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Courses

Language Courses
Literature Courses
Culture Courses

 

Language Courses
FREN B001, B002 Elementary French

The speaking and understanding of French are emphasized particularly during the first semester, and written competence is stressed as well in semester II. 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. (Cherel, Peysson-Zeiss, Language Level 1)

FREN B003, B004 Intermediate French

The emphasis on speaking, understanding, and writing 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. (Cherel, Echtman, Higginson, Le Menthéour, Language Level 2)

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, Language Level 2)

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. (Armstrong, 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 include comic theater of the 17th or 18th centuries and build to increasingly complex nouvelles, poetry and novels of the 19th and 20th centuries. Participation in guided discussion and practice in writing increasingly complex essays continue to be emphasized, as is grammar review. Prerequisite: FREN 005 or 101. (Armstrong [writing-intensive], Echtman, 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. Participation in guided discussion and practice in writing increasingly complex essays continue to be emphasized. Prerequisite: FREN 005 or 101. (Cherel, Division III)

200-Level Courses
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 women and men 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 Enlightenment 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. (Le Menthéour, Division III)

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)

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) Not offered in 2009-10.

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. (Mahuzier, Division III)

FREN B213 Qu’est-ce que la théorie?

This course provides exposure to influential 20th-century French theorists while bringing these thinkers to bear on appropriate literary texts. It hones students’ critical skills while expanding their knowledge of French intellectual history. The explicitly critical aspect of the course will also serve students throughout their coursework, regardless of field. This course is required for the literary option of the French major. (Mahuzier, Division III; cross-listed as COML B213) Alternates between Bryn Mawr and Haverford. Offered at Haverford in 2009-10.

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. (Staff, Division III) Not offered in 2009-10.

FREN B248 Histoire des Femmes en France

A study of women and gender in France from the Revolution to the present. The course will pay particular attention to the role of women in the French Revolution (declarations, manifestos, women’s clubs, salons, etc.) and in the post-revolutionary era, as well as to the more contemporary feminist manifestations in France since Simone de Beauvoir’s Deuxième Sexe and the flow of feminist texts produced in the wake of May ’68. (Mahuzier, Division III) Not offered in 2009-10.

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. (Cherel, Division III; cross-listed as CITY B251) Not offered in 2009-10.

FREN B258 L’espace réinventé: Paris: rêve d’urbaniste, songe d’écrivain

The cityscape is a dominant figure in the 19th and 20th century, at a time where the notion of “writing the city” really develops, influencing and even structuring beliefs. Urban theory and cultural criticism will supplement literary analysis as we consider how novelists Mercier, Rétif de la Bretonne, Balzac, Hugo, and Zola, and poets Baudelaire and Rimbaud have sought to make visible, through novelistic and lyric voices, the evolution of the perception of the city as architectural, social, and political body since the end of the 18th century. (Staff, Division III; cross-listed as CITY B258) Not offered in 2009-10.

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, Peysson- Peysson-Zeiss)

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 2008-09.

300-Level Courses
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, the trobairitz, Christine de Pisan, Louise Labé, Marguerite de Navarre, and Madame de Lafayette—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 2009-10.

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. (Le Mentheour, Division III)

FREN B325, 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; Etude socio-culturelle des arts du manger en France du Moyen Age à nos jours. Topics for 2009-10: “Lumières et médecine” (S I) and “Le film noir” (S II) (Higginson, Le Mentheour, Division III; cross-listed as COML B325 and 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 the Tristan and Yseut stories, and by medieval genres, such as the roman, saints’ lives, or the miracle play. Included are works by Bonnefoy, Cocteau, Flaubert, Genevoix, Giono, Gracq, Hugo, and Yourcenar. (Armstrong, Division III; cross-listed as COML B350) Not offered in 2009-10.

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. After taking Senior Conference in semester I, students then have the choice in semester II of writing a thesis (30-40 pp.) under the direction of a faculty member or taking a 300-level course in which they develop one of the subjects treated therein into a Senior Essay (15-20 pp.) Students presenting either a thesis or the Senior Essay will defend it in a final oral examination. (Mahuzier) Alternates between Bryn Mawr and Haverford. Offered at Bryn Mawr in I, 2009-10.

 

