This module looks at the themes of childhood and memory in three books by twentieth-century French authors. The first, 'Combray' by Marcel Proust, was published in 1913 but set in a slightly earlier period, the Belle Époque. This was a period of peace and prosperity in Europe that came before the horrors of the First World War. Nathalie Sarraute's experimental autobiography, Enfance, was published in 1983 but set between 1900 and 1915 at the time of the author's early childhood spent between Moscow and Paris. Annie Ernaux's La Place was published in 1983 and is an autobiographical reflection on social class and French society in the early to mid twentieth century.

Set texts:

Marcel Proust, 'Combray' (1913 - the first section of Du côté de chez Swann)

Nathalie Sarraute, Enfance (1983)

Annie Ernaux, La Place (1983)

Objectives:

In this module, you will learn how to critically read literature and autobiographical/autofictional writings through the theoretical lens of memory studies and contemporary ideas about childhood.