FREN 111 introduces students to the culture and language of France and helps students develop an ability to communicate in real-life situations by acquiring reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. In the class students will be asked to discover and research aspects of French society (music, social habits, cinema, current events) and compare and contrast them with examples of their own culture. Taught in French. Partially fulfills the Foreign Language requirement. C21:FL.
Curriculum: FL
FREN 115 is the second half of the introductory French sequence and follows FREN 111. In this class, students will continue strengthening their linguistic skills and ability to communicate in French in real-life situations. They will also focus on the French-speaking world outside of France and explore themes related to countries and regions such as Algeria, Tahiti, Martinique, Guyana, and Senegal. Taught in French. Taken after 111, FREN 115 fulfills the Foreign Language requirement. C21:FL.
Curriculum: FL
This course is the first half of the intermediate French sequence and offers a close examination of France, its people and its culture. This course will review French grammar with an emphasis on reading, writing, conversation and comprehension. Students will be placed in this class based on experience in high school. Taught in French. Partially fulfills the Foreign Language requirement. C21:FL.
Curriculum: FL
FREN 212 is the second half of the intermediate French sequence and is the continuation of FREN 211. Students will further develop their linguistic skills and gain knowledge and appreciation for French-speaking cultures outside of France (Tahiti, Algeria, Martinique, Senegal). A strong emphasis will be given to conversational and reading skills. Taught in French. Taken after 211, FREN 212 fulfills the Foreign Language requirement. C21:FL.
Curriculum: FL
French 214 is a four-hour course intermediate-level French course offered January term only. Combining on-campus instruction and real-life application in France, this course will enable you to review and deepen your knowledge of French grammar and vocabulary and provide opportunities to further your linguistic skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) through real-life tasks. Excursions in Paris and concomitant assignments will give you a unique perspective on French culture and the daily lives of Parisians. Taken after FREN 211 or as a substitute for FREN 215, FREN 214 fulfills the Foreign Language Requirement. FREN 214 counts as one course on the French major and minor. C21:EL,FL.
Curriculum: EL,FL
Discussing French and Francophone films and using authentic material (texts and interviews), students will discover in this class many aspects of the French -speaking world and its people, master French linguistic skills and become more confident in their ability to discuss current issues in the target language. Students will be placed in this class based on experience in high school OR after completion of FREN 111 AND 115. Taught in French. Fulfills the Foreign Language requirement. C21:FL.
Curriculum: FL
The travel/study course in Paris will provide students in FREN 212 and those who have just completed FREN 212 or FREN 215 with the opportunity to gain greater fluency in speaking and writing in the target language. It will also allow students to significantly increase their understanding of contemporary French culture, important artistic movements and historical events as they relate to Paris itself. Students will experience first-hand French daily life and culture through day-to-day activities and visits to monuments. C21:EL.
Curriculum: EL
An intensive study of the history of the language, phonetic theory, and phonetic transcription with the goal to improve listening and speaking skills. Individual conferences with the instructor for diagnosis and correction of particular pronunciation problems. Given in French.
French 230 is a conversation course for non-majors offered January term only. Combining on-campus instruction and real-life application in France, this course will enable you to review and deepen your knowledge of French grammar and vocabulary, with a special focus on conversation and speaking, and provide opportunities to further your linguistic skills through real-life tasks. Excursions in Paris and concomitant assignments will give you a unique perspective on French culture and the daily lives of Parisians. Cannot be applied to the French major or minor.
In this conversational course, students will examine some of contemporary France's main socio-cultural and political structures and elements, France's civic life and civic engagement along with mainstream culture. They will acquire a large non-literary vocabulary and strengthen their speaking and listening skills through discussions, debates and oral presentations. Designed around a variety of themes like art, immigration, social exclusion, human rights, politics, environmentalism, regionalism, and sport culture, this class requires students to read non-literary texts and view authentic documentaries or films in order to collect information on these topics and discuss them with their peers. In the process of gaining a deeper understanding of French society and culture, students will discuss foundational patterns and social transformations of the country and compare and contrast them with civic life and civic engagement in their own communities and countries. Given in French. C21:CL,HU,OC.
