French in Translation Spring 2026

FRT 210: Crossing Borders: Migration and Exile in the Francophone World

TR 2-3:15 / Prof. Schroth

This course explores how writers across the Francophone world represent migration, exile, and belonging in 20th- and 21st-century French literature. We begin with Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis (2000–2001), a graphic memoir that crosses national, cultural, and gendered borders as it traces the artist’s life during and after the Iranian Revolution, when migration becomes both escape and estrangement. Kim Thúy’s Ru (2009) recalls the experiences of Vietnamese refugees in Quebec, evoking exile as both trauma and the foundation of new forms of memory. Tahar Ben Jelloun’s Leaving Tangier (2006) portrays trans-Mediterranean movement as aspiration that gives way to disillusionment, while Fatou Diome’s The Belly of the Atlantic (2003) depicts movements between Senegal and France as shadowed by longing and nostalgia for home. Finally, Dany Laferrière’s The Enigma of the Return (2009) reflects on the complex emotions of the author’s homecoming to Haiti after decades of displacement, transforming exile into a meditation on writing, identity, and belonging. Our discussions will be accompanied by scholarly essays that will provide critical perspectives on immigration, identity, and postcolonial memory. 

Please note: FRT 210 is not part of upper-level courses in French Studies. It fulfills the WFU Division II (Literatures) requirement. All French in Translation courses are taught in English.