FREN 2933 - Oral and Written Expression in French (Stuart)

Prerequisite: Completion of FREN 2320 or equivalent. Permission of instructor for those having completed only FREN 2020. Students having completed French 3032 may not take this course.

An intensive course designed to give students a better command of present-day spoken and written French. Class discussion of news articles on current events (French and international), including but not limited to politics, economics, education, language, and entertainment, and including some articles which class members choose. Mastery of advanced vocabulary, weekly graded written or oral assignments including one guided short exposé, several one-two page papers, oral and written quizzes, and a final exam. Consistent attendance and ACTIVE participation constitute 30% of the semester grade.

This course is designed for students who have not had an extended stay in a French-speaking country. Students who have participated in semester study-abroad programs must confirm placement and transfer credit with the instructor to avoid duplication. Students who have studied in a French speaking country for a year should enroll in FREN 3034 or above.

FREN 3030 PHONETICS - The Sounds of French (Saunders)

French 3030 is an introductory course in French phonetics, intended to present basic concepts in phonetic theory and teach students techniques for improving their own pronunciation. It includes an examination of the physical characteristics of individual French sounds, the relationship between these sounds and their written representations, the rules governing the pronunciation of “standard French”, the most salient phonological features of selected regional varieties (e.g. le français méridional), and much more. Taught in French. Counts for major credit in French and in Linguistics.

FREN 3031 - Intensive Grammar and Composition (Staff)

Prerequisite: Completion of FREN 2020 or 2320 or exemption from FREN 2020 by the Placement Test; or a score of 3 on the AP French language exam; or a score of at least 660 on the SAT. Required as preparation for all subsequent courses except FREN 2933 and FREN 3030.

This course offers an introduction to narrative writing in French. Emphasis is placed on writing, revision, and an intensive review of grammar rules as they apply to oral and written communication. A variety of assessment formats include compositions, presentations, short quizzes, dictations, and a mid-term and/or final exam. Preparation and active participation are essential to improve reading, writing, and speaking skills. The course is conducted in French.

FREN 3032 - The Writing and Reading of Texts (Staff)

Prerequisite: French 3031. This course is a prerequisite for all undergraduate courses on a higher level except French 2933 and French 3030.

This course will prepare students for upper-level French courses by introducing them to the skills necessary to analyze literature and to express ideas in a written and oral form. Specifically, students will read literary texts from a variety of periods; they will learn to identify the elements that authors use to construct these texts; and they will learn the technical terms used to analyze poetry, prose, and theater. Grading will largely depend on the student's development of an analytical perspective on literature and on the student's ability to compose well-structured papers in correct French. The minimum writing requirement is a total of 10-15 pages for the semester, with at least one paper assignment of 5 pages. In addition, students will be expected to participate actively in order to advance their speaking skills in French. All discussion, readings, and assignments will be in French.

FREN 3034 - Advanced Oral and Written Expression in French (Staff)

Prerequisite: Students must have completed French 3031 and French 3032 or their equivalent. Counts for major/minor credit.

An intensive course designed to improve more advanced students' oral and written language skills. Assignments include discussion on topics of current interest, presentations, translations, and compositions. All materials are French- or Francophone-related. The course focuses on language development in a Francophone cultural context, so students can get familiar with French and Francophone cultures and comfortable in expressing their viewpoints in French. Of course, consistent attendance and active participation are essential.

FREN 3041: Medieval and Sixteenth Centuries: Of Monsters and (Wo)Men (McGrady)

The premodern period pushed the limits of human experience. In the process, it introduced many of the laws, beliefs, and practices we hold as truths today. This class will study some of the most daring Francophone texts from the first six centuries of French culture. To understand the limits of love, friendship, family, community, and spirituality, these works recount the adventures of alienated and excluded identities– from bestial men, monstrous women, and Satan’s spawn to sexual predators and incestuous couples.

FREN 3042 -- The Ancien Régime (Tsien)

This course will present an overview of literature from the Ancien Régime period, most commonly associated with the reigns of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette. Sometimes rebelling against church and state, sometimes flattering these institutions, the writers of this period sought above all to show the workings of human nature. In elegant and witty language, they explored the many possible outcomes that arose from conflicts between love, hypocrisy, family, vanity, and religion, among other factors. Readings for this course will include plays by Corneille and Molière, poems by La Fontaine and Voltaire, and other writings by the marquise de La Fayette, Pascal, and Diderot. 

FREN 3043 - Literature of the Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-First Centuries: Great Books (Blatt)

Rather than focus on any single theme, movement, motif, or overarching problematic, this seminar will examine a few of the most admired and influential novels in the history of modern and contemporary French literature: from Honoré de Balzac’s tale of a young law student’s drive to make it in the big city (Le Père Goriot) and Gustave Flaubert’s portrait of the original desperate housewife (Madame Bovary), to Albert Camus’ atmospheric L’Étranger, and Alain Robbe-Grillet’s scandalously puzzling La Jalousie. Tanguy Viel’s breathtaking 2006 thriller Insoupçonnable will round out the corpus and introduce students to one of the most talked-about young novelists of the last few years. 

Required work to include: active participation in class discussion, regular response papers (1-2 pages), an oral presentation, 2 longer papers (4-5 pages), and a final exam. Course conducted in French.

FREN 3043 - Literature of the Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-First Centuries: Great Books (Hommel)

Ce cours est une introduction à la littérature française moderne. Nous nous intéresserons en particulier à cinq grands romans. Bien que ce cours ait pour objectif principal de vous faire découvrir les auteurs, les mouvements, et les styles narratifs ayant marqué le paysage littéraire français, nous chercherons également à aller au delà d’une simple lecture descriptive. Ce cours implique une participation orale active ainsi qu’un travail d’écriture régulier sur les oeuvres au programme.

Balzac – Le Père Goriot (1834)

Gustave Flaubert – Madame Bovary (1857)

Marcel Proust – A la recherche du temps perdu, Tome 1, Du côté de Chez Swann (1e partie: “Combray”) (1913)

Albert Camus – L’étranger (1942)

Marguerite Duras – Le Vice-Consul (1957)

FREN 3046 – African Literatures and Cultures (Drame)

This course will explore aspects of African literatures and cultures. It will focus on selected issues of special resonance in contemporary African life. Oral literature and its continuing impact on all other art forms. Key issues in French colonial policy and its legacy in Africa: language, politics, education. The course will examine the image of the postcolonial state and society as found in contemporary arts, paintings, sculpture, music, and cinema. Selections from painters like Cheri Samba (Democratic Republic of Congo), Werewere Liking (Cameroun) and sculptors like Ousmane Sow, including such popular icons as Mamy Wata and forms such as Souwere glass painting; from musicians like Youssou Ndour (Senegal), Cheb Khaled (Algeria), Seigneur Rochereau, Tshala Muana (DRC), Salif Keita (Mali), and Cesaria Evora (Cape Verde); from Mande, Peul, and Kabyle oral literatures in French translation; from filmmakers D.D. Mambety, Moussa Sene Absa, and Ngangura Mweze. Visit to National Museum of African Arts depending on availability of funding. The final grade will be based on contributions to discussions, a mid-term exam, 2 papers, and a final exam.

Selections from the following texts will feature among the required reading list:
Wéréwéré Liking - Statues colons
A. Sow - La Femme, la Vache, la Foi
D.T. Niane - Soundjata ou l'épopée mandingue
Amadou Hampaté Ba - Koumen

FREN 3585 - French Canadian Literatures and Cultures (Hommel)

Ce cours est une introduction aux littératures et cultures francophones du Canada (Quebec, Ontario, Nouveau-Brunswick et Nouvelle-Écosse) à travers la littérature et le cinéma. Depuis que Voltaire a dit du Canada qu'il ne valait pas quelques arpents de neiges, le Canada a su se faire entendre. Bien qu'il soit historiquement et culturellement lié au "Vieux Continent" et à "La Vieille France", le Canada est également une société du Nouveau Monde et partage avec les Amériques (les États-Unis, Les Caraïbes et le Mexique) une culture qui est davantage tournée vers le futur. Au programme: des oeuvres littéraires et cinématographiques créatives, rebelles qui ont fait beaucoup de bruit ou continuent d'en faire et qui révélent, surtout, la mosaïque de cultures franco-canadiennes d'un bout à l'autre du continent.

1. Louis Hémon, Maria Chapdelaine (1913)
2. Michel Tremblay, La grosse femme d’à côté est enceinte (1978)
3. Jacques Poulin, Volkswagen Blues (1984)
4. Daniel Poliquin, L’Obomsawin (2000)
5. France Daigle, Petites difficultés d’existence (2002)

FREN 3585 - Aesthetic Revolutions and Cultural Currents (Krueger)

A course on the emergence of aesthetic and intellectual movements such as Romanticism, Naturalism, Realism, Impressionism, Symbolism, Decadence, Dadaism, Surrealism, Existentialism, and the new Wave. These movements represent engagement with or resistance to society, culture and events of their time. We will study examples of several “isms” (in text, painting, film) while exploring how they got their name, and what they reveal about French culture.
Course conducted in French. Prerequisite FREN 3032.

FREN 4035 – Tools and Techniques of Translation (Zunz)

Survey of the main tools and techniques of translation. Written and oral translation exercises to and from the target language. Selection of texts will vary. Taught in French.

Prerequesites: B+ average in FREN 3031, 3032, and 4031 or instruction permission.

FREN 4510 - Medieval Saint's Lives (Ogden)

In the Middle Ages, stories about saints were one of the most popular forms of entertainment. Transvestism, marvelous journeys to heaven and hell, spectacular sins and helpful animals were just a few of the exciting elements the authors used to draw their audiences in. For more sophisticated readers and listeners, they offered edgy commentaries on contemporary hot topics (e.g., virginity vs. marriage) and eternal issues (e.g., the conflicting goals of parents and children). Saints' Lives can thus tell us much not only about medieval theological concerns, but also about secular interests, literary trends, and the quest of both ecclesiastical and lay people to fulfill their spiritual and their terrestrial responsibilities. In this course, we will focus on French Lives written in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (including those of the wise Catherine of Alexandria, Marie l'Égyptienne the harlot, and Louis IX, king of France), but we will conclude with one or more recent works, such as Flaubert's "Légende de saint Julien l'Hospitalier" or Anouilh's Becket, to see what has become of medieval saints in the modern literary world.

FREN 4530 - Urbanity and conflict (Lyons)

Seventeenth-century French culture emphasized politeness. This is no surprise: for decades the French had been killing and maiming one another, and it seemed a good idea not to provoke more hostilities. Learning to laugh, practicising irony, and adapting to a new urbanity became themes of the works of major authors, who often show that conflict is not eliminated from society but rather transferred inward, into the hearts and consciences of heroes and heroines. Our readings will include works by writers such as Corneille, Lafayette, La Fontaine, La Rochefoucauld, Molière, and Racine. 

FREN 4586 - Reflections of the République: Contemporary France through Fiction and Film (Blatt)

Through an exploration of some of the most dynamic novels and films to have come out of France during the last twenty years or so, this seminar seeks to understand what it means to be “French” in France today. With the rise of multinational capitalism, the formation of the European Union, and the increasing demands of a steadily growing and ever more vocal immigrant community (one that is, paradoxically, no less marginalized), for the past few decades France has been suffering an identity crisis of sorts. In order to better grasp the root causes of this malaise culturel, as well as the larger stakes involved, we will focus on how issues like race, class, religion, gender, and ethnicity have figured into recent constructions of francité (loosely translated as “Frenchness”). Special attention will be paid to the ways filmmakers and writers choose to engage these issues (from the social realist tone of films like Ressources humaines, to the roman policier (Daeninckx), militant satire (Salvayre’s La Médaille), and the more allegorical style of Haneke’s Caché). Discussions will cover a range of topics including representations of the banlieue, racism, anti-semitism, unemployment, poverty, and the role that narrative has played in the country’s collective coming to terms with the traumas of the recent past (the Nazi occupation and the Algerian War, specifically).

Required work to include active participation in class discussion, regular film screenings, an oral presentation, regular short response papers (1-2 pages), and a final research paper (10-12 pages). Course conducted in French. 

Films may include: La Haine (Kassovitz, 1995), Bye-Bye (Dridi, 1996), Wesh Wesh, qu’est-ce qui se passé (Ameur-Zaïmeche, 2001), L’Esquive (Kechiche, 2004), La Petite Jérusalem (Albou, 2005), Chocolat (Denis, 1988), Caché (Haneke, 2005), Sans toit ni loi (Varda, 1985), Ressources humaines (Cantet, 1999), Ça commence aujourd’hui (Tavernier, 1999), Un hero très discret (Audiard, 1996).

Novels may include: Kiffe kiffe demain (Guène, 2004), Meurtres pour mémoire (Daeninckx, 1983), La Médaille (Salvayre, 2004), Daewoo (Bon, 2004) Prerequisite: successful completion of at least one 3000-level course in literature or cultural studies beyond 3032.