Curriculum: CL,HU,SA
This course primarily focuses on the study of literature at the intermediate level. This is the first course that allows students to discover the major genres, movements and leitmotivs of French and Francophone literature. Throughout their discovery of a variety of texts from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century, students develop critical reading skills and basic knowledge of literature. The secondary focus of this course is to reinforce the grammatical skills that students have acquired in their previous language courses. C21:CC.
This course, conducted in Paris, is an intensive study of French language and civilization. The course includes both language-building exercises and a study of the history of Paris. Course includes numerous visits to Paris museums and historic monuments and sites as well as excursions to places of interest outside of Paris. Given in French. Offered occasionally. C21:EL.
This course traces the development of French civilization from prehistoric times through the upheavals of the French Revolution. Students will study the historical and political events as well as the key figures and movements which have shaped France's development over two millennia. Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which cultural products, including art, architecture, food, and clothing, are a reflection of the time period which produced them. The content of the course will be enriched by wide use of films, documentaries, and the Internet. Given in French.
The purpose of this course is to help students grasp fundamental notions of French society today by studying the roots and the development of the main institutions and concepts of French political life. It also extends this analysis to France's international policies, decisions and debates, past and present, including its view of its role in the world, focusing on several key themes. For more than two centuries, since the Revolution of 1789, France has constructed its political identity on the basis of a continuous, ongoing modification of its institutions and on the results of a broad variety of forms of political experimentation. A variety of regimes (14 altogether) and constitutions have come to frame the political history of France. This grand-scale political laboratory has forged unique forms of political behavior and doctrines, many of whose influence has extended well beyond the borders of France. In this course, we will investigate the world of Politics in France starting in 1789 until the construction of the European Union. Students will be asked to research the main political figures of the Nation starting with Louis XVI, Marat, Robespierre and ending with Sarkozy and Hollande. In the process we will explore the significance of governments like Blum's, like Petain's during WWII, the impacts of Mitterrand's presidency, and the outcomes of the student and worker struggles in Paris during the month of May 1968. In order to offer a full perspective, the course will require students to examine certain cinematic contributions (which contributed to intellectual debates in France in complex and important ways) and read a selection of texts and extracts of texts (including poetry, short stories and novels) by writers including Montesquieu, Diderot Hugo, Zola, and Sartre. Films will include the works by Goupil, Godard, Kassovitz, Lilienfeld, Maiwenn, Melville, Ophüls, Tavernier, and Truffaut. Taught in French.
This course is designed for students wishing to acquire a concrete knowledge of French business terminology and business practices, both to be directly applied in class workshops.
This course will introduce students to the rich history and development of the French cinema, from the first films of the Lumière brothers in 1895 to the latest generation of French filmmakers. Within a chronological and thematic framework, we will analyze films, the major directors, and movements, in French filmmaking. We will study the endurance and resilience of French cinema and examine the characteristics that make French cinema particularly "French." In addition to studying French cinematographic genres and esthetics, and looking at the contribution of French movie directors to film as an art form, students will study French cinema in its relationship to modern France by analyzing the social, historical, and political contexts embedded in the films studied.
These courses focus on areas of french not specifically covered in the general curriculum and are designed to meet the needs of advanced students.
In this course, students will learn about the history of Martinique and examine the events that linked the island to the metropole since the 17th century. They will study the current status of this island from a political and social perspective. Additionally, they will discover major authors from Martinique and read texts to examine the literary genre, leitmotivs and production that exist on the island. In the process they will develop a better appreciation for the cultural identity and diversity of this French department that used to be a colony. This course will be reading/speaking intensive. Offered in French. C21:EL.
Curriculum: EL
This course is a third year language course designed to consolidate linguistic and grammatical skills and extend student's mastery of the language at an advanced level. A major emphasis will be on writing, translation skills (English to French and French to English), and grammar review. Given in French.
This course provides students with the opportunity to consolidate their speaking skills at an advanced level. Class discussion will focus on topics related to French culture which will be studied through the media of French films and T.V. broadcasts. Given in French.
In this survey of French theater we focus on the seminal French works from the 17th to the 20th century. This course will combine primary and critical readings in order to situate plays in their socio-cultural and political context. Taught in French.
