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Another way of putting it is building a bridge between the literary phenomenon and the various media-related occupations.
This is precisely the objective of a new course called Journalism and Literature, being presented by Professor Daniel Castillo Durante of the Department of Lettres françaises.
“If the media tell us what to think,” says Castillo Durante, “literary conscience could, by way of introspection, make it easier for us to pose ethical questions of communication, that is, how to think.”
Thus, by connecting information to the literary, according to Castillo Durante, the emphasis is on the quality of the message.
More and more, students, graduates of lettres françaises eager to pursue a career in the vast field of communications, are expected to control the techniques that allow them to communicate directly and effectively with several different audiences.
“It’s not enough to know literature,” Castillo Durante points out, “You still have to know how to get the message across.”
On this point, he adds, “There has been talk about the usefulness and importance of educating young people in such a way that they acquire the tools they need and become media-savvy, while learning about the cultural practices associated with French-language literature.”
Anyway, the concept is not entirely new. Ernest Hemingway already addressed this idea. “Thanks to journalism, he succeeded in developing a literary technique that in some respects energizes and revolutionizes the techniques of the novel,” notes Castillo Durante.
Today, more and more journalists and columnists are taking advantage of the interdisciplinarity of journalism and literature. Castillo Durante proposed to his students that they study the novel, Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali, written by journalist Gil Courtemanche of Le Devoir. This book examines the genocide in Rwanda. Straddling a work of fiction and journalism, this novel exposes students to literary techniques, as well as to media-style techniques, while helping them better understand how this historico-political phenomenon could occur in this African country.
Ethics also occupies an important place in the new course. “It’s not that literature changes the journalistic perspective,” he suggests, “but that their synergy makes it possible to better pose the ethical questions.”
According to Castillo Durante, the literary is a slow process. “Reading means taking the time to reflect, as opposed to the news, which is often digested in haste and as a commodity.”
“In the final analysis, the interdisciplinarity of literature and journalism could improve our perspective on the world,” concludes Castillo Durante.
