Language Courses
Literature
Courses
Culture
Courses
French
and French Studies Courses
FREN B001, B002 Elementary French
The speaking and understanding of French are emphasized particularly
during the first semester. The work includes regular use of the Language
Learning Center and is supplemented by intensive oral practice sessions.
The course meets in intensive (nine hours a week) and nonintensive
(five hours a week) sections. This is a year-long course; both semesters
are required for credit. (Anderson, Cherel, Peysson-Zeiss)
FREN B003, B004 Intermediate French
The emphasis on speaking and understanding French is continued; texts
from French literature and cultural media are read; and short papers
are written in French. Students use the Language Learning Center regularly
and attend supplementary oral practice sessions. The course meets in
nonintensive (three hours a week) sections that are supplemented by
an extra hour per week with an assistant. This is a year-long course;
both semesters are required for credit. (Anderson, Cherel, Echtman)
FREN B005 Intensive Intermediate French
The emphasis on speaking and understanding French is continued; literary
and cultural texts are read and increasingly longer papers are written
in French. In addition to three class meetings a week, students develop
their skills in group sessions with the professors and in oral practice
hours with assistants. Students use the Language Learning Center regularly.
This course prepares students to take 102 or 105 in semester II. Open
only to graduates of Intensive Elementary French or to students placed
by the department. Students who are not graduates of Intensive Elementary
French must take either 102 or 105 to receive credit. (Armstrong, Peysson-Zeiss)
FREN
B101 Introduction à l’analyse littéraire
et culturelle I
Presentation of essential problems in literary and cultural analysis
by close reading of works selected from various periods and genres
and by analysis of voice and image in French writing and film. Participation
in discussion and practice in written and oral expression are emphasized,
as are grammar review and laboratory exercises. (Anderson, Peysson-Zeiss,
Division III)
FREN
B102 Introduction à l’analyse littéraire
et culturelle II
Continued development of students’ expertise
in literary and cultural analysis by emphasizing close reading as
well as oral and written analyses of increasingly complex works chosen
from various genres and periods of French and Francophone works in
their written and visual modes. Readings begin with comic theater
of the 17th and 18th centuries and build to increasingly complex nouvelles,
poetry and novels of the 19th and 20th centuries. Participation in
guided discussion and practice in oral/written expression continue
to be emphasized, as is grammar review. Prerequisite: FREN 005 or 101.
(Armstrong, Division III)
FREN B105 Directions de la France contemporaine
An examination of contemporary society in France and Francophone cultures
as portrayed in recent documents and film. Emphasizing the tension
in contemporary French-speaking societies between tradition and change,
the course focuses on subjects such as family structures and the changing
role of women, cultural and linguistic identity, an increasingly multiracial
society, the individual and institutions (religious, political, educational),
and les loisirs. In addition to the basic text and review
of grammar, readings are chosen from newspapers, contemporary literary
texts and magazines, complemented by video materials. Prerequisite:
FREN 005 or 101. (Cherel, Division III)
FREN
B201 Le Chevalier, la dame et le prêtre: littérature
et publics du Moyen Age
Using literary texts, historical documents and letters as a mirror
of the social classes that they address, this interdisciplinary course
studies the principal preoccupations of secular and religious men and
women in France from the Carolingian period through 1500. Selected
works from epic, lai, roman courtois, fabliau,
theater, letters and contemporary biography are read in modern French
translation. (Armstrong, Division III)
FREN
H204 Le Siècle des Lumières
Representative texts of the Enlightment and
the Pre-Romantic movement, with emphasis on the development of liberal
thought as illustrated in the Encyclopédie and the works of
Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau. (Augustyn)
FREN
B205 Le Temps des prophètes: de Chateaubriand à Baudelaire
From Chateaubriand and Romanticism to Baudelaire, a study of selected
poems, novels and plays. (Mahuzier, Division III) Not offered in
2007-08.
FREN
B206 Le Temps des virtuoses: Symbolisme, Naturalisme et leur progéniture
A study of selected works by Claudel, Gide,
Proust, Rimbaud, Valéry,
Verlaine and Zola. (Anderson, Division III)
FREN
B207 Missionnaires et cannibales: Maîtres de l’époque
moderne
A study of selected works illustrating the principal literary movements
from 1930 to the present. (Anderson, Division III)
FREN
H212 Grammaire avancée: composition
et conversation
A general review of the most common difficulties
of the French language. Practice in composition, translation, and
conversation. (Anyinéfa)
FREN
H213 Qu’est-ce que la théorie?
This course provides exposure to influential
20th-century French and Francophone theorists (e.g., Bourdieu, Cixous,
Derrida, Fanon, Foucault, Lévi-Strauss) while bringing these thinkers to bear on appropriate
texts. While expanding the student’s knowledge of French and
Francophone intellectual history, the explicitly critical aspect of
the course will also serve them throughout their coursework, regardless
of field. (Augustyn). Beginning with the class of 2009, this course
will be required for both options in the major.
