Coming-of-Age Narratives in the French-Speaking World

What does it mean to become an adult? What are the forces and experiences that shape our sense of identity as we exit adolescence? How do family, geography, ideology, fiction, and traumatic events influence this process? Through a set of French & Francophone texts from the 17th-20th centuries, we will explore diverse and often conflicting understandings of what it means to grow up. We will examine different coming-of-age trajectories and observe how historical and geographical contexts uniquely frame the age-old struggle between the individual and society. Students will gain cultural insight into the French-speaking world and strengthen their literary analysis, oral, and written skills.