14 November 2012

Teenagers and old literature: The Princess of Cleves


YL posted this on FaceBook:
«La Princesse de Clèves, premier roman moderne de la littérature française, est le personnage central du film. Manel, Aurore, Mona, Abou et les autres lui prêtent leurs voix, leurs visages. Ils sont élèves du Lycée Diderot de Marseille, un établissement difficile des quartiers nord de la ville, et leur professeur a décidé de leur faire étudier ce roman. Jeunes Français pour la plupart d'origine étrangère, ils sont souvent stigmatisés, caricaturés. Aujourd'hui, certains s'interrogent sur l'opportunité de leur faire découvrir les grands textes de la littérature française. Quelle en serait l'utilité sur le marché du travail qui les attend? Quel intérêt pour les jeunes que ces vieilles élucubrations du XVIIe siècle? Ensemble ils s'emparent du roman, de ses représentations, des questions qu'il pose. Objet transitionnel. C'est à leur univers que ce roman du grand siècle nous donne accès»
Translation:
The Princess of Cleves, the first modern novel in French literature, is the central character of the film. Manel, Dawn, Mona Abou and the others lend it their voices, their faces. They are students at the Lycée Diderot, a tough upper secondary school in the northern suburbs of Marseille, and their teacher decided to get them to study this novel. They are young French people, mostly of foreign origin, and are often stigmatized and caricatured. Today, some are questioning the use of being introduced to the great works of French literature. What would be the point in the job market facing them after school? What interest can young people have in these seventeenth century ramblings? Together the students took possession of the novel, the reflections it provides, and its questions. It's a transference object. The students' world is opened up to us by this novel from France's Great Century.


I commented:

Good literature gives us access to other minds that see, act, think and feel in ways we can empathize with. Takes us behind the barbed-wire fences and locked doors of our social fronts. It puts a key in our hands, and says: "Open my door - welcome in!". This is something that happens less and less with people we don't know in our world today. To some extent, if we're lucky, it can happen on the net, and in that way the net is fusing into a general cultural phenomenon that includes literature.
So good for these kids, and good for Marie-Madeleine de La Fayette.

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