The focus of the course is on Parisian monuments, sites, and spaces that are significant in the texts we'll read. These allude to changes to the city that occurred during the 19th century (the time covered by our novels). They include the Paris of Napoleon, 1800-1815 (monuments that honor him), but also works of urbanization (demolition of old buildings, openings of new streets, new bridges, construction of plazas and fountains, arches, catacombs, and so on).They include the return of royal symbols during the Restoration, 1815-1830 (statues, churches). But it's under the Second Empire (1851-1870) that Paris, moving toward modernity, began to take on the look with which we are familiar today. Sewers, sidewalks, markets, high schools, hospitals, elegant residences that were meant for bourgeois class, expressly excluded the lower classes. Finally, we will look at the 19th century technical feats that contributed to Paris' reputation as the capital of the world—the famous train stations and the Eiffel Tower among others. An additional hour for French majors who elect this class as one of their advanced seminar for their French studies will be dedicated to additional films, texts and discussion in the target language only. Prerequisites for French credit: FREN 240. Three hours for FLET 244 and four hours for FREN 344. C21:EL.
Curriculum: EL
These courses provide an introduction to French literature and a survey of important trends from the Middle Ages through the 21st century. Individual works will be studied in their social and historical contexts and students will learn basic techniques of "explication de texte." Given in French. Partially satisfies the AOK requirements for Arts and Literature (literature) for students completing the pre-2021 general education program.
This course will explore the different modes of sociability French people invented during the Early Modern period and how they resonate with the modern-day interactions through Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Through a cultural and literary survey from the 16th century to the French Revolution, students will discover major authors from the Early Modern period, learn about literary salons, courtly behaviors, and the notion of citizenship under the French Revolution and understand the specificities of French sociability. In the process, they will also gain a better appreciation of the gender, race, and class politics that govern sociability, as well as the legacy of French cultural constructs in our global world. Given in French.
This course traces the genre of fairytales as a transcultural phenomenon, from oral tradition to film adaptation. Through the study of a large variety of French fairy tales by both female and male writers, as well as rewritings and adaptations, students will explore what makes fairytales as relevant today as they were when they were first put to paper in Early Modern France. In the process, they will also gain a greater understanding of the politics of production, gender and class at work in the making of fairy tales and analyze how these constructs are blindly accepted or questioned in modern adaptations. Given In French. C21:AE,HU.
A survey of the major literary movements, genres, and authors from the end of the 18th century until the 21st century. Individual works will be studied in their social and historical contexts and students will learn basic techniques of "explication de texte." Given in French. Partially satisfies the AOK requirements for Arts and Literature (literature) for students completing the pre-2021 general education program. C21:AE,HU,WA.
Curriculum: AE,HU,WA
This course will focus on Algerian films produced in the 1970s and 1980s, but mostly between 1994 and the present. Students will also be introduced to the history of Algiers and the struggles that Algerian citizens and filmmakers have faced over time since the access to Independence and throughout the Black Decade. Through film analysis, students will develop their own interpretation and critique of a body of works and genres. In addition to weekly film screenings, students will read about Algerian cinema, research filmmakers and historical events, give class presentations, write critical analysis of films and a final paper. Students will develop an understanding of issues related to gender, identity, nationalism, violence, terror, terrorism, and power among others. An additional hour for French majors who elect this class as one of their capstone courses for their French studies will be dedicated to additional films, readings and discussions in the target language. Prerequisites for French credit: FREN 232, FREN 240, and one additional 200-level FREN course. Three hours for FILM 260 and four hours for FREN 360. Teixidor.
This course surveys the historical, political, cultural, and social background of France since the French Revolution. It will study the impact of 1789 and analyze French contemporary society through major historical events such as WW II, the end of colonization and the Algerian war, May 68 and the construction of Europe. It will also discuss the issues of immigration, regionalism and nationalism, cultural exception, socialism, and look at some of the major figures of French history. Textbook will be supplemented by the use of films and newspaper articles. Given in French.
While most people reduce France to Paris and what the city represents and French literature to iconic French authors, they tend to forget as we tend to fail reminding them that there exist other French literatures and cultures produced in the periphery of the nation. Authors and artists from Brittany, Alsace and Provence celebrate different traditions and result from specific regional histories that are essential to fully understand France and its relations with its regions. This course will investigate regional writers such as Pierre Jakez Hélias, Xavier Grall in Brittany and Claude Vigée, René Ehni or André Weckmann in Alsace and Jean Giono or Marcel Pagnol in Provence. It will examine how they articulate in their texts a political language, a cultural vision, and a community of identity as they fight to push for social change and promote the (cultural and economic) status of the region within the larger French national community. Their literatures often express similar themes like a constant quest for identity, a defense of bilingualism, oral traditions and a revolt against the Parisian centralization. We will study their specificities and highlight the resemblances that exist across the regions. We will examine the author's visions on regionalism and establish what it is to be a regional author writing in French or in a minority language such as Breton or Alsatian in the 20th and 21st century. Given in French.