FREN 4811 – Intro. Francophone Literature of Africa (Drame)

Introduction to the Francophone literature of Africa; survey, with special emphasis on post- World War II poets, novelists, and playwrights of Africa. The role of cultural and literary reviews (Légitime Défense, L'Etudiant noir, and Présence Africaine) in the historical and ideological development of this literature will be examined. Special reference will be made to Caribbean writers of the Negritude movement. Documentary videos on African history and cultures will be shown and important audio-tapes will also be played regularly. Supplementary texts will be assigned occasionally. Students will be expected to present response papers on a regular basis. 
In addition to the required reading material, 2 essays (60%), regular class attendance, and contribution to discussions (10%), and a final exam (30%) constitute the course requirements. Papers are due on the dates indicated on the syllabus.
Required reading:
Diop, Birago. Les contes d’Amadou Koumba .
Chevrier, J. Anthologie Africaine: Poésie
Bâ, Mariama. Une si longue lettre.
Assia Djebar. Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement (Toolkit).
Boudjedra, Rachid. L'escargot entêté.

FREN 4838 - Contemporary France (Horne)

Prerequisite: successful completion of at least one 3000-level course in literature or cultural studies beyond 3032.

French 4838 is designed to provide students with a background in social, cultural, political, and institutional aspects of contemporary French society in the context of recent history. We will first examine the role of geography, history, education, and politics in shaping contemporary French attitudes, cultural practices, and institutions since the Second World War.

We will then focus on important social questions facing contemporary France:

changing family structures, the role of women, religion, immigration, and France¹s place in the European union. Course materials include readings from the French press and other published sources, films, music, internet exploration, and radio and television broadcasts. The course strongly emphasizes oral participation and discussion, and students are expected to follow current events throughout the semester.

FREN 4581 - The Rewriting of History through Words and Images in Francophone Caribbean and African Literature and Cinema (Berard)

This course examines how contemporary Francophone Caribbean and African writers and filmmakers attempt to reevaluate the history written on slavery and colonialism by “official” historians from the Western world. Analysis of works by poets, novelists, essayists, and filmmakers from Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Algeria and Senegal.

FRTR 4559/7588 French Caribbean: Cultural and Intellectual Currents (Berard)

Interdisciplinary co-taught course combining historical, anthropological, and literary approaches to the study of the French Caribbean islands.

Analysis of important periods in the history of French territorial expansion (including colonialism, slavery, decolonization, and the transformation of empire), of intellectual and cultural currents (Negritude, Antillanité, Creolité, and the Tout-Monde) shaping the French postcolonial world.

FREN 5400/8540 – Literature of the Eighteenth Century I: A la Recherche de l'Amérique/In Search of America

Was the discovery of America a curse or a benefit to mankind? The American continent was a source of fascination, fear, and hope for the French Enlightenment. In this course, we will examine the different perspectives on North America by writers of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Readings will include travel journals, descriptions of flora and fauna, and fanciful fictions involving "exotic" American characters. We will also focus on philosophical discussions of slavery, Native American civilization, the American Revolution, and the ethical consequences of colonialism, particularly in the Encyclopédie and in the works of Voltaire, Rousseau, and Thomas Jefferson. Assignments will consist of a 5-page literary analysis and a final research paper.

SAMPLE READINGS:Voltaire, L'Ingénu, Candide;"Etats-Unis," Encyclopédie méthodique; Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia; La Hontan, Dialogues; Rousseau, Discours sur l'inégalité; Raynal, La Révolution de l'Amérique 

FREN 5812/8581 – New World Literature/Francophone Literature: De l’exil à l’ex-île: litteratures caribéenes de l’errance

Ce séminaire sur l’exil et l’errance dans la littérature caribéenne francophone vise à examiner les causes et les conséquences du déplacement, du voyage et du déracinement. Nous nous intéresserons à l’histoire passée des Antilles avec l’esclavage et l’arrachement à la terre mère africaine pour s’ancrer dans le Nouveau Monde, avant d’envisager l’histoire plus récente de l’immigration d’après-guerre et des mouvements de population toujours plus nombreux des Antilles vers l’Europe (et la métropole française) ou l’Amérique du nord pour bâtir un avenir meilleur ailleurs. Que signifie cet ailleurs? Qu’implique le fait de vivre en terre étrangère? Quelles sont les conséquences matérielles et psychologiques de cette migration caribéenne choisie ou subie? Les questions ayant trait à l’accueil, à l’hospitalité, au rejet et à l’exclusion tout autant que celle de l’impossible retour seront étudiées à travers des textes littéraires (Césaire, Condé, Pineau, Danticat, Laferrière, Pliya) et philosophiques (Fanon, Glissant, Derrida, Todorov) ainsi que des œuvres cinématographiques (Deslauriers, Maestrati, Saint-Eloy). 

FREN 5584/8584 – Topics in Cinema: Regards croisés

This course explores how metropolitan and colonial France, and later France and its former colonies, imagined one another through cinema over the course of the late 19th, 20th, and early 21st centuries. Throughout this period, cinema has maintained a complex and evolving relationship to historical events and circumstances. We will examine the multiple declensions of the film form—state propagandist, scientific observer, subversive critic, sentimental apologist, formal innovator, poetic commentator, detached educator, and others—as it intersected with colonial and post-colonial histories. Drawing on questions emerging from recent scholarship in colonial history and historiography, as well as from post-colonial and film theory, we will explore the intertwined esthetic and political claims that come into play in these multiple cinematic representations of colonial realities and their legacies. We will examine a range of works from French and Francophone filmmakers from the late 19th century to the present, including five films from the M.A. reading list. 

FREN 5585/8555 – Topics in Civilization/Cultural Studies: Modern France in Global Perspective

This course proposes to examine key moments in French history since 1870 that are crucial to an understanding of France today. Rather than exclusively focusing on developments on the French mainland, we will broaden the spectrum of our vision to consider how France impacted, and was thought about by, those who lived well beyond its national shores. This wider global lens invites questions about France as an imperial power, but also about its reputation on a larger world stage. The country of revolution and the rights of man, France was also synonymous with Catholicism in many parts of the world, or with a model of sophistication and cultural refinement rooted in court society and marked, in the modern age, by the production and commerce of luxury goods. Its diplomatic traditions as well as its lively literary and artistic life also contributed to France’s prestige in the world. While the primary goal of this course will be to acquire a solid understanding of French political, social and cultural history, we will regularly explore these broader global reverberations because they too, defined France historically, and continue to define France today. Readings, in French and in English,will include modern historical writings, primary documents, and literary works. The themes of education, religion, and gender will be highlighted as will approaches to analyzing literature and literary form in historical context.

FREN 3031 - Intensive Grammar and Composition

Prerequisite: Completion of FREN 2020 or 2320 or exemption from FREN 2020 by the Placement Test; or a score of 3 on the AP French language exam; or a score of at least 660 on the SAT. Required as preparation for all subsequent courses except FREN 2933 and FREN 3030.

This course offers an introduction to narrative writing in French. Emphasis is placed on writing, revision, and an intensive review of grammar rules as they apply to oral and written communication. A variety of assessment formats include compositions, presentations, short quizzes, dictations, and a mid-term and/or final exam. Preparation and active participation are essential to improve reading, writing, and speaking skills. The course is conducted in French.

FREN 3032 - The Writing and Reading of Texts

Prerequisite: French 3031. French 3032 itself is a prerequisite for all undergraduate courses on a higher level except French 2933 and French 3030.

This course will prepare students for upper-level French courses by introducing them to the skills necessary to analyze literature and to express ideas in written and oral form. Specifically, students will read literary texts from a variety of periods; they will learn to identify the elements that authors use to construct these texts; and they will learn the technical terms used to analyze poetry, prose, and theater. Grading will largely depend on the student's development of an analytical perspective on literature and on the student's ability to compose well-structured papers in correct French. The minimum writing requirement is 10-15 pages for the semester, with at least one paper assignment of 5 pages. In addition, students will be expected to participate actively in order to advance their speaking skills in French. All discussions, readings, and assignments will be in French.

FREN 3032 - The Writing and Reading of Texts (Section 6)

Prerequisite: French 3031 or a score of 4 or 5 on the AP French Exam. French 3032 itself is a prerequisite for all undergraduate courses on a higher level except French 2933 and French 3030.

This course will prepare students for upper-level French courses in literature, film, and cultural studies by introducing them to the skills necessary to analyze literature and to express ideas in written and oral form. Specifically, students will read literary texts from a variety of periods; they will learn to identify the elements that authors use to construct these texts; and they will learn the technical terms used to analyze poetry, prose, and theater. Grading will largely depend on the student's development of an analytical perspective on literature and on the student's ability to compose well-structured papers in correct French. The minimum writing requirement is 10-15 pages for the semester, with at least one paper assignment of 5 pages. In addition, students will be expected to participate actively in order to advance their speaking skills in French. All discussions, readings, and assignments will be in French. Because the course meets only one-day each week attendance and participation--both in class and in on-line discussion--are especially important.

In this section of the course we will analyze some visual texts and non-literary texts. The required books include:
Schofer, Peter, Donald Rice and William Berg. Poèmes, pieces, prose. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1973.
Beauvoir, Simone de. Les Belles images. 1966 (any French edition; easy to find in Folio paperback)
Additional required readings will be available in PDF and on line.

FREN 3034 - Advanced Oral and Written Expression in French

Prerequisite: Students must have completed French 3031 and French 3032 or their equivalent. Counts for major/minor credit.

An intensive course designed to improve more advanced students' oral and written language skills. Assignments include discussion on topics of current interest, presentations, translations, and compositions. All materials are French- or Francophone-related. The course focuses on language development in a Francophone cultural context, so students can get familiar with French and Francophone cultures and comfortable in expressing their viewpoints in French. Of course, consistent attendance and active participation are essential.

FREN 3041 - Literature of the Middle Ages & the 16th Century: Representative Literary Texts: Sinners, Saints and Storytellers

"Medieval," in current usage, frequently means reactionary, superstitious or ignorant. "Renaissance" suggests breadth of knowledge and sudden resurrection after a period of intellectual darkness. However, the periods we now call the Middle Ages (1000-1499) and the Renaissance (1500-1599) witnessed the almost continuous revival and re-evaluation of both classical texts and folk traditions. The scholars and artists of this period are responsible for reworking the ideas, stories and literary genres of earlier ages into the forms that determine our "modern" assumptions about subjects such as romantic love, common courtesy, gender, literary conventions, virtue and heroism, sport and entertainment, and truth. Readings for this course include La Chanson de Roland, La Vie de saint Alexis; texts by Chrétien de Troyes, Marie de France, Christine de Pisan, Michel de Montaigne; and a selection of lyric poetry from each century. There will be several short assignments, a five-page essay, a midterm and a final exam.

FREN 3043 - Literature of the 19th, 20th, and 21st Centuries: Great Books

Rather than focus on any single theme, movement, motif, or overarching problematic, this seminar will examine a few of the most admired and influential novels in the history of modern and contemporary French literature: from Honoré de Balzac’s tale of a young law student’s drive to make it in the big city (Le Père Goriot, 1835) and Gustave Flaubert’s portrait of the original desperate housewife (Madame Bovary, 1856), to Alain Robbe-Grillet’s scandalously puzzling La Jalousie (1957), Georges Perec's critique of consumer society in the 1960s (Les Choses, 1965), and Jean-Philippe Toussaint's tale about TV (La Télévision, 1997). 

Required work to include: active participation in class discussion, regular response papers (1-2 pages), an oral presentation, 2 longer papers (4-5 pages), and a final exam. Course conducted in French. 

FREN 3046 - African Literatures & Cultures

This course will explore aspects of African literatures and cultures. It will focus on selected issues of special resonance in contemporary African life. Oral literature and its continuing impact on all other art forms. Key issues in French colonial policy and its legacy in Africa: language, politics, education. The course will examine the image of the postcolonial state and society as found in contemporary arts, paintings, sculpture, music, and cinema. Selections from painters like Cheri Samba (Democratic Republic of Congo), Werewere Liking (Cameroun) and sculptors like Ousmane Sow, including such popular icons as Mamy Wata and forms such as Souwere glass painting; from musicians like Youssou Ndour (Senegal), Cheb Khaled (Algeria), Seigneur Rochereau, Tshala Muana (DRC), Salif Keita (Mali), and Cesaria Evora (Cape Verde); from Mande, Peul, and Kabyle oral literatures in French translation; from filmmakers D.D. Mambety, Moussa Sene Absa, and Ngangura Mweze. Visit to National Museum of African Arts depending on availability of funding. The final grade will be based on contributions to discussions, a mid-term exam, 2 papers, and a final exam.

Selections from the following texts will feature among the required reading list:
Wéréwéré Liking - Statues colons
A. Sow - La Femme, la Vache, la Foi
D.T. Niane - Soundjata ou l'épopée mandingue
Amadou Hampaté Ba - Koumen

FREN 3051 - History and Civilization of France: Revolution to 1945

Beginning with a study of the French Revolution, this course focuses on the cultural and historical influences that have shaped Modern France. We will explore the relationship between culture and political power, the changing role of government, and how ordinary men and women experienced social change. Readings will be drawn from primary documents, memoirs and secondary historical texts. Visual elements will be incorporated in this course as well as selected films.

