jones, James Estes, and Bruce Fickett.

French authors key-in with students

Imagine reading an acclaimed piece of literature and then sitting down and sharing your thoughts directly with the author who lives thousands of miles away. Or interacting with an award-winning author to design the author’s official webpage. Sound like a literary dream come true? For students in University of Rhode Island French courses, it’s just another day in the classroom.

Last spring, URI Assistant Professor Alain-Philippe Durand taught a special topics French course, “Non-places in Contemporary French Literature,” that focused on new transitional places in society, particularly technology and electronic, that are invading the French novel, such as airports, super highways, gas stations, and refugee camps. To teach this theme, students dove right into the world of technology and writing, participating in an electronic forum where students and French authors wrote back and forth in French on an Internet bulletin board. Each author participated for two weeks during which the class was discussing his or her work of literature. Such renowned writers as Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Frédéric Beigbeder, François Bon, Annie Ernaux, Anne Garréta, and François Maspero, were among the participants.

“A lot of the students only think of literature as a dead person’s work found in the library. Instead they learned that literature pieces are not dead topics,” said Durand.

According to Matt Kane, a double major in computer engineering and French, the class was able to gain insight about the works that they otherwise wouldn’t have.

“François Bon’s novel Autoroute appeared to be non-fiction. I believe we were the only people in whom he has confided that the entire story is fictional,” said Kane.

Participation in the forum, which equaled 20 percent of the class grade, also helped students improve their written and oral skills. Although the forum was extremely helpful to the students, they weren’t the only ones to benefit.

“The writers really liked this, to have direct interaction with readers,” said Professor Durand.

Because of the program’s success, the French national newspaper Liberation wrote a story on the forum, a feat equal to being written up in The New York Times. Since the story was published, professors and novelists from France and the U.S. have contacted Durand.

This semester, Durand decided to tackle another electronic project with his special topics class, “Identities and Destinies in 20th Century French Literature.” When researching materials for his class, Durand noticed that one out of the eight of the novelists his class was studying didn’t have their own official webpage. He sent novelist Marie Darrieussecq an e-mail asking permission for his students to design one for her. Darrieussecq not only approved, but was delighted.

“We are very excited,” said Durand. “Hopefully, this will generate some interest around the world, because the author is already very popular and her website will be of interest to many. I know the class will come up with something creative.”

By Jennifer Smith ‘02