In this course, students will learn about the major historical and cultural events that shaped Québec. They will discover the links that exist between France and Québec and the special perspectives of this francophone area within an English speaking country- Canada. They will examine some political issues and the Québec's special relation to religion, industrialization, folklore and modernity. Students will also read canonical texts (prose and theater) written by French Canadian authors like Francine, Régine Robin, Dany Laferrière, Samuel Champlain, Réjean Ducharme and Beauchamps Hélène. Throughout the semester, students will acquire a strong vision of and opinion about the French Canadian literature (Littérature québécoise). Given in French.
When examining Francophone Cinema and African cinema, one of the challenges becomes to differentiate what can be considered African cinema, North African cinema, Arab cinema and the cinema from the Middle East. While these regions may seem at first sight to share a similar history and culture, upon further examination they differ drastically in traditions and histories and reveal diverse identities. This course will investigate the filmic production of North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) and West Africa (specifically Senegal and Cameroon) in order to compare their characteristics from an artistic and narrative perspective. Students will examine and learn about the historical background of Algeria, Tunisia, and West African in order to understand the struggles that citizens and filmmakers have faced over time to create Art. They will also learn to analyze films and be asked to develop their own interpretation and critique of the body of works examined in class. Close attention will be paid to portrayals of gender, violence, terror and terrorism, and issues of nationalism, identity, censorship, and power among others. Students will be asked to recognize and understand the genre chosen by filmmakers (realism, comedy, propaganda, satire, etc.). The course will be taught in French at the 300 level. Students may not receive credit for both FILM 275 and FREN 378.
Designed in collaboration with advanced students, and tailored to their needs, these courses provide intensive work in an area of language or literature not covered in the general curriculum. Given in French.
Designed in collaboration with advanced students, and tailored to their needs, these courses provide intensive work in an area of language or literature not covered in the general curriculum. Given in French.
Students majoring in French must complete 10 cultural activities, approved as such by faculty, during their program of studies. Throughout their academic career, students must keep track of cultural activities in a portfolio. The portfolio will be reviewed in a student's exit interview, mandatory for all French majors. This course provides a way to verify student's successful completion of the culture component of the major. Offered spring term.
This course presents an in-depth study of the great classical writers of the age of Louis XIV. Authors studied include Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Pascal, Mme. de LaFayette, La Fontaine, La Rochefoucauld, and La Bruyere. Given in French. Offered every four years. C21:CS.
Curriculum: CS
A study of selected works by the major writers of the French enlightenment, illustrating the evolution from Classicism to Pre-Romanticism. The course will examine the literature of the leading "Philosophes": Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau. Special attention will be given to social criticism and the link between literature and the French Revolution. Given in French. Offered every four years. C21:CS.
Curriculum: CS
The purpose of this course is threefold: to explore the great literary movements of the 19th century such as Romanticism, Realism, Symbolism, and Naturalism; to examine closely both major and minor literary works with a view to understanding the major thematic and formal concerns of their authors (poets, dramatists, or novelists); and to develop critical ways of reading long fiction and poetry. Given in French. Offered every four years. C21:CS.
Curriculum: CS
A study of French novels, plays, and films representative of the main literary, philosophical, and artistic movements of the first half of the 20th century such as Surrealism, Existentialism, the Theater of the Absurd, and the New Novel. Readings will include works by Gide, Sartre, Camus, Beckett, Ionesco, and Robbe-Grillet. Films by Resnais and others will also be included. Given in French. Offered every four years. C21:CS.
Curriculum: CS
This course provides an introduction to the Francophone world (Quebec, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Indian Ocean) through the study of its literature. We will read a variety of texts (fiction, poetry, and essay) and examine their history and relationship with France. We will pay close attention to the question of colonialism and its impact on local societies and their cultures, the weight of traditions, gender issues, and the aftermath of colonialism. Given in French. C21:CS.
