FR HA The Eyes of the Erasmus+ class on Dunkirk

The students discovered a contemporary French novel published this year, translated into 37 languages and soon to be adapted for the cinema: ‘Les Yeux de Mona’ (Mona's Eyes) by Thomas Schlesser, who defines his novel not as ‘a history of art, (but) an introduction to life through art’. The story is about a young girl threatened with blindness, whom her grandfather secretly takes to the museum every Wednesday. Part coming-of-age story, part philosophical tale, this bestseller celebrates the emancipatory power of art. 

First, they looked at the structure of the work, which alternates between narrative and descriptions of works of art. In particular, they read the prologue to the novel and some descriptions of works of art to understand that each of the 52 works discussed delivers a life lesson. 

They were then presented with the project of producing a collective rewriting of the novel:

-respecting its structure (prologue and description of a work)

-imagining titles for their narrative and description that were faithful to the author's intention (life lesson formulated in the imperative)   

-respecting a topic: Dunkirk 

Each pair of students chose a work about Dunkirk: they imagined a story that set the scene for the description of their work of art, first in French and then in English.

All of the selected works were compiled to form the front cover of the collective work consisting of all the prologues and descriptions of the works. 

The texts were then arranged in chronological order and compiled to form a rewriting of ‘Les Yeux de Mona’ (Mona's Eyes), which the students titled ‘The Eyes of the Erasmus+ class on Dunkirk’.