Readings in this course will be done in both French and English. All lectures, discussions and writing will be done exclusively in French.

FREN 3585 - Topics in Cultural Studies: Literature and Culture of North Africa

La situation géographique des pays d’Afrique du Nord fait de cet ensemble un carrefour de multiples influences depuis l’antiquité. Bordé au sud par le Sahara, à l’ouest par l’océan atlantique, au nord par la mer méditerranée, il est rattaché à l’Asie à son extrémité nord-est par l’isthme de Suez.

Les cultures et populations nord-africaines reflètent cette diversité d’influences qui n’ont jamais cessé de les irriguer depuis les premières invasions à la colonisation et jusqu’aux effets récents de la mondialisation.

Nous aborderons les cultures de l’Afrique du Nord à travers des œuvres littéraires francophones qui nous mèneront de l’Egypte au Maroc, de l’histoire coloniale aux données actuelles, des religions à l’art. Books TBA.

FREN 3585 - Topics in Cultural Studies: Early Novel

This course will serve as an introduction to the French novel from its beginning to the Revolution. Readings will include chivalric romances, excerpts from the comic narratives of Rabelais and Diderot, and a variety of tales of love and adventure. We will examine the novel as an international phenomenon; specifically, we will see how foreign works such as Cervantes's novellas, the Arabian Nights, and Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy influenced the development of the French novel.

FREN 3585 - Topics in Cultural Studies: Non-Fiction - French Social Thought and the "Human Condition"

One of the great treasures of literature in French is the repertory of non-fiction prose: essays, letters, discourses, treatises, travel narratives and numerous other forms. This course proposes a sampling of such writings from the 16th century to today. To provide a thematic thread through the centuries, we will read mainly texts concerning society and the "human condition" in authors such as Montaigne, Descartes, Pascal, Sévigné, Rousseau, Diderot, de Staël, Tocqueville, Baudelaire, Fanon, Barthes, and Quignard. Regular participation in class discussion, quizzes, four papers, one oral presentation, final exam. 

3:30 - 4:45 

FREN 3652: Modern Paris

This course will explore the history of Paris from the French Revolution to the present. The principal theater of the Revolution, Paris became over the course of the nineteenth century not only the central focus of French intellectual, political, and artistic life, but also the model of a nineteenth-century European city. Through a broad variety of written and visual texts, we will study the topography, architecture, politics and daily life of nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first century Paris as well as the development of the imagined city in art and literature. We will also consider how the traces of the past are inscribed on the modern urban landscape.

FREN 4031 - Grammaire et Style

Prerequisite: B+ average in FREN 331 and 332.

Grammar review through the traditional method of grammatical analysis; includes free composition.

FREN 4510 - Advanced Topics in Medieval Literature: Identity and Sexuality: the Medieval Perspective

From damsels in distress to knights in shining armor, this course will confront and challenge lingering stereotypes about men and women in medieval culture. Women writers and castrated men, female warriors and lovesick boys, cross-dressers and werewolves will serve as our guides in exploring gender, sexuality, and social identity in pre-modern Europe. We will move back and forth between medieval and modern culture: How do medieval views continue to influence modern society? How can the medieval perspective help clarify modern approaches to sexuality and identity?

Readings will include literary, spiritual, autobiographical, philosophical, scientific, and historical writings in modern French. Class conducted in French.

FREN 4520 - Advanced Topics in Renaissance Literature: Women Writers of the Renaissance

Prerequisite: Completion of a 3000-level literature course with a grade of B or better.

Against societal norms that relegated them to silence, women of the sixteenth century wrote and published more than ever before. How did women become authors in a world where authority was male? We will consider widely accepted notions of women in statements made by prominent men (Aristotle, Erasmus, Rabelais, Calvin, Montaigne, for example); and we will read a variety of literary works to see how women saw themselves and their society. Readings will include selections from literary works by Christine de Pizan, Hélisenne de Crenne, Marie Dentière, Marguerite de Navarre, Pernette du Guillet, Louise Labé, Madeleine and Catherine des Roches and Marie de Gournay. Class conducted in French. Active participation in class discussion, a mid-term exam, and three papers (15-20 pages total) will be required.

FREN 4559: New Course in French Literature and French Linguistics: Reel Life Stories

Documentary film is the opposite of fiction film. Or is it? Are the stories told in documentary film more “real” or “true” than fictional stories? Do documentary films establish a different relationship with their audiences than fiction films? Do documentarians have a moral imperative to tell the “truth,” from which fiction filmmakers are exempt?

Through what John Grierson called their “creative treatment of actuality,” documentaries seek to inform audiences’ relationship with the past, present, and future. From the very beginnings of cinema, many documentary filmmakers have understood their role as both poetic and political. This course will examine a variety of films from France and the French-speaking world that purport to tell stories that are “real.” We will also read widely in French history, film history, and film theory in order to ask questions about film, communication, truth, and reality in the broadest sense.

FREN 4582 - Advanced Topics in French Poetry: Baudelaire et la modernité

Nous lirons *Les fleurs du mal* et d'autres écrits en prose de Baudelaire. Nous explorerons ce qui est "moderne" dans la modernité de Baudelaire, et, d'une façon plus générale, nous nous intéresserons à la nature et au pouvoir du langage poétique ainsi qu'à la relation entre la poésie et la réalité/ la vie. Prérequisite: One 400-level French literature, culture, or film course. 

FREN 4585 - Topics in Cultural Studies: La laicité : The Secular Tradition in France

Arguably, France is the most adamantly secular country in Europe today. Yet, the French tradition of secularism--known as la laicité--continues to spark heated discussion and debate. A recent law has banned the wearing of the burqa—and other articles of clothing that cover the face- from all public places in France. In 2004, the Islamic headscarf and other religious symbols were forbidden in public schools. How can we, as Americans, understand this debate? What can we learn about French culture and history if we analyse it closely? Beginning with a discussion of the main themes of this contemporary debate, we will take a longer view and study the historical, cultural, and philosophical context that shaped this distinctive form of secularism.

Topics of study will include: the history of church/state relations in France; the legacy of the French revolution; anticlericalism; immigration and the evolution of public versus private identities; the defense and (re)definition of the secular state in modern France.

FREN 4743 - Africa in Cinema

This course is a study of the representation of Africa in American, Western European and African films. It deals with the representations of African cultures by filmmakers from different cultural backgrounds and studies the ways in which their perspectives on Africa are often informed by their own social and ideological positions as well as the demands of exoticism. It also examines the constructions of the African as the "other" and the kinds of responses such constructions have elicited from Africa's filmmakers. These filmic inventions are analyzed through a selection of French, British, American, and African films by such directors as John Huston, S. Pollack, J-J Annaud, M. Radford, Ngangura Mweze, Jean-Pierre Bekolo, Souleymane Cisse, Gaston Kabore, Amadou Seck, Dani Kouyate, Brian Tilley, Jean-Marie Teno on a variety of subjects relative to the image of Africa in cinema. The final grade will be based on one mid-semester paper (select a film by an African filmmaker and provide a sequential reconstruction of the story based on the methods of P. S. Vieyra and of F.Boughédir), a final paper (7-10 pages), an oral presentation and contributions to discussions. Each oral presentation should contribute to the mid-semester paper and to the final research paper. The final paper should be analytical, well documented and written in clear, grammatical French using correct film terminology.

FREN 5011 - Old French

Introduction to reading Old French, with consideration of its main dialects (Ile-de-France, Picard, Anglo-Norman) and paleographical issues. May be taken in conjunction with FREN 5100/8510 or independently. Weekly reading exercises, a transcription and translation exercise, and a final open-book exam. Prerequisite: good reading knowledge of modern French, Latin or another romance language. Taught in English. 1 credit.

FREN 5100/8510 - Medieval Literature in Modern French I

The objective of FREN 5100/8510 is to introduce students to the vibrant field of Medieval Studies and to some of the French texts that have played an integral role in this discipline since its inception in the nineteenth century. Inspired by current discussions (recent books and articles, calls for papers for future conferences), we will explore a diverse array of approaches to reading medieval texts. Topics will include authorship, material culture, manuscript contexts, cultural encounters, medievalism, gender, space, animal-human relations, and emotions.

The work of the semester will also focus on dialogue. Students will develop a final research project in response to previous writings and in discussion with their classmates. Final presentations will follow a conference format, with two or three papers, each on a different text, investigating the same topic.

FREN 5520/8520 - Topics in Sixteenth-Century Literature: Ovidian Metamorphoses: Poetic Recreations of the Ancients 

Long before Du Bellay’s Defense et Illustration, sixteenth-century poets looked to the Ancients for inspiration and models. They followed the rule of imitatio in different ways as they strove to articulate their own – French – poetic voices. We will read the poets they read (Ovid, above all, but also some Virgil and Horace in Latin/French editions) and appreciate the transformations they made through their creative imitations. We will see how Metamorphoses was not only a favorite source but also an inspiring principle for Petrarch, Marot, Scève, Labé, Du Guillet, Du Bellay, Ronsard and others. Students planning to take this course could prepare by reading any editions of Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Virgil’s Aeneid this summer. Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier (I like the Charles Singleton translation) will also be a central point of reference. Some response writing, a mid-semester writing assignment and a final paper will be assigned.

FREN 5540/8520 - Topics in Eighteenth-Century Literature: L’Invention Romanesque au Siecle des Lumieres

Note: Students from departments other than French are welcomeand may choose to write their papers in English.

Le XVIIIe siècle n’est pas seulement «the Age of Reason»: c’est aussi un âge d’or du roman. À côté du prestigieux roman anglais et en concurrence directe avec lui, le roman français invente ses propres voies et élabore de nouvelles techniques. On assiste, dès les années 1720-1730, à une ébullition créatrice qui lance le roman dans des voies originales, tant du point de vue des matières traitées que des techniques narratives. La seule année 1731 voit la publication de deux chefs-d’œuvre de facture très différente: L’Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut de l’abbé Prévost et la Vie de Mariannede Marivaux. Dix ans auparavant, Montesquieu avait déjà imprimé au roman épistolaire le cachet d’une dramaturgie philosophique dans ses Lettres persanes. Jusqu’à la Révolution, le XVIIIe siècle français ne cessera d’être un vaste et remuant laboratoire des formes romanesques.

On lira donc des romans de Montesquieu, Prévost, Marivaux, Crébillon, Diderot, Rousseau, Laclos, choisis pour leurs qualités propres, mais aussi comme des exemples des diverses «voies» qu’emprunte alors la fiction romanesque en France. On portera une attention particulière à l’accréditement des récits, aux techniques narratives, au statut des personnages et de leur parole. On s’intéressera aux tensions productives entre romans «romanesques» et romans ironiques ou «anti-romans». On évoquera les diverses «poétiques» romanesques qui se dégagent des œuvres étudiées – ou les inspirent. On réfléchira aussi sur l’inflexion singulière donnée en France au roman sous la double influence de la Philosophie et du libertinage.

Romans étudiés
- MONTESQUIEU, Les Lettres persanes
- PREVOST : Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut
- MARIVAUX, La Vie de Marianne (Livres I à VIII)
- DIDEROT, Jacques le Fataliste
- ROUSSEAU, La Nouvelle Héloïse (Livre Premier et extraits).
- Madame de STAEL, Corinne

French 5584/8584: Topics in Cinema: Masterpieces of French Cinema

This seminar aims to introduce students to the rich history of French cinema, from its origins in the birth of photography and other proto-cinematic technologies in the nineteenth century, to the advent of digital film at the dawn of the twenty-first. Provides a broad overview of key movements and genres, as well as concurrent trends in film theory and criticism. Students will be invited to reflect closely on film form, and to consider each film in light of the social and historical context within which it was produced. Films may include, but are not limited to, works by Lumière, Méliès, Feuillade, Gance, Buñuel/Dalì, Vigo, Carné, Renoir, Godard, Marker, Truffaut, Varda, Resnais, Chabrol, Tavernier, Besson, Pialat, Ozon, Kechiche, Cantet, Audiard, Asseyas, Desplechin, and Jeunet.

FREN 7040 - Theories and Methods of Language Teaching

An introduction to pedagogical approaches currently practiced in second-language courses at the university level. Students will examine critically the theories behind various methodologies, and the relation of these theories to their own teaching experience. Assignments include readings, exercises, and case studies on the teaching of French; development and critique of pedagogical materials; peer observation and analysis; and drafts of materials for an eventual teaching portfolio.

Required for all GTAs teaching French at UVa for the first time. Restricted to Graduate Teaching Assistants in French. Please register for CR/NC grade option, three credits. If you have already taken a similar course contact Karen James about registering for partial credit. Exchange Assistants will register as auditors.