Textes et films au programme

002
  • Apollinaire. "Le Pont"
  • Arrabal. "Pique-nique en Campagne"
  • Hugo, Victor. "Demain dès l'Aube"
  • Philombe, René. "Civilisation"
  • Prévert. "Familiale"
  • Rimbaud. "Le Dormeur du Val"
  • St Exupéry. Le Petit Prince
  • Verlaine. "Chanson d'automne"
003
  • Anhouilh, Jean. Antigone
  • Palcy, Euzhan. La Rue cases-nègres (film)
  • Thompson, Chanal et Bette Hirsch. Ensuite
005
  • Aymé. Les Contes du Chat Perché : "Le Loup"
  • Diop, Birago. "Sarzan"
  • La Fontaine. "Le Loup et l'Agneau"
  • Mérimée, Prosper. La Vénus d'Ille
  • Perrault. "Le Petit Chaperon Rouge"
  • Ronsard. "Ode à Cassandre"; "Sonnet pour Hélène"
100 -- cours de littérature et de culture
  • Barson, John. La Grammaire à l'oeuvre
  • Bauby, Dominique. Le Scaphandre et le papillon
  • Dongala, Emmanuel. Jazz et vin de palme (recueil de nouvelles)
  • de Duras, Claire. Ourika
  • Giono. "La femme du boulanger"
  • Mérimée, Prosper. Carmen
  • Molière. Le Misanthrope
  • L'outremangeur (bande dessinée)
  • Musique populaire (d'Aznavour à Zebda: rap et chanson)
  • Pagnol, Marcel. La Femme du boulanger (film)
200 -- cours de littérature et de culture
Textes
  • Camus, Albert. Le mythe de Sysiphe
  • Césaire, Aimé. Discours sur le colonialisme
  • Colette. Claudine à l'école
  • de Balzac, Honoré. Le père Goriot
  • Baudelaire. "Choix de poèmes"
  • Genet, Jean. Le Balcon
  • Hugo, Victor. Le dernier jour d'un condamné
  • Jarry, Alfred. Ubu Roi
  • Labou-Tansi, Sony. Je soussigné cardiaque
  • Memmi, Albert. Portrait du colonisé précédé du Portrait du colonisateur
  • Kourouma, Ahmadou. Les soleils des indépendances
  • Radiguet, Raymond. Le diable au corps
  • Stendhal. Le rouge et le noir
  • Vallès. Jules L'insurgé
  • Zola, Emile. La curée
  • Raymond Queneau. Zazie dans le metro
  • Rimbaud . "Choix de poèmes"
  • Sartre, Jean-Paul. Huis Clos
  • Vian, Boris. L'écume des jours
Films
  • Arnaud, Jean-Jacques. La victoire en chantant
  • Berri, Claude. Uranus
  • Chabrol, Claude. Madame Bovary
  • Chatiliez, Etienne. La Vie est un long fleuve tranquille
  • Corneau, Alain. Fort Saganne
  • Denis, Claire. Chocolat
  • Girod, Francis. L'Etat sauvage
  • Hubert, Jean-Loup. Le Grand chemin
  • Palcy, Euzhan. La Rue Cases-Nègres
  • Peck, Raoul. Lumumba
  • Pontecorvo, Gillo. La Bataille d'Alger
  • Rohmer, Eric. Conte d'hiver
  • Roüan, Brigitte. Outre-Mer (1990)
  • Sembène, Ousmane. Camp de Thiaroye
  • Truffaut, François. Le Dernier Métro Wargnier
  • Régis. Indochine
200 -- cours de langue
  • Siskin, H. Jay et al. Tâches d'encre.
  • Judge, Anne & F.G. Healey. A Reference Grammar of Modern French
300 -- cours de littérature et de culture
  • Audoin-Rouzeau,  Stéphane  et Annette Becker. La Grande Guerre: 1914-1918
  • ---. 14-18: Retrouver la Guerre
  • Blanc, Henri. Le dernier survivant de 14
  • Buffon. Histoire naturelle
  • Céline, Ferdinand. Voyage au bout de la nuit
  • Charrière. Lettres de Mistress Henley
  • Cyrano de Bergerac. Voyage dans la lune
  • Daeninckx, Didier. Le der des ders
  • Diderot. Supplément au voyage de Bougainville
  • Dorgelès, Roland. Les croix de bois
  • Drieu La Rochelle, Pierre.  La comédie de Charleroi
  • de Duras, Claire.  Ourika. (1823)
  • Genevois, Maurice.  Ceux de 14 . "Sous Verdun"
  • Giono. Jean. Le grand   troupeau
  • J. P. Guéno Ed. Paroles de poilus
  • Margeritte, Victor. La Garçonne
  • Montesquieu. Les Lettres persanes, Flammarion
  • Proust, Marcel. A la recherche du temps perdu (Extraits Du côté de Guermantes et du Temps retrouvé )
  • Rousseau. Discours sur l'origine des inégalités
  • Roux, Frédéric.   Le désir de guerre
  • Sade. La Philosophie dans le boudoir
  • Vercel, Roger. Capitaine Conan
  • Voltaire. Micromégas
Cours gradués
  • Diderot. Le Rêve de d'Alembert
  • Descartes. Le Discours de la méthode
  • Mme de Villeneuve. La Belle et la bête.
  • Mme de Riccoboni. Lettres de Misstriss Fanni Butlerd
  • La Fontaine. Le Songe de Vaux
  • Mercier. L'An 2440, rêve s'il en fût jamais
  • Rétif de la Bretonne. Les Nuits de Paris
  • Rousseau. Les Rêveries d'un promeneur solitaire
  • Voltaire. Memnon ou la sagesse humaine
  • ---. Songes, in Dictionnaire philosophique
  • ---. Superstition

 

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