Devereux Herbeck publishes article on teaching French literature

Mariah Devereux Herbeck's article, "'Vous en avez d'autres comme celui-ci?' ('Do you have any more like this one?'): Teaching Françoise Sagan's 1954 Novel Bonjour tristesse to 21st-century Students," was published in the journal Studies in 20th- and 21st-Century Literature.

In recent years, Devereux Herbeck's students have increasingly expressed that they enjoy reading Françoise Sagan's novel "Bonjour Tristesse" in French 304 (Introduction to French Literature), going so far as to ask, "Vous en avez d'autres comme celui-ci?" ('Do you have other ones like this?'). What is it about Sagan's 1954 novel that renders it "relatable" to Generation Z? How can increased student appreciation for a post-war, noncanonical novel inform the future of teaching literature?

In her article, Devereux Herbeck provides both justification for including Sagan's 1954 novel in 21st-century curriculum and sample lesson ideas to facilitate discussion of key literary concepts, terms and important themes. Additionally, and perhaps most useful to language / literature instructors more broadly, the article provides specific examples of student reaction to the novel and explores what evolving interest in the work can tell us about the future of literary studies in the second language classroom.

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