FREN 7500 - Topics in Criticism and Theory: All You Always Wanted to Know about Theory and Criticism and Were Too Busy to Ask

The purpose of the Proseminar is to define, explore or clarify chosen aspects of Literary Theory, while trespassing on other disciplinary turfs (Philosophy, History of Ideas, Sociology, Gender Studies, Queer Studies, etc.) whenever necessary. Rather than targeting specific authors, this Proseminar (vintage 2011) will focus on «most often asked questions» in our field. Those questions will be exposed and discussed through short readings available in a course packet. I have identified 6 questions or topics (listed below), most of them very open. I will be happy to introduce a couple more during the course of our seminar, taking cues from your own interests.

1) Is engagement passé ?
(How «responsable» or irresponsible can literature be? Roman à thèse, roman idéologique, roman engagé.)

2) What ever happened to Modernity?
(Is Literary Modernity a historical or transhistorical concept? What use do we have for it?)

3) Who killed the Author (and where is the Corpse)?
(Why did Barthes and Foucault consort to commit such a horrendous crime —or did they? How is the Author doing these days?)

4) Is there a Hermeneutat at the Reception Desk ?
(What is the impact of hermeneutics on literary studies? How does it connect with Rezeptiontheorie? )

5) Is Literature a new form of Terror? Is Language Fascist?
(Is it all about Power? And why so many violent metaphors to describe Literature?)

6) How Knowledgeable Can Fiction Be ?
(Literature «knows a lot», says Barthes, but how and what?)

The seminar will be taught in French. Discussions in French and English.Students will be asked to give a 20 minute presentation on a theoretical topic of their choice.
A final paper of about 15 pages will be required.

RELG 7528 - Topics in Modern Religious Thought:

This graduate seminar focuses upon the major writings of Emmanuel Levinas. Special attention will be given to *Totality and Infinity* and *Otherwise than Being*, although we shall also attend to his writings on the relations between art and ethics. Reference will be made to critiques of Levinas proposed by Maurice Blanchot and Jacques Derrida, and one important counter to Levinas, the non-intentional phenomenology of Michel Henry, will also be considered. The ability to read French would be a distinct advantage in taking this seminar.

MUSI 7532 - Musical Analysis: Music and Culture in Third-Republic France

This course surveys the music and culture of Third-Republic France, which stretched from the Franco-Prussian War to World War II. We will pay particular attention to the life and work of Debussy, Satie, and Ravel, not only because of the sheer quality and historical influence of their music, but also because of its deep entanglement with the important trends of this period: Wagnerism, exoticism, symbolism, decadence, medievalism, neoclassicism, the "guerre des chapelles" between rival musical factions, and jazz, among many others. Primarily intended for PhD students. The abilities to read French and decipher musical scores will be useful, but are not required.

FREN 2933 - Oral & Written Expression in French

Prerequisite: Completion of FREN 2320 or equivalent. Permission of instructor for those having completed only FREN 2020. Students having completed French 3032 may not take this course.

An intensive course designed to give students a better command of present-day spoken and written French. Class discussion of news articles on current events (French and international), including but not limited to politics, economics, education, language, and entertainment, and including some articles which class members choose.Mastery of advanced vocabulary, weekly graded written or oral assignments including one guided short exposé, several one-two page papers, oral and written quizzes, and a final exam. Consistent attendance and ACTIVE participation constitute 30% of the semester grade.

This course is designed for students who have not had an extended stay in a French-speaking country. Students who have participated in semester study-abroad programs must confirm placement and transfer credit with the instructor to avoid duplication. Students who have studied in a French speaking country for a year should enroll in FREN 3034 or above.

FREN 3031 - Intensive Grammar and Composition

Prerequisite: Completion of FREN 2020 or 2320 or exemption from FREN 2020 by the Placement Test; or a score of 3 on the AP French language exam; or a score of at least 660 on the SAT. Required as preparation for all subsequent courses except FREN 2933 and FREN 3030.

This course offers an introduction to narrative writing in French. Emphasis is placed on writing, revision, and an intensive review of grammar rules as they apply to oral and written communication. A variety of assessment formats include compositions, presentations, short quizzes, dictations, and a mid-term and/or final exam. Preparation and active participation are essential to improve reading, writing, and speaking skills. The course is conducted in French.

FREN 3032 - The Writing and Reading of Texts

Prerequisite: French 3031. French 3032 itself is a prerequisite for all undergraduate courses on a higher level except French 2933 and French 3030.

This course will prepare students for upper-level French courses by introducing them to the skills necessary to analyze literature and to express ideas in written and oral form. Specifically, students will read literary texts from a variety of periods; they will learn to identify the elements that authors use to construct these texts; and they will learn the technical terms used to analyze poetry, prose, and theater. Grading will largely depend on the student's development of an analytical perspective on literature and on the student's ability to compose well-structured papers in correct French. The minimum writing requirement is 10-15 pages for the semester, with at least one paper assignment of 5 pages. In addition, students will be expected to participate actively in order to advance their speaking skills in French. All discussions, readings, and assignments will be in French.

FREN 3034 - Advanced Oral and Written Expression in French

Prerequisite: Students must have completed French 3031 and French 3032 or their equivalent. Counts for major/minor credit.

An intensive course designed to improve more advanced students' oral and written language skills. Assignments include discussion on topics of current interest, presentations, translations, and compositions. All materials are French- or Francophone-related. The course focuses on language development in a Francophone cultural context, so students can get familiar with French and Francophone cultures and comfortable in expressing their viewpoints in French. Of course, consistent attendance and active participation are essential.

FREN 3041 - Literature of the Middle Ages & the 16th Century

The French Middle Ages and Renaissance, a period covering over 500 years, may seem like a faraway world of knights and crusaders, castles and intrigues; yet books from those centuries between 1050 and 1600 shaped ideals, tastes and cultural icons that still prevail today. From best-sellers to box-office hits, modern culture betrays its fascination with that distant past. In this course you will go beyond anachronism and learn about the real thing. We will read in modern French La Chanson de Roland, the founding epic of la douce France; Yvain ou le chevalier au lion, an Arthurian romance; some lais of Marie de France, the first woman storyteller in France; excerpts from Christine de Pizan’s utopian vision, La Cite des Dames; Marguerite de Navarre’s novella collection, the Heptaméron; and Rabelais’s Pantagruel, a fantastic tale of giants in Utopia. We will close with selections from Montaigne’s Essais, where the author reflects on the New World of America and the equally novel territory of the self. The class will be conducted in French. There will be three short papers, totaling 12-15 pages, a mid-term and a final.

FREN 3042 - Literature of the 17th & 18th Centuries: Performing the Self

Prerequisite: FREN 3032.

The 17th and 18th centuries stressed the importance of conscious self-fashioning and self-presentation in society. Many approaches to this activity appear in important literary works from the period. One might conform to existing social types or attempt to run against prevailing norms. The results of either approach might be comic or tragic, for the social world was represented as pitiless. In this course we will read works by Molière, Corneille, Lafayette, Rousseau, Laclos, and Montesquieu.

FREN 3043 - Literature of the 19th, 20th, & 21st Centuries: Great Books

Ce cours est une introduction à la littérature française moderne. Nous nous intéresserons en particulier à cinq grands romans.Bien que ce cours ait pour objectif principal de vous faire découvrir les auteurs, les mouvements, et les styles narratifs ayant marqué le paysage littéraire français, nous chercherons également à aller au delà d’une simple lecture descriptive. Ce cours implique une participation orale active ainsi qu’un travail d’écriture régulier sur les oeuvres au programme.

FREN 3046 - African Literatures & Cultures

Prerequisite: French 3032.

This course will explore aspects of African literatures and cultures. It will focus on selected issues of special resonance in contemporary African life. Oral literature and its continuing impact on all other art forms. Key issues in French colonial policy and its legacy in Africa: language, politics, education. The course will examine the image of the postcolonial state and society as found in contemporary arts, paintings, sculpture, music, and cinema. Selections from painters like Cheri Samba (Democratic Republic of Congo), Werewere Liking (Cameroun) and sculptors like Ousmane Sow, including such popular icons as Mamy Wata and forms such as Souwere glass painting; from musicians like Youssou Ndour (Senegal), Cheb Khaled (Algeria), Seigneur Rochereau, Tshala Muana (DRC), Salif Keita (Mali), and Cesaria Evora (Cape Verde); from Mande, Peul, and Kabyle oral literatures in French translation; from filmmakers D.D. Mambety, Moussa Sene Absa, and Ngangura Mweze. Visit to National Museum of African Arts depending on availability of funding. The final grade will be based on contributions to discussions, a mid-term exam, 2 papers, and a final exam.

Selections from the following texts will feature among the required reading list:

Wéréwéré Liking - Statues colons

A. Sow - La Femme, la Vache, la Foi

D.T. Niane - Soundjata ou l'épopée mandingue

Amadou Hampaté Ba - Koumen

FREN 3584 - Topics in French Cinema

This course provides an introductory overview of French Cinema from the silent era to the present. Emphasis will be placed on important directors and styles as well as on acquiring the vocabulary and analytical tools needed to produce excellent written work about film in both print and digital form.

FREN 3585 - Topics in Cultural Studies: Aesthetic Revolutions and Cultural Currents

Prerequisite FREN 3032.

A course on the emergence of aesthetic and intellectual movements such as Romanticism, Naturalism, Realism, Impressionism, Symbolism, Decadence, Dadaism, Surrealism, Existentialism, and the New Wave. These movements represent engagement with or resistance to the society, culture and events of their time. We will study examples of several “isms” (in text, painting, film) while exploring how they got their name, and what they reveal about French culture. Course conducted in French.

FREN 3655 -Victor Hugo: Poète, Dramaturge, Romancier, Critique Social, Artiste

Prerequisite: FREN 3032.

A literary and political giant of nineteenth-century France, Victor Hugo was by age 25 a much-admired poet whose play Hernani ushered in the Romantic revolution in theater. A tireless social critic, Hugo argued for many causes, including educational reform and abolition of the death penalty. When not writing novels, such as Notre-Dame de Paris and Les Misérables, he was carving out an important political career and creating drawings and paintings that influenced some Surrealist artists.

In plunging into Hugo’s works, we will ask some big questions: What difference can a poète engagé make in society? How do literature and art inspire us? What is the impact of their beauty, of the emotions and new ideas they bring us, and of the author’s vision? In reading an abridged Les Misérables, Hugo’s poetry, speeches, and public letters to the world—and in considering his art work and political exile—we will talk about the universality of his themes (for instance, passionate love, familial love, justice and injustice, liberty, and God).

Our goals: appreciate Victor Hugo’s genius and literary style; discover perspectives and themes that speak to us individually; write about ideas analytically and compellingly; reflect on our personal roles in society. Course work includes discussion, essays, group work, an oral presentation, and a research project completed over the course of the semester. Taught in French. To sign up on the permissions list, please read the information and complete the form you will find on this web page: http://faculty.virginia.edu/marva/permission.htm.

FREN 4020 - History of the French Language

Prerequisites: the ability to read, write and speak well in French. Previous course work in phonetics, historical linguistics, and other Romance languages would be helpful. The course will be conducted in French and counts for major credit in the French and Linguistics Programs.

This course will look at some of the ways in which the French language has changed through time, with respect to vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, orthography, meaning, discourse, and the like. Social, cultural, political, environmental, as well as purely linguistic factors that have played some part in language change will be considered. Our approach will be non-traditional and somewhat novel. We begin with an inventory of penetrating questions, for example: why does one say ‘cheval’ in the singular but ‘chevaux’ in the plural (and cf. ‘animal ~ animaux'; but ‘vache ~ vaches’); or why did ”nos ancêtres les Gaulois” ‘bequeath’ so few of their words to the French lexicon; or why does the utterance “t’as pas dix balles?” immediately strike you as being ‘non-standard’-- and when was the language conventionalized anyway? Answers to such questions will provide the impetus for a more in-depth study and discussion of some of the major (underlying) diachronic changes and currents in the language.

FREN 4035 - Tools and Techniques of Translation

Prerequesites: B+ average in FREN 3031, 3032, and 4031 or instruction permission.

Survey of the main tools and techniques of translation. Written and oral translation exercises to and from the target language. Selection of texts will vary.Taught in French.

FREN 4510 - Advanced Topics in Medieval Literature: Medieval Beasts

How are human beings related to the animal kingdom?What distinguishes them from (other) animals?What and how do humans and (other) animals learn from each other?Since long before the animal rights movement, Bugs Bunny or pet psychiatrists, writers--literary, philosophical and scientific--have recorded the human struggle with these questions.In this course, we will examine French depictions of animals in bestiaries (theological/scientific encyclopedias of the animal world), fables, allegories and romances written between 1150 and 1350.We will explore medieval views on the respective places of human beings and animals in the natural world, the treatment of creatures that problematize classification (e.g., werewolves), and animal symbolism and associations that continue to the present (e.g., the lion as symbol of God, the crafty fox).Requirements for the course include active participation, a short textual commentary, a research paper of 10-12 pages, and a final exam.

