Bonheur d'occasion=finished

I forgot to mention it in the last post, but I finished Bonheur d'occasion by Gabrielle Roy. It ended up being a pretty god book. It takes place during WWII in Montréal and the novel is actually quite interesting as their are many different plots going on that all mix together and involve the same people. Some topics discussed include pauvrété as well as love, flirtation, anger because of WWII and more. I think that it is my favorite book in this category, other than Les Belles Sœurs, of course!

Caribbean Literature

Pluie et vent sur Télumée Miracle by Simone Schwarz-Bart is another one of the books on my list, under the Caribbean Literature category. I am currently preparing a presentation about it for Thursday's class session and really enjoying the book. The best part is that this book is on my list!

The rest of the Carribean Litterature category is as follows. Since I'm taking a Caribbean Lit class this semester, I've already read some of them, and some of the other ones that I've not yet read will be read before the end of the semester as a part of the class.

1. Camara Laye, L'enfant noir
2. Cheikh Hamidou Kane, L'aventure ambiguë
3. Aminata Sow Fall, La grève des Battú
4. Simone SchwarzBart, Pluie et vent sur Télumée Miracle
5. Ahmadou Kourouma, Les soleils des Indépendances
6. Aimé Césaire, Cahier d'un retour au pays natal
7. Léopold Sédar Senghor, Poèmes, Seuil: Points (Selections) "Nuits de Sine,"
8. "Femme noire," "Le Message," "Prière aux masques," "Assassinats"
9. Léon Damas, Pigments (Selections from Kesteloot's Anthologie): "La Complainte du nègre," "Pareille à ma légende," "Trêve," "Savoir vivre," "Bientôt," "En file indienne," "Ils sont venus ce soir," "Solde"

Not bad, eh? I'll only have to read four more books from this category by myself, and with the background from this class, it shouldn't be too difficult!

Ça fait longtemps!

Well, I wasn't very motivated to read since last time, thus no blog updates. However, this is all about to change. I've been having bouts of insomnia and have decided to use those to my advantage from now on. So, from now until the comps, I will be a reading machine. I am ready to dedicate myself fully to reading and finishing this list now, and thus this blog will be updated more frequently in the coming months.

Wish me luck (all 2 of you who read this...) :)

Update

So, I didn't finish Bonheur d'occasion as planned. My new goal is to finish it by the end of the week. Tomorrow, I have a midterm exam, but after that, I should have some time to dedicate to working toward this goal. Wish me luck!

A question (for the two or three people who actually read this): how do you keep yourselves motivated when you have a big task at hand? Leave your thoughts and comments about this, or any other feedback you may have that could be useful to me.

Thanks!

Littérature québécoise

I am currently working on the Québec section of the list.

So far, I have read:
-Les Belles-Soeurs by Michel Tremblay
-Une saison dans la vie d'Emmanuelle by Marie-Claire Blais
-Trente arpents (quite possibly the most boring and drawn-out book ever) by Ringuet (I need to re-read the ending, though, I feel like I've missed some things).

Currently working on:
-Bonheur d'occassion (Gabrielle Roy)... pretty good so far
-L'odeur du café (Dany Laferrière)... boring but an easy read

After I am done with these two books, I just need to watch one movie, and I'll be done with this section of the list!

First post

Hello everyone! I just wanted to make a first post to introduce myself. My name is Erica, and I am a MA candidate at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. In February, I have to take my Comprehensive Exams, and I have a lot of work to do. My good friend, Esra, is also maintaining a blog about the progress she's making on her dissertation, and I thought it was a great idea. So, now I've created my own blog!

Basically, we have to know all about French Literary History, including all of the major centuries and subcategories. This includes Caribbean Literature, Québec Literature, and Post-Colonial Literature. We also have to pick a special topic that is either not on the list or an expansion on a category already on the list. I have chosen to read books about the Holocaust in France, since it's a big interest of mine.

So, that's a synopsis of what this blog will be about - my progress on the reading list. Hopefully some of you will leave comments to encourage me to continue reading. It's not easy to find time to do all of this, given all of the other things I have to do, but I need to manage. Having a blog will make me feel more accountable, and I'm excited to see how well this works out.