FREN
B231 De la page à l’écran: Romans français
et adaptations cinématographiques
This course proposes to examine different genres of French novels
and their cinematographic adaptations. Its purpose is to expose students
to different types of narratives, constructed through a wide range
of literary and cinematographic techniques. (Anderson, Division III) Not
offered in 2007-08.
FREN
H250 Introduction à la Littérature
Francophone
A study of male and female writers of Black
Africa, Arab North Africa and the Caribbean. (Anyinéfa)
FREN
B251 La Mosaïque France
A study that opposes the discourse of exclusion, xenophobia, racism
and the existence of a mythical, unique French identity by examining
20th-century French people and culture in their richness and variety,
based on factors such as gender, class, region, colonization and decolonization,
immigration and ethnic background. Films and texts by Begag, Beauvoir,
Cardinal, Carles, Duras, Ernaux, Jakez Helias, Modiano and Zobel. (Dana,
Division III)
FREN
B258 L’espace réinventé
The cityscape is a dominant figure in the 19th and 20th century, influencing
and even structuring beliefs. Urban theory and cultural criticism will
supplement literary analysis as we consider how poets Apollinaire,
Baudelaire, Breton, Claudel, Ben Jelloun, Reda and Rimbaud have sought
to restore immediacy and depth through lyric voice. (Anderson, Division
III; cross-listed as CITY B258) Not offered in 2007-08.
FREN B260 Stylistique et traduction
Intensive practice in speaking and writing. Conversation, discussion,
advanced training in grammar and stylistics, translation of literary
and nonliterary texts, and original composition. (Cherel)
FREN
B262 Débat, discussion, dialogue
Intensive oral practice intended to bring non-native French speakers
to the highest level of proficiency through the development of debating
and discussion skills. (Staff) Not offered in 2007-08.
FREN
B299 Littérature, histoire et société de
la Révolution à la Première Guerre mondiale
A study of the language and political, social
and ethical messages of literary texts whose authors were “engagés” in
the conflicts, wars and revolutions that shook French society from
the advent of the 1789 Revolution to World War I. Counts for either
the literary or interdisciplinary track. (Mahuzier, Division III) Not
offered in 2007-08.
FREN
B302 Le printemps de la parole féminine: femmes écrivains
des débuts
This study of selected women authors from the
French Middle Ages, Renaissance and Classical periods — among
them, Marie de France, Madame de Lafayette, Marguerite de Navarre,
Christine de Pisan and the trobairitz — examines the
way in which they appropriate and transform the male writing tradition
and define themselves as self-conscious artists within or outside
it. Particular attention will be paid to identifying recurring concerns
and structures in their works, and to assessing their importance
to female writing: among them, the poetics of silence, reproduction
as a metaphor for artistic creation, and sociopolitical engagement.
(Armstrong, Division III; cross-listed as COML B302) Not
offered in 2007-08.
FREN
H306 Libertinage et érotisme au XVIIIe siècle
A close study of works representative of the
18th-century French novel, with special attention to the memoir novel
(Marivaux and Prévost),
the philosophical novel (Diderot and Voltaire), and the epistolary
novel. (Augustyn)
FREN H312 Advanced Topics
An in-depth study of a topic or movement in
French/Francophone literature. Topic for 2007-08: Classiques africains.
(Anyinéfa)
FREN
B325 Etudes avancées de civilisation
An in-depth study of a particular topic, event
or historical figure in French civilisation. The seminar topic for
2007-08: Algériennes
en France. (Dana, Division III; cross-listed as 
COML B325)
FREN
B326 Etudes avancées
An in-depth study of a particular topic, event
or historical figure in French civilisation. The seminar topic rotates
among many subjects: La Révolution française: histoire, littérature
et culture; L’Environnement naturel dans la culture française;
Mal et valeurs éthiques; Le Cinéma et la politique, 1940-1968;
Le Nationalisme en France et dans les pays francophones; Etude socio-culturelle
des arts du manger en France du Moyen Age à nos jours. (staff,
Division III; cross-listed as COML B326)
FREN
B350 Voix médiévales et échos
modernes
A study of selected 19th- and 20th-century works
inspired by medieval subjects, such as the Grail and Arthurian legends,
and by medieval genres, such as the roman, saints’ lives or
the miracle play. Included are works by Anouilh, Bonnefoy, Claudel,
Flaubert, Genevoix, Gracq, Hugo and Yourcenar. (Armstrong, Division
III; cross-listed as COML B350) Not offered in 2007-08.
FREN B398 Senior Conference
A weekly seminar examining two major French and Francophone literary
texts and the interpretive problems they raise. A third theoretical
text will encourage students to think beyond traditional literary categories
to interrogate issues such as cultural memory, political engagement,
gendered space, etc. This course prepares students for the second semester
of their senior experience, during which seniors not writing a thesis
are expected to choose a 300-level course and write a long research
paper that they will defend during an oral examination. Seniors writing
a thesis in semester II will defend it during their final oral examination.
(Higginson)
FREN B403 Supervised Work
(staff)
Home
