As Fiona McCann has argued, Carpentaria “represents a strong gesture in terms of decolonising a syllabus which has long been dominated by white male writers” (2021, 117). It is both an affirmation of Australian Indigenous cultures and epistemologies and a critique of settler colonial dynamics the novel’s political dimension is evident in its plot as well as in its epistemological approach and literary aesthetics. What an honour to be given this opportunity to focus intensely on Carpentaria and Aboriginal literature.Ģ Carpentaria is a rich and complex novel defying categorisation. The addition of a second work of Australian literature, but more importantly the inclusion, for the very first time in the history of the Agrégation, of a work of Aboriginal literature in the core syllabus of the competitive exam, has been the source of great joy amongst students in France and academics working in France and other countries. Before the inclusion of Carpentaria, Australian literature had featured only once in the national syllabus, in the literary option, with Patrick White’s Voss (1957) in 1977 – 45 years ago – and writing that is not from the UK, Ireland, or the United States usually featured in the optional literary strand of the syllabus.

1 All EU students who have a masters’ degree can sit for “external” Agrégation only civil servants w (.)ġ The inclusion of Alexis Wright’s Carpentaria (2006) in the core syllabus ( tronc commun ) of the 2022 Agrégation competitive exam – for both the “internal” and “external” examination 1 – is a cause for celebration.

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