Curriculum: CS
This course is a study of postcolonial literature and film from Africa and the Middle East. The focus will be on recent novels and short stories from countries formerly colonized by France (such as Senegal, Guinea, Cameroon, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia), but the course will also include works from Lebanon, Egypt, and Palestinian areas in Israel. Additionally, we will examine transnational contemporary literature and issues raised by migration and cultural change. Readings and class discussions will be in English. For French majors, most readings and the additional weekly discussion session will be in French, thus providing a fourth credit hour. Cross-taught with FLET 248. May not receive credit for both FLET 248 and FREN 448. Offered every three years. C21:CS.
Curriculum: CS
Individually designed field studies and projects for students of junior or senior standing whose maturity and proficiency in French will enable them to enter the fields of business, industry, government, health, or social services. The internship provides several weeks of practical application of knowledge of French culture and language. Application required; see Internship Program. An internship cannot count as a 400 capstone course.
An examination of the various ways in which women (both writers and literary characters) have seen themselves and have been seen in a male-dominated society. The readings will include the works of such women as Madame de Sevigne, Madame de LaFayette, Madame de Stael, George Sand, Colette, Simone de Beauvoir, and Marguerite Duras, as well as works whose central characters are women, including Laclos' Liasons Dangereuses, Flaubert's Madame Bovary, and Mauriac's Therese Desqueyroux. Readings and class discussions will be in English. For French majors, additional films, most readings, and the additional weekly discussion session will be in French, thus providing a fourth credit hour. Offered alternate years. Cross-taught with FLET 271. May not receive credit for both FLET 271 and FREN 471. C21:CS.
Curriculum: CS
This course, open to students from all academic backgrounds, will provide an introduction to film analysis and will focus on the representation of women (as heroes, rebels, mothers, friends, lovers, madwomen, etc.) in French films of the last 40 years. This course will also examine the work of several important French women film directors. Over the course of the term, students will become familiar with distinctive aspects of French film styles, with French vs. American representations of women, and with the cultural context of the selected films. This course counts towards the gender, sexuality, and women's studies major or minor, the film minor, and the French major. Readings and class discussions will be in English. For French majors, most readings and the additional weekly discussion session will be in French, thus providing a fourth credit hour. Cross-taught with FLET 272. May not receive credit for both FLET 272 and FREN 472. Offered alternate years. C21:CS.
Curriculum: CS
In this course conducted in French, we'll consider multiple ways in which important imaginative writers and artists (painters, sculptors, film-makers) from different historical periods have represented the topic of love. We will explore questions such as the following: What do the various texts reveal about people's attitudes toward love? What difference does it make to our understanding or experience of love if we believe, or do not believe, in human immortality, in an afterlife? What is, or should be, the relationship between love and sex? Do we have a choice with regard to whom or what we love? What, or whom, should we love? Given in French. C21:CS,EL.
Curriculum: CS,EL
This course will investigate the representation of French colonization of Martinique and the Caribbean islands from the 17th to the 19th century. Through the study of memoirs dealing with buccaneers, philosophical essays on colonization, as well as a novel which tackles issues of slavery and abolitionism, students will come to understand the violence of colonization, the myths created to justify it, and the resistance and opposition to slavery and colonization that existed as early as the 18th century. Students will gain an understanding of early French colonization, where the economic, political, and religious ambitions that underlie the colonizing process are supported by the depiction of exotic islands as paradises and the notion of a European civilizing imperative. Students will learn about the dynamics of power at work in island colonies, and grasp the role played by colonial ideas of gender, race and social class in the construction of modern-day Martinique. Cross-taught with FLET 279. Students may no receive credit for both FLET 279 and FREN 479. C21:CS.
Curriculum: CS
Designed in collaboration with advanced students, and tailored to their needs, these courses provide intensive work in an area of language or literature not covered in the general curriculum. Given in French.
Intensive work in an area of language or literature not covered in the general curriculum, tailored to the needs of advanced students. Given in French.
An independent study under the guidance of a member of the department. At least a 3.25 cumulative GPA and approval by the curriculum committee are required. Given in French. C21:EL.
Curriculum: EL
An independent study under the guidance of a member of the department. At least a 3.25 cumulative GPA and approval by the curriculum committee are required. Given in French. C21:EL.
Curriculum: EL