FREN 4530 - Advanced Topics in 17th Century Literature: Tragedy

Prerequisite: FREN 3032 and at least one French literature course at the 3040 level.

This course will concentrate on the tragedies of Pierre Corneille (principally Médée, Le Cid, Horace) and Jean Racine (Phèdre, Andromaque, Iphigénie). Initially, however, we will sample some earlier works by Alexandre Hardy, Jean Rotrou, and Tristan L’Hermite. There will be an oral presentation, quizzes, a mid-term paper, and a final paper.

FREN 4581 - Advanced Topics in Francophone Literature: La réécriture de l’histoire en mots en images dans la littérature et le cinéma francophone caribéen et africain

Ce cours propose d’analyser comment les écrivains et cinéastes caribéens et africains francophone revisitent le passé de la colonisation et des luttes de libérationde pays et de peuples placés sous la tutelle ou sous le joug d’un pouvoir européen, en l’occurrence la France. Nous étudierons la reconstruction en mots et en images d’une histoire principalement écrite par des chroniqueurs et historiens occidentaux, une histoire falsifiée qui demande à être réécrite, réévaluée. Cette exploration littéraire et cinématographique marque la volonté de se réapproprier une histoire obscurcie et raturée afin de restaurer la mémoire effacée et de rétablir une vérité historique qui ne soit plus celle unilatérale, linéaire et hiérarchisée du regard eurocentriste et impérialiste. Nous analyserons les œuvres d’écrivains et de réalisateurs originaires de différentes aires francophones (la Martinique avec Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, Daniel Boukman et Euzhan Palcy, Haïti avec Raoul Peck et Jan J. Dominique, le Sénégal avec L.S. Senghor et Ousmane Sembène, l’Algérie avec Assia Djébar), tout en abordant des genres littéraires variés (roman, poésie, théâtre, essais) et des productions filmiques de diverses natures (documentaires et fictions ancrées dans la réalité historique). Nous verrons comment les œuvres de ces écrivains et cinéastes contribuent au rétablissement de «la chronologie tourmentée d’un temps stabilisé dans le néant d’une histoire imposée» (E. Glissant, Le discours antillais, 1981).

FREN 4811 - Francophone Literature of Africa

Prerequisite: French 3032.

Introduction to the Francophone literature of Africa; survey, with special emphasis on post- World War II poets, novelists, and playwrights of Africa. The role of cultural and literary reviews (Légitime Défense, L'Etudiant noir, and Présence Africaine) in the historical and ideological development of this literature will be examined. Special reference will be made to Caribbean writers of the Negritude movement. Documentary videos on African history and cultures will be shown and important audio-tapes will also be played regularly. Supplementary texts will be assigned occasionally. Students will be expected to present response papers on a regular basis.

In addition to the required reading material, 2 essays (60%), regular class attendance, and contribution to discussions (10%), and a final exam (30%) constitute the course requirements. Papers are due on the dates indicated on the syllabus.

Required reading:

Diop, Birago. Les contes d’Amadou Koumba .

Chevrier, J.Anthologie Africaine: Poésie

Bâ, Mariama. Une si longue lettre.

Assia Djebar. Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement (Toolkit).

Boudjedra, Rachid. L'escargot entêté.

FREN 4838 - French Society and Civilization

Prerequisite: successful completion of at least one 3000-level course in literature or cultural studies beyond 3032.

French 4838 is designed to provide students with a background in social, cultural, political, and institutional aspects of contemporary French society in the context of recent history. We will first examine the role of geography, history, education, and politics in shaping contemporary French attitudes, cultural practices, and institutions since the Second World War. We will then focus on important social questions facing contemporary France: changing family structures, the role of women, religion, immigration, and France¹s place in the European union. Course materials include readings from the French press and other published sources, films, music, internet exploration, and radio and television broadcasts. The course strongly emphasizes oral participation and discussion, and students are expected to follow current events throughout the semester.

FREN 5150/ 8510- Medieval Literature in Modern French II: Textual Bodies - The Making of Books, Authors, and Readers in the Middle Ages

Do weight, texture, and shape of books embody meaning? Can we restrict reading to an intellectual activity removed from sensual encounters with the objects we hold in our hands, scroll over on our screens, violate or embellish with our marginal comments? The medieval manuscript – defined by the contact of hand to quill to skin – invites us to see in books bodies of writing, inscribed bodies in the process of becoming, agents creating meaning and generating authors. How might the medieval reading and writing experiences linked to hearing, singing, and proclaiming help us revive/re-imagine our relationship to literature? In its new cyborg form, rather than deny intimacy, how does the digitized medieval corpus engender new textual experiences?

This course will introduce students to a new way of experiencing the book that will begin with a study of medieval book fabrication, circulation and usage to then consider how new technologies reinterpret our relationship with texts. Our study will be bound to the writings of late-medieval francophone poets, including Jean de Meun, Guillaume de Machaut, Jean Froissart, and Christine de Pizan. This course is part of an Andrew W. Mellon grant project on “The Author in the Book” and will provide participants access to new digitized materials and software created for the study of online texts.

FREN 5581/8580 - Topics in African Literature: Sembène Ousmane, Romancier Et Cinéaste 

This course will examine the oeuvre of Sembène Ousmane from the perspectives of the writing and filming–or filming and writing, as the case may be-- that has come to characterize his artistic work. The two forms of art will provide the basis for a study of forms of expression and narrative styles. The social criticism that Sembène’s art deploys will be discussed in reference to some of the major social and political situations that have shaped his action and thought since World War II: the colonial situation, the rise of African nationalism and the struggle for independence; decolonization and its aftermath, neocolonialism and postcolonial conditions. The course will explore the ways in which Sembène employs novels and films–and to what extent he succeeds or fails in his endeavor--to speak for and to depict agents and conditions of possibility of change in Africa. Students will be required to write reviews of the films and the novels as well as a research paper.

Primary reading assignments will include: Les Bouts de Bois de Dieu, La Noire de… (Short-Story and Film), Le Mandat (film and novel), Xala (film and novel), Guelwaar (film and novel), and selected short stories from L’ Harmattan and Vehi-Ciosane. These and others works by and on Sembene Ousmane will be found on Reserve at Clemons Library, under French 5581 and under French 8570. Important reference texts will also be available on Collab.

FREN 5584/8485 - Topics in Cinema: Documentary Film - Theory and Practice

From the very beginnings of cinema, France has made significant contributions to the development of the documentary genre. Through an exploration of important directors, moments, and sub-genres in this story, this course will examine theoretical questions fundamental to the genre that lead us to question the very definition of documentary film as a genre distinct from fiction film. These theoretical questions are broadly applicable to film in general and to other visual and textual forms. In this course, we will consider a selection of films from 1895 to the present; read widely in French history, film history, and film theory; and explore scholarly expression in formats facilitated by digital media.

FREN 5585/ 8585 - Topics in Civilization/Cultural Studies: Lingua Franca - Language and Nation in Modern France

This course proposes to examine the historical roots of the tight articulation between language and national identity in France. From at least the late 18th century, political debate focused on the question of the French language as a tool for national cohesion. Within the context of 19th century French imperial expansion, the dissemination of the French language and the institutions and cultural values associated with it played a pivotal role in attempts to achieve colonial dominion. Today, within the context of the European Union and the changes wrought by globalization, issues of citizenship, immigration, language, and French national identity have once again risen to the fore of public preoccupation and debate.

Students should expect a general course on the cultural, social, and political history of modern France with a particular focus on the construction of nationhood and the role of the French language in that process.

FREN 3030 – Phonetics: The Sounds of French

FREN 3030 is an introductory course in French phonetics, intended to present basic concepts in phonetic theory and teach students techniques for improving their own pronunciation. It includes an examination of the physical characteristics of individual French sounds; the relationship between these sounds and their written representation (spelling); the rules governing the pronunciation of "standard French"; the most salient phonological features of selected French varieties; phonetic differences between French and English sounds; and much more. Practical exercises in 'ear-training' and 'phonetic transcription' (using IPA) are also essential elements in this dynamic course.

Taught in French. Counts for major credit in French and in Linguistics.

FREN 3031 - Intensive Grammar and Composition

Prerequisite: Completion of FREN 2020 or 2320; exemption from FREN 2020 by the UVA (F-Cape) Placement Test; a score of 3 on the AP French Language Exam; or a score of at least 660 on the SAT exam. FREN 3031 is a prerequisite for all subsequent French courses except FREN 3010.

This course offers an introduction to narrative writing in French. Emphasis is placed on writing, revision, and an intensive review of grammar rules as they apply to oral and written communication. The variety of assessment formats includes compositions, presentations, short quizzes, dictations, and a mid-term and/or final exam. Preparation and active participation are essential to improve reading, writing, and speaking skills. The course is conducted in French.

FREN 3032 - The Writing and Reading of Texts

This course will prepare students for upper-level French courses by introducing them to the skills necessary to analyze literature and to express ideas in written and oral form. Specifically, students will read literary texts from a variety of periods; they will learn to identify the elements that authors use to construct these texts; and they will learn the technical terms used to discuss poetry, prose, and theater. Grading will largely depend on the student's development of an analytical perspective on literature and on the student's ability to compose well-structured papers in correct French. The minimum writing requirement is a total of 10-15 pages for the semester, with at least one paper assignment of 5 pages. In addition, students will be expected to participate actively in order to advance their speaking skills in French. All discussion, readings, and assignments will be in French.

FREN 3034 - Advanced Oral and Written Expression in French

FREN 3034, which counts for major/minor credit, is an intensive course designed to improve the oral and written language skills of more advanced students. Assignments include discussions on topics of current interest, presentations, translations, and compositions. All materials are French- or Francophone-related. The course focuses on language development in a Francophone cultural context, so students can become familiar with French and Francophone cultures and comfortable expressing their viewpoints in French. Of course, consistent attendance and active participation are essential.

FREN 3041 – Literature of the Middle Ages & 16th Century: Sinners, Saints, and Storytellers

Knights rescuing damsels in distress.  Damsels rescuing knights in distress.  Quests for adventure, God, love, truth.  Bawdy ballads and soulful sonnets.  The first five hundred years of French literature provide endless entertainment and often unnerving perspectives on the world and its history.  The authors of this time are responsible for the ideas, stories and literary genres that determine our "modern" assumptions about subjects such as romantic love, common courtesy, gender, literary conventions, virtue and heroism, sport and entertainment, and truth.  Readings are in modern French translation and include the foundation text of modern Frenchness, La Chanson de Roland; the provocative Vie de saint Alexis; Arthurian tales of chivalry by Chrétien de Troyes and Marie de France;  Christine de Pisan's feminist Cité des dames; Michel de Montaigne's essays on cannibals and friendship; and a selection of lyric poetry from each century.  

FREN 3043 - Literature of the 19th, 20th, & 21st Centuries: Great Books

Rather than focus on any single theme, movement, motif, or overarching problem, this seminar will examine a few of the most admired and influential novels in the history of modern and contemporary French literature: from Honoré de Balzac’s tale of a young law student driven to make it in the big city (Le Père Goriot, 1835) and Gustave Flaubert’s portrait of the original desperate housewife (Madame Bovary, 1856), to a short (but sweet!) morsel of Marcel Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu (1913), Albert Camus' atmospheric L'Etranger (1942) and Alain Robbe-Grillet’s scandalously puzzling La Jalousie (1957).  Annie Ernaux’s most recent autofictional tale will round out the corpus and introduce students to one of the most talked-about writers of the last few decades.

Required work to include: active participation in class discussions, weekly Collab discussion board posts, an oral presentation, 2 longer papers (4-5 pages), and a final exam. Course conducted in French.

FREN 3043 - Literature of the 19th, 20th, & 21st Centuries: Passion Disorders

Ce cours est centré sur l’étude des représentations des désordres de la passion, plus précisément les manifestations de la jalousie dans les grandes œuvres du XIXe et du XXe siècles. Nous analyserons les causes et les effets de la jalousie et nous nous interrogerons sur la transcription de la jalousie dans le texte littéraire (existe-t-il des caractéristiques stylistiques propre à l’expression de la jalousie ?). Nous complèterons l’analyse des textes par quelques films français pour comparer le traitement de la jalousie au cinéma et dans la littérature.

Auteurs au programme : Hugo, Maupassant, Mérimée, Proust, Robbe-Grillet, Ernaux

FREN 3046 – African Literatures & Cultures

This course will explore aspects of African literatures and cultures. It will focus on selected issues of special resonance in contemporary African life. Oral literature and its continuing impact on all other art forms. Key issues in French colonial policy and its legacy in Africa: language, politics, education. The course will examine the image of the postcolonial state and society as found in contemporary arts, paintings, sculpture, music, and cinema. Selections from painters like Cheri Samba (Democratic Republic of Congo), Werewere Liking (Cameroun) and sculptors like Ousmane Sow, including such popular icons as Mamy Wata and forms such as Souwere glass painting; from musicians like Youssou Ndour (Senegal), Cheb Khaled (Algeria), Seigneur Rochereau, Tshala Muana (DRC), Salif Keita (Mali), and Cesaria Evora (Cape Verde); from Mande, Peul, and Kabyle oral literatures in French translation; from filmmakers D.D. Mambety, Moussa Sene Absa, and Ngangura Mweze. Visit to National Museum of African Arts depending on availability of funding. The final grade will be based on contributions to discussions, a mid-term exam, 2 papers, and a final exam.

Selections from the following texts will feature among the required reading list: Wéréwéré Liking - Statues colons; A. Sow - La Femme, la Vache, la Foi; D.T. Niane - Soundjata ou l'épopée mandingue; Amadou Hampaté Ba - Koumen.

FREN 3585 - Topics in Cultural Studies: Digital Story Telling Workshop

Students will investigate digital media from the dual perspective of a scholar-practitioner. They will be active readers, critics, and creators of digital audiovisual projects; read widely in the field of digital humanities; reflect, speak and write about how their scholarly and creative works shape and inform one another. No prior technical or visual skills required; high level of motivation and French ability preferred.

FREN 3753 – L’immigration en France

L'immigration est un sujet de premier plan dans l'actualité quotidienne en Europe et en France en particulier ; c'est aussi un sujet de polémique au cœur du débat politique et social. Le fait que la majorité de l'immigration récente vienne d'Afrique (du Nord et Subsaharienne) et se revendique de l'Islam entraîne des interrogations sur l'identité nationale et sur les principes fondateurs de la République comme celui de la Laïcité. En abordant le thème de l'immigration, on traite divers domaines qui facilitent la compréhension de la France d'aujourd'hui l'histoire à laquelle l'immigration est liée, ses conséquences sociales, culturelles, économiques, politiques et parfois humanitaires. Des œuvres littéraires, des articles de presse et des films illustreront le cours.

Livres : Pascal Blanchard, La fracture coloniale ; Claire Etcherelli, Elise ou la vraie vie ; Jean-Marie Le Clesio, Poisson d'Or; Jean-Marie LeClesio Dese.

FREN 4031 – Grammaire et Style

Prerequisites: B+ average in FREN 3031 and 3032.

In this grammar review course, students are expected to learn how best to structure the French language and how to express themselves with concision and clarity. Taught in French. 

FREN 4560 – Advanced Topics in 19th Century Literature: Romanticism

Prerequisite: FREN 3032 and at least one FREN course numbered 3041 to 3043 (or instructor permission).

Ce cours vous présente une sélection de textes littéraires de la période romantique française du 19ème siècle. A travers une lecture approfondie des textes variés, nous examinerons la théorie esthétique, l'idéal, et la sensibilité du movement romantique. Nous étudierons, entre autres, la mélancolie et la passion dont s'imprègne l'état d'âme romantique, l'esprit de la révolte, ainsi que la fascination devant la nature, le rêve, la folie, et la mort. Nous essayerons de dégager le concept du "moi" et du "héros romantique" et d'articuler le rôle de l'écrivain et de l'écriture qui en ressort. La manière dont le romantisme se détache et se libère du classicisme et annonce les autres movements littéraires du 19ème siècle sera également examinée.

FREN 4583 – Seminar for Majors: Flânerie

Prerequisite: One 4000-level French literature or culture course The course is conducted in French. Some readings in English.

Books to buy: Any complete French edition of Baudelaire's Spleen de Paris , also called Petits poèmes en prose.

All other readings will be available online or in PDF.This course is conducted in French. Readings in French and in English. 

In this course, twenty-first-century digital rovers will meet nineteenth-century urban strollers, or flâneurs. Flânerie (walking, strolling, loitering, meandering, sauntering), becomes a key feature of city life in a spectrum of modern French literature. This practice was defined and theorized, both during the nineteenth century and in subsequent social histories, as a symptom of modernity and urban expansion. While the term predates French poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), flânerie as we know it today originated in the essay “The Painter of Modern Life” (1859 and 1863), in which Baudelaire discusses Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Man of the Crowd” (1840). Social historian Walter Benjamin’s subsequent analysis of these works established the figure of the flâneur as an individual in the throng, subjected to sensory overload and navigating the daily shock and alienation of fast-paced urban life. Benjamin’s focus on phantasmagoria, panorama, and the specular nature of commodification has set the stage for conceptualizing flânerie as a practice linked to vision, mobility, and progress. Yet Baudelaire’s version of flânerie extends beyond the iconic act of strolling, public elbow-rubbing and observation, to a more complex, non-linear process comprising thought, social interaction, decision-making, multi-sensorial perception, silence, and artistic production. The acceleration of urban life evoked in flâneur literature also highlights ethical quandaries brought about by a rapidly changing social, spatial and temporal environment.

Early in the semester, Poe’s “The Man of Crowd” and Baudelaire’s “Painter of Modern Life” will provide an introduction to the modern flâneur. Students will progress to Baudelaire’s collection of fifty prose poems, Le Spleen de Paris, and related essays and works of fiction. So many flâneur motifs are dramatized in Spleen de Paris, that its relationship to “Painter of Modern Life” resembles the empirical paradigm of testing theory through fieldwork, with the prose poems providing examples or cases related to the concept of flânerie. On the streets of Second-Empire Paris, the flâneur encounters a host of characters: counterfeiters and gullible victims; seekers of luxury and hungry families; marginalized immigrants and world-travelers. The theme of drifting into chance meetings is reinforced by the volume’s unusual structural and narrative dynamics, which create an overall sense of nonlinear perambulation in the navigation from poem to poem: a sort of readers’ flânerie. 

The course is conceptualized on the premise that flâneur poetics have something in common with the cognitive processes honed in a generation raised with digital media, surrounded and jostled not by crowded streets, but by information highways. Like a Second-Empire flâneur navigating the city throng, the net-generation student may appear to be a peripatetic, distracted, over-stimulated and under-focused wanderer. However, recent research suggests that the Internet and easily accessible digital resources have changed (even enhanced) the way that people encounter, process and manipulate information. It is less a question of format per se (digital vs. analog, screen vs. page), than a flexible mode of thinking and engagement that resonates with the reader-centered, customizable, associative and mobile poetics of flânerie. What instructors sometimes interpret as ennui, or a shallow engagement with course materials, may instead be a student’s difficulty adapting to hierarchical, linear modes of learning. The pedagogical experiment that I envision advocates an alternative to the “plotted course.” Students will perform the sorts of tasks and projects I include in a traditional course syllabus: a research paper; a creative project; individual presentations; collaborative problem-solving; on-line posting and discussion; regular reading and reaction writing. However, while we will spend the first several sessions on pre-selected flâneur readings, the rest of the reading syllabus will be student-generated. Students will sequence the reading of Baudelaire’s prose poems, and steer the selection of secondary readings and materials for the class on a bi-weekly basis. The readings from which the course is launched connect naturally to problems of the environment, urban planning, social class, foreignness, immigration, psychology, consumer culture, cultural history and aesthetics (to name only a few). Students will blaze trails using recommended digital resources (Gallica, Project Gutenberg, the MLA Database, etc.), and they will examine these sources alongside more popular digital spaces and social networks.

The primary goals of this pedagogical project are to promote intellectual curiosity, interdisciplinarity, active learning, and collaboration by fostering the experience of digression, discovery, surprises and breakthroughs available through scholarly flânerie. Students will be able to follow these new paths to a deeper engagement with reading, writing, and contemplation, and a thoughtful consideration of how literary and cultural studies relate to their own lives and social interactions, online or on the streets.

FREN 4585 – Advanced Topics in Cultural Studies: The Frogs and the Eagle: (Mis)representations of America in French Literature

While France and America historically stood as allies from the very birth of the United States, anti-Americanism also has a long tradition in France, shaped and nurtured by generations of intellectuals and writers. As early as the 18th century, prominent French philosophers and scientists such as Buffon dwelled upon America's «weaknesses» as a continent, prompting Thomas Jefferson's counter-attack in his Notes on the State of Virginia. In the course of the 19th century, anti-Americanism moved to new topics, ranging from the lack of cultural life to economic greed and military imperialism. From Baudelaire, who coined the French word "américanisation" in the 1850s to Jean Baudrillard, who in 1986 described America as a non-entity, French poets, novelists and writers played a decisive part in the elaboration and diffusion of anti-American stereotypes.

The seminar will explore this tradition, which accounts for a great number of French attitudes towards the US today. The first four weeks will be devoted to a presentation of the most salient features of French anti-Americanism, in connection with specific historical periods (from the 18th to the 21st century): «L'Amérique invivable», «L'Amérique inculte», «L'Amérique impériale» et «L'Amérique introuvable». The second half of the seminar will be organized thematically, each week being devoted to a selected, significant topic : «La ville», «La violence», «La voracité», «Le vice et la vertu».

Readings will include an array of sources, ranging from natural history and philosophy to poetry and from short story to political pamphlet. We will discuss pages or chapters in Buffon, De Pauw, Jefferson, Baudelaire, André Siegfried, Luc Durtain, Georges Duhamel, Céline, Sartre, Marcel Aymé, Jean Baudrillard, Bernard-Henri Lévy. We will also have a look at representations of the US in French popular culture : serialized fiction (La Conspiration des milliardaires), comic books (Tintin en Amérique), cartoons (Plantu).

Students will be expected to participate in discussions on the readings; possibly give an oral presentation (in French or in English) in the second half of the seminar; define a research topic and write a paper (10-15 pages) due at the end of the semester. THIS COURSE IS CONDUCTED IN FRENCH.

Since Professor Roger is not on grounds for the entire semester, this class will meet 4 hours week from the beginning of the term until he leaves in early November.

FREN 4743 – Africa in Cinema

This course is a study of the representation of Africa in American, Western European and African films. It deals with the representations of African cultures by filmmakers from different cultural backgrounds and studies the ways in which their perspectives on Africa are often informed by their own social and ideological positions as well as the demands of exoticism. It also examines the constructions of the African as the "other" and the kinds of responses such constructions have elicited from Africa's filmmakers. These filmic inventions@are analyzed through a selection of French, British, American, and African films by such directors as John Huston, S. Pollack, J-J Annaud, M. Radford, Ngangura Mweze, Jean-Pierre Bekolo, Souleymane Cisse, Gaston Kabore, Amadou Seck, Dani Kouyate, Brian Tilley, Jean-Marie Teno on a variety of subjects relative to the image of Africa in cinema. The final grade will be based on one mid-semester paper (select a film by an African filmmaker and provide a sequential reconstruction of the story based on the methods of P. S. Vieyra and of F.Boughédir), a final paper (7-10 pages), an oral presentation and contributions to discussions. Each oral presentation should contribute to the mid-semester paper and to the final research paper. The final paper should be analytical, well documented and written in clear, grammatical French using correct film terminology.

FRTR 4540 – The International Enlightenment

As one of the most important movements in Western intellectual history, the Enlightenment laid the foundations for our current conceptions of democratic government, religious toleration, freedom of speech, and the scientific method. Its proponents defied the monarchy and the church in order to bring their countries into a new era and, inadvertently, to spark the French and American Revolutions. The readings for this course will focus principally on works by British and French Enlightenment figures, such as John Locke, Voltaire, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Works by American, Italian, and German writers such as Thomas Jefferson, Cesare Beccaria, and Immanuel Kant will also be included. We will particularly focus on strategies, such as humor and fictional narratives, used by the authors to hide their provocative ideas from government censors.

Finally, we will consider texts by modern theorists such as Theodor Adorno and Michel Foucault and discuss to what extent their critiques of the Enlightenment were justified.

Requirements for the course will include a 5-page midterm paper and a 10-15 page final research paper.

FRTR 4540, which is also cross-listed as CPLT 4559, is taught in English and can be used to fulfull the second writing requirement. 

FREN 5011 – Old French

Introduction to reading Old French, with consideration of its main dialects (Ile-de-France, Picard, Anglo-Norman) and paleographical issues.May be taken in conjunction with FREN 5100/8510 or independently.Weekly reading exercises, a transcription and translation exercise, and a final open-book exam.Prerequisite: good reading knowledge of modern French, Latin or another romance language.Taught in English. 1 credit.

FREN 5510/8510 – Topics in Medieval Literature: Medieval Saints' Lives

How does one both please and teach? For medieval writers of saints' Lives, delighting the audience served the vital purpose of saving souls. Reading Lives written between 880 and the late thirteenth century, we will investigate the ways in which medieval hagiographers engaged with a variety of literary, social, and philosophical problems that fascinated contemporary audiences.

FREN 5520/8520 – Topics in 16th Century Literature: Rabelais and His World

The tales of Pantagruel and Gargantua enact a drama of upheaval, portraying and challenging early modern notions of language and narrative. Rabelais was a priest, a physician, a diplomat’s secretary, a writer, and above all, a genius. While reading closely Pantagruel, Gargantua, Tiers Livre and Quart Livre, we will examine sixteenth century notions of history, marriage, signs, giants, the New World and religious reform. We will make brief forays into the works of writers in Rabelais’s «circle»: Erasmus, Marot and Marguerite de Navarre; as well as his favorite authors: Plato, Lucian, Vergil and others. Visits to the Gordon Collection will orient students to the use of rare books and to the history of early printed book production. Requirements: some reaction writing, an oral presentation, a mid-semester writing assignment, and a final seminar paper.

FREN 5540/8540 – Topics in 18th Century Literature: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, le "premier homme moderne"?

C’est Nietzsche qui appelle Rousseau le «premier homme moderne»; ce n’est pas vraiment un compliment, puisqu’il précise aussitôt : «idéaliste et canaille à la fois». Jugement caractéristique. Qu’on aime Rousseau ou pas, impossible de ne pas reconnaître en lui un de ces rares écrivains qui, en s’inventant eux-mêmes, dessinent et incarnent une nouvelle figure de l’humanité.

Trois siècles après sa naissance (le 28 juin 1712), la silhouette de Rousseau se détache plus gigantesque que jamais sur notre horizon intellectuel. Aucun penseur de l’âge des Lumières n’a suscité autant de haine, ni autant d’admiration. De son vivant, il fut traité de «charlatan»,de «sophiste» et de «visionnaire», c’est-à-dire de fou. Il est aujourd’hui présent dans tous nos débats. Les questions qu’il s’est posées et qu’il a imposées à ses contemporains sont encore nos questions. Du côté de la Cité: démocratie, souveraineté, ambivalence du «progrès», conditions du vivre-ensemble, spectacularisation de la vie sociale. Du côté de l’Homme: incertitude sur l’identité, troubles de l’individualisation, tension entre existentiel et rationnel, séparation des sphères du masculin et du féminin, conflit entre pulsions et conscience. Du côté de l’Art: valeur morale et politique des œuvres d’art, conditions de recevabilité de ces œuvres, statut de la vérité dans les œuvres de fiction, place du «moi» dans le processus créateur.

De cette œuvre immense —l’une des plus glosées au monde, après celle de Shakespeare—, on ne pourra évidemment pas tout parcourir.

Je propose de l’aborder 1) en allant directement aux questions les plus vives que Rousseau nous a léguées; 2) en faisant jouer les textes de Rousseau avec d’autres textes, contemporains ou postérieurs, qui leur font écho, afin de mieux faire apparaître leurs enjeux et leur originalité. Ce cours permettra de se familiariser avec certains des débats intellectuels et littéraires les plus importants du XVIIIe siècle et d’en discuter la pertinence pour les lecteurs du XXIe siècle.

Les séances s’organiseront autour de quatre questions et des textes de Rousseau mentionnés ci-dessous. Le signe * indique que l’ouvrage sera lu en entier; dans les autres cas, il s’agira d’extraits.

• Faut-il croire au «progrès»? Le coût de la civilisation.

Discours sur les sciences et les arts *

«Lettre sur la Providence», en réponse au Poëme sur le désastre de Lisbonne de Voltaire *

Émile ou de l’éducation

• Tout art est-il menteur? Vérité et fictions

Lettre à d’Alembert

Préface à La Nouvelle Héloïse *

• Comment vivre ensemble ? (Et peut-on faire autrement ?)

Sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité parmi les hommes *

La Nouvelle Héloïse («l’utopie» de Clarens)

Contrat social

Rêveries du promeneur solitaire * (plus particulièrement Première, Cinquième et Neuvième Promenades)

• À quoi bon écrire ? La littérature entre vanité et exemplarité

Confessions (Introduction et passim)

Rêveries du promeneur solitaire

• Le bonheur est-il permis à l’homme —et à la femme?

La Nouvelle Héloïse

Rêveries du promeneur solitaire

Éditions suggérées:

La Nouvelle Héloïse (Livre de Poche, édition J. Goulemot)

Les Confessions (Garnier-Flammarion, éd. A. Grosrichard, 2 volumes).

Discours sur les sciences et les arts et Sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité parmi les hommes (Garnier-Flammarion, éd. J. Roger)

Lettre à d’Alembert (Garnier-Flammarion, éd. M. Buffat)

Rêveries du promeneur solitaire (Garnier-Flammarion, éd. Erik Leborgne)

Notez que toute autre édition peut être utilisée et que ces textes sont aussi disponibles sous diverses formes informatisées (Gallica, Google Books, etc). Tout dépend donc de vos «pratiques de lectures»…

Le détail des lectures par séance sera affiché sur Collab.

Dans la mesure du possible, il serait bon de commencer dès cet été la lecture de La Nouvelle Héloïse et des Confessions (au moins Livres 1-2-3-4, 7, 9-10).

[1 oral presentation during the semester, 1 final paper ]

FREN 5812 – New World Literature: Les dramaturgies caribéenes céennes contemporaines

Ce cours retrace l’histoire du théâtre caribéen contemporain des vingt dernières années à travers l’étude de pièces écrites par des dramaturges originaires des Antilles françaises et francophones : la Martinique avec Alfred Alexandre, la Guadeloupe avec Maryse Condé, Simone Schwarz-Bart, Gaël Octavia et Gerty Dambury, et Haïti avec Guy Régis Junior. Nous procèderons à l’examen dramaturgique de six œuvres qui seront replacées dans leur contexte historique, social, culturel, politique et linguistique. Les sujet traités par les dramaturges caribéens contemporains sont nombreux : la souffrance de l’exil, le rapport au passé et aux origines, ou encore le traumatisme vécu après un séisme, ainsi que la violence des relations humaines dans une société inégalitaire où prédominent les conflits entre les races, les sexes et les classes sociales, voire au sein de la famille. Sont mis en scène les maux qui rongent la société moderne et révèlent le malaise et le mal-être d’individus isolés , coupés des autres et d’eux-mêmes.

L’étude dramaturgique des pièces (analyse de l’espace-temps, des personnages, de la construction de l’intrigue, des dialogues) sera complétée par l’examen des mises en scène à travers des photographies et des captations vidéo. Nous nous interrogerons aussi sur ce qui distingue les écritures « du dedans » produites à l’intérieur de l’île et celles « du dehors » produites par des dramaturges « en ex-île », vivant le plus souvent à Paris. La lecture d’articles, d’entretiens et de critiques de théâtre nous permettra de compléter l’analyse des pièces.

FREN 7040 – Theories & Methods of Language Teaching

An introduction to pedagogical approaches currently practiced in second-language courses at the university level. Students will examine critically the theories behind various methodologies, and the relation of these theories to their own teaching experience. Assignments include readings, exercises, and case studies on the teaching of French; development and critique of pedagogical materials; peer observation and analysis; and drafts of materials for an eventual teaching portfolio.

Required for all GTAs teaching French at UVa for the first time. Restricted to Graduate Teaching Assistants in French. Please register for CR/NC grade option, three credits. If you have already taken a similar course contact Karen James about registering for partial credit. Exchange Assistants will register as auditors.

FRTR 2510 - Topics in French in Translation: The Lives of the Saints

Focusing on one of the highpoints of hagiographic writing—Christian France in the Middle Ages—but drawing on a range of works, we will investigate what saints’ Lives can tell us about their culture’s theological concerns, secular interests, conceptions of history and fiction, and the quest of both ecclesiastical and lay people to fulfill their spiritual and their terrestrial responsibilities.  All readings and discussions will be in English. 

FRTR 2584--French Cinema

An introduction to masterpieces of French cinema, from the earliest short films of the Lumière Brothers and George Meliès, to feature-length works by Jean Cocteau, Jean-Luc Godard, Chris Marker, Jacques Tati, François Truffaut, Agnès Varda and others. Students will study film genres and movements (Poetic Realism, the New Wave) in relation to social, cultural and aesthetic trends. They will also learn to identify and analyze film techniques (camera angle, camera movement, montage, and more). FRTR can be taken to meet the second writing requirement (by individual request) and the Humanities area requirement.

Specifics:

• Lectures and discussion in English
• Viewing: Approximately one film/week, to be viewed outside of class (on reserve at Clemons).
• All films in French with English subtitles.
• Textbook Alan: Singerman’s French Cinema.
• Testing: one mid-term, one final, and several short on-line quizzes.
• Writing: students will work in teams on creation of a bilingual course blog.
• Project: students will work in teams to create a short, original film.
• Questions? Contact the professor: Cheryl Krueger (clk6m@virginia.edu) 

FREN 3010 - Oral & Written Expression in French

Prerequisite: Completion of FREN 2320 or equivalent. Permission of instructor for those having completed only FREN 2020. Students having completed French 3032 may not take this course.

An intensive course designed to give students a better command of present-day spoken and written French. Class discussion of news articles on current events (French and international), including but not limited to politics, economics, education, language, and entertainment, and including some articles which class members choose.Mastery of advanced vocabulary, weekly graded written or oral assignments including one guided short exposé, several one-two page papers, oral and written quizzes, and a final exam. Consistent attendance and ACTIVE participation constitute 30% of the semester grade.

This course is designed for students who have not had an extended stay in a French-speaking country. Students who have participated in semester study-abroad programs must confirm placement and transfer credit with the instructor to avoid duplication. Students who have studied in a French speaking country for a year should enroll in FREN 3034 or above.

FREN 3030 – Phonetics: The Sounds of French

FREN 3030 is an introductory course in French phonetics, intended to present basic concepts in phonetic theory and teach students techniques for improving their own pronunciation. It includes an examination of the physical characteristics of individual French sounds; the relationship between these sounds and their written representation (spelling); the rules governing the pronunciation of "standard French"; the most salient phonological features of selected French varieties; phonetic differences between French and English sounds; and much more. Practical exercises in 'ear-training' and 'phonetic transcription' (using IPA) are also essential elements in this dynamic course.

Taught in French. Counts for major credit in French and in Linguistics.

Final decisions about placement in French courses in the sequence FREN 3031-3034 are the responsibility of the Director of the Undergraduate Program (John Lyons: jdl2f@virginia.edu).
 

FREN 3031 - Intensive Grammar and Composition

Prerequisite: Completion of FREN 2020 or 2320; exemption from FREN 2020 by the UVA (F-Cape) Placement Test; a score of 3 on the AP French Language Exam; or a score of at least 660 on the SAT exam. FREN 3031 is a prerequisite for all subsequent French courses except FREN 3010.

This course offers an introduction to narrative writing in French. Emphasis is placed on writing, revision, and an intensive review of grammar rules as they apply to oral and written communication. The variety of assessment formats includes compositions, presentations, short quizzes, dictations, and a mid-term and/or final exam. Preparation and active participation are essential to improve reading, writing, and speaking skills. The course is conducted in French.

FREN 3032 - The Writing and Reading of Texts

Prerequisite: French 3031. This course is a prerequisite for all French undergraduate courses on a higher level.

This course will prepare students for upper-level French courses by introducing them to the skills necessary to analyze literature and to express ideas in written and oral form. Specifically, students will read literary texts from a variety of periods; they will learn to identify the elements that authors use to construct these texts; and they will learn the technical terms used to discuss poetry, prose, and theater. Grading will largely depend on the student's development of an analytical perspective on literature and on the student's ability to compose well-structured papers in correct French. The minimum writing requirement is a total of 10-15 pages for the semester, with at least one paper assignment of 5 pages. In addition, students will be expected to participate actively in order to advance their speaking skills in French. All discussion, readings, and assignments will be in French.

Note: Students must have completed 3031 and 3032, or tested out of both of their courses, to take any of the more advanced French courses listed below.

 FREN 3034 - Advanced Oral and Written Expression in French

FREN 3034, which counts for major/minor credit, is an intensive course designed to improve the oral and written language skills of more advanced students. Assignments include discussions on topics of current interest, presentations, translations, and compositions. All materials are French- or Francophone-related. The course focuses on language development in a Francophone cultural context, so students can become familiar with French and Francophone cultures and comfortable expressing their viewpoints in French. Of course, consistent attendance and active participation are essential.

FREN 3042 - Literature of the 17th & 18th Centuries: Performing the Self

Prerequisite: FREN 3032.

The 17th and 18th centuries stressed the importance of conscious self-fashioning and self-presentation in society. Many approaches to this activity appear in important literary works from the period. One might conform to existing social types or attempt to run against prevailing norms. The results of either approach might be comic or tragic, for the social world was represented as pitiless. In this course we will read works by Molière, Corneille, Lafayette, Rousseau, Laclos, and Montesquieu.

FREN 3559 - New Course in French: Act French! Carribbean and African Theatre on Stage

Act French! aims at introducing students to Francophone Caribbean and African culture, history, and society through the study of contemporary theatrical texts and the staging of plays. It combines theory and practice, that is to say the reading and analysis of dramatic texts with the staging of plays written by major authors from various regions of the Francophone postcolonial world (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Haiti, Western and Northern Africa).

FREN 3570 - Topics in Francophone African Literature: African Oral Traditions

We will read and comment on a selection of proverbs, folktales, and epic stories across Africa that have been translated into French and assess the significance of oral tradition and the state of oral transmission in Africa today.
 

FREN 3584 - Topics in French Cinema: Introduction to French Cinema

An introduction to masterpieces of French cinema, from the earliest short films of the Lumière Brothers and George Meliès, to feature-length works by Jean Cocteau, Jean-Luc Godard, Chris Marker, Jacques Tati, François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, and others. Students will study film genres and movements (Poetic Realism, the New Wave) in relation to social, cultural and aesthetic trends. They will also learn to identify and analyze film techniques (camera angle, camera movement, montage, and more).

•  Counts toward the French Major or Minor
•  Humanities Area Requirement

Specifics:

• Lectures and discussion in English
• We will divide small-group discussion into French and English tables for a portion of the class period each week.
• viewing: Approximately one film/week, to be viewed outside of class (on reserve at Clemons).
• All films in French with English subtitles.

Questions? Contact the professor: Cheryl Krueger (clk6m@virginia.edu)

FREN 3585 - Topics in Cultural Studies: Digital Story Telling Workshop

Students will investigate contemporary French culture through various forms of digital media. Adopting the dual perspective of a scholar-practitioner, they will read widely about modern France and digital media; be active readers, critics, and creators of digital audiovisual projects; reflect, speak and write about how their scholarly and creative works shape and inform one another. No prior technical or visual skills required; high level of motivation and French ability preferred.  

FREN 4035 - Tools & Techniques of Translation

Prerequesites: B+ average in FREN 3031, 3032, and 4031 or instruction permission.

Survey of the main tools and techniques of translation. Written and oral translation exercises to and from the target language. Selection of texts will vary.Taught in French.    

FREN 4509 Seminar in French Linguistics: The French Language and the Académie française

One of France’s most talked about institutions (though less widely understood) is the Académie française.  In this seminar we will attempt to demystify the French Academy.  We begin by reviewing its historical origins, founding goal, societal setting, structural composition, famous members, etc.  Then we turn to the issue of perception:  How is the Académie perceived in France and outside France?  Why, for example, does it get such an appalling press from many writers, while others celebrate it as an historical monument not to be ignored?  What do people say about its future?   What does the Academy really do?  When was the Academy most useful?   When (and by whom) was its power ‘usurped’?  Why is there not a single linguist among its esteemed members?  Following the discussion on perception (myths and reality) we will broach the subject of linguistic politics and language change.  Along the way we will make comparative observations about the functioning of language academies in other countries (Spain and Italy, in particular), and about Webster’s failed attempt to get the idea accepted in the US.

Requirements will include:  a wide variety of readings in both French and English; oral interviews with French and francophone speakers; a mid-term exam; and a substantial research paper. 

The format of the seminar will be that of lively discussions and debates.  Students will thus have the opportunity to practice their oral French skills—as well as work on their critical thinking skills, their writing skills and their independent research skills.  

Prerequisites:  FREN 3032; a keen interest in the French language; and a willingness to speak French in class—students taking this course must feel comfortable speaking French in the classroom.  

FREN 4540 - Advanced Topics in 18th Century Literature: The Fictional Orient

French authors and artists created an imaginary Orient filled with harems, genies, princes, and crafty merchants -- a place of fantastic luxury and excessive cruelty. In this faraway dreamland, which included countries as disparate as Persia, Turkey, India, and China, the expectations of realistic writing were temporarily suspended. The perspective of fictional foreigners also allowed French writers to discuss controversial political and moral issues without openly criticizing their own country. Readings will begin with Galland’s translation of 1001 Nights and end with samples of post-colonial criticism. 

FREN 4581 - Advanced Topics in Francophone Literature: La réécriture de l’histoire en mots en images dans la littérature et le cinéma francophone caribéen et africain

Ce cours propose d’analyser comment les écrivains et cinéastes caribéens et africains francophone revisitent le passé de la colonisation et des luttes de libération de pays et de peuples placés sous la tutelle ou sous le joug d’un pouvoir européen, en l’occurrence la France. Nous étudierons la reconstruction en mots et en images d’une histoire principalement écrite par des chroniqueurs et historiens occidentaux, une histoire falsifiée qui demande à être réécrite, réévaluée. Cette exploration littéraire et cinématographique marque la volonté de se réapproprier une histoire obscurcie et raturée afin de restaurer la mémoire effacée et de rétablir une vérité historique qui ne soit plus celle unilatérale, linéaire et hiérarchisée du regard eurocentriste et impérialiste. Nous analyserons les œuvres d’écrivains et de réalisateurs originaires de différentes aires francophones (la Martinique avec Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, Daniel Boukman et Euzhan Palcy, Haïti avec Raoul Peck et Jan J. Dominique, le Sénégal avec L.S. Senghor et Ousmane Sembène, l’Algérie avec Assia Djébar), tout en abordant des genres littéraires variés (roman, poésie, théâtre, essais) et des productions filmiques de diverses natures (documentaires et fictions ancrées dans la réalité historique). Nous verrons comment les œuvres de ces écrivains et cinéastes contribuent au rétablissement de « la chronologie tourmentée d’un temps stabilisé dans le néant d’une histoire imposée » (E. Glissant, Le discours antillais, 1981).

FREN 4585 - Topics in Cultural Studies: Joan of Arc from Medieval to Modern Times

Does the past matter in modern France? To what extent does history shape contemporary culture? This course will turn to the medieval heroine Joan of Arc to tease out these questions. That she has been the subject of well over 2000 major creative works, ranging from poetry and painting to cinema and drama; that she has served as the mascot for two of the most controversial political movements in modern France; that her silhouette hovers over more than two dozen francophone towns; and that she enjoys her own secret “national” holiday and cult following suggest that indeed the past matters very much. What is the deep cultural significance of the former French president’s announcement that Joan was his patron saint? How did she become a saint in the first place? How is it that Joan so often becomes the subject of some of the most controversial artistic creations – whether speaking of Voltaire’s sex-starved Joan, mystical poetic revolutions, cinema’s most haunting imagery, or contemporary fiction’s preoccupation with the grotesque? Understanding modern France means knowing more than the language and more than contemporary politics, it demands familiarity with a past that maintains a physical, intellectual and spiritual presence. This course promises not only to help students navigate Joan’s role in constructing the French nation and identity for over 500 years, but to provide students with the tools for reading past the contemporary to get the full story on what the past means to France today.

FREN 5510/8510 – Topics in Medieval Literature: Medieval Saints' Lives

How does one both please and teach? For medieval writers of saints' Lives, delighting the audience served the vital purpose of saving souls. Reading Lives written between 880 and the late thirteenth century, we will investigate the ways in which medieval hagiographers engaged with a variety of literary, social, and philosophical problems that fascinated contemporary audiences. 

FREN 5540/8540  LE THEATRE EN FRANCE AU XVIIIE SIECLE :  PRATIQUES, POETIQUES, POLEMIQUES

Please note that since Professor Roger is not on grounds for the entire semester, this class will meet from the beginning of the term until he leaves in early November.

Dans la France du XVIIIe siècle, le théâtre est au cœur de la vie sociale, artistique et intellectuelle. À Paris surtout, mais aussi en province, où les salles se multiplient. La société de Cour et la classe de loisir en attendent des plaisirs quotidiens. À Paris comme en province, les gens «bien nés» côtoient un public de bourgeois et d’artisans ; et ils ne dédaignent pas de se mêler au petit peuple pour jouir des spectacles de la Foire. L’engouement touche toutes les couches de la société, en dépit des fulminations des théologiens et des moralistes. L’Église refuse aux comédiens la sépulture religieuse, mais les Jésuites font une place d’honneur au théâtre dans leurs méthodes pédagogiques. Les Philosophes, enfin, à de notables exceptions près —Rousseau—, voient dans le théâtre un véritable forum civique.

Ce cours proposera donc une lecture en situation des meilleurs dramaturges français du XVIIIe siècle (Marivaux, Voltaire, Diderot, Beaumarchais) selon les trois axes résumés par sous sous-titre.

Du côté des pratiques, il s’agira de reconstituer le «monde» du théâtre à cette époque : agencement des salles, conditions matérielles des représentations, statut des troupes et des comédiens, techniques de jeu des acteurs, attitude du public.

Du côté des poétiques, on étudiera la remise en question des règles édictées au siècle précédent et la longue marche vers une nouvelle poétique théâtrale : celle du «drame».

Du côté des polémiques, enfin, on étudiera comment la querelle du théâtre en vient à diviser les philosophes eux-mêmes (c’est à propos du théâtre à Genève que Rousseau se dresse contre d’Alembert, Voltaire et Diderot), avant de cristalliser, pendant la Révolution, les antagonismes idéologiques.  

Travaux : un (bref) exposé oral en classe sur un sujet choisi par l’étudiant(e) et un «final paper» d’une quinzaine de pages (en français).

LISTE DES PRINCIPALES ŒUVRES ETUDIEES DANS LE COURS

et INDICATION DE QUELQUES EDITIONS DE POCHE DISPONIBLES

Les textes de théâtre posent souvent des problèmes d’accessibilité : beaucoup sont épuisés et non réédités. Les titres ci-dessous sont suivis de recommandations qui correspondent aux éditions de poche les meilleures et/ou les plus commodes. Les ouvrages de travail indispensables sont précédés du signe * (en tout : 5 livres de poche).

( Si vous disposez déjà de ces textes dans d’autres éditions, il est évidemment inutile de les racheter…)

 MARIVAUX

- * La Fausse Suivante et La Mère confidente (Garnier-Flammarion n° 712)

- * L’Epreuve et La Dispute (Garnier-Flammarion n° 616).

VOLTAIRE

- Œdipe

- Zaïre

- Mahomet

- Lettres philosophiques (lettres 18 et 19)

- «La mort de Mlle Lecouvreur» (poème)

(NB : on travaillera Voltaire sur des extraits photocopiés et sur les exemplaires mis en réserve à la bibliothèque)

D’ALEMBERT, Encyclopédie, article «Genève»

ROUSSEAU : * Lettre à d’Alembert sur les spectacles

(de préférence Garnier-Flammarion, n° 1165 ; cette édition —Buffat— est la seule à donner aussi l’article «Genève» de d’Alembert)

DIDEROT

            - Le Fils naturel et Entretiens sur le Fils naturel

(Utile mais pas indispensable, le Garnier-Flammarion n° 164 réunit le Discours sur la poésie dramatique et les Entretiens, mais pas la pièce Le Fils naturel !  L’ensemble sera à la réserve.)

- * Paradoxe sur le comédien (Livre de Poche n° 16084, éd. Goulemot, 2001)

(N-B : les amateurs de Diderot peuvent préférer acquérir le tome 4 de ses Œuvres en collection «Bouquins» chez Laffont, qui contient tous les textes théâtraux).

BEAUMARCHAIS

• * Le Barbier de Séville, Le Mariage de Figaro, La Mère coupable (Garnier-Flammarion, éd. Pomeau, n° 76)
• Essai sur le genre dramatique sérieux (sera reproduit)

L. S. MERCIER

• Du théâtre (extraits)
• Nouvel Examen de la tragédie française (extraits)

FREN 5584/8584 Topics in Cinema

This course explores the development of French cinema (both documentary and fiction) from the 1990s to the present, with particular attention to genre, film esthetics, narrative form, and political engagement. We will read widely in film history, theory, and cultural history. Students will be expected to acquire a working knowledge of film vocabulary in French, to write a publishable seminar paper on cinema in French or English, and to complete a digital video project in French.

FREN 7040 – Theories & Methods of Language Teaching

An introduction to pedagogical approaches currently practiced in second-language courses at the university level. Students will examine critically the theories behind various methodologies, and the relation of these theories to their own teaching experience. Assignments include readings, exercises, and case studies on the teaching of French; development and critique of pedagogical materials; peer observation and analysis; and drafts of materials for an eventual teaching portfolio.

Required for all GTAs teaching French at UVa for the first time. Restricted to Graduate Teaching Assistants in French. Please register for CR/NC grade option, three credits. If you have already taken a similar course contact Karen James about registering for partial credit. Exchange Assistants will register as auditors.

FREN 2933 - Oral & Written Expression in French

Prerequisite: Completion of FREN 2320 or equivalent. Permission of instructor for those having completed only FREN 2020. Students having completed French 3032 may not take this course.

An intensive course designed to give students a better command of present-day spoken and written French. Class discussion of news articles on current events (French and international), including but not limited to politics, economics, education, language, and entertainment, and including some articles which class members choose.Mastery of advanced vocabulary, weekly graded written or oral assignments including one guided short exposé, several one-two page papers, oral and written quizzes, and a final exam. Consistent attendance and ACTIVE participation constitute 30% of the semester grade.

This course is designed for students who have not had an extended stay in a French-speaking country. Students who have participated in semester study-abroad programs must confirm placement and transfer credit with the instructor to avoid duplication. Students who have studied in a French speaking country for a year should enroll in FREN 3034 or above.

FREN 3031 - Intensive Grammar and Composition

Prerequisite: Completion of FREN 2020 or 2320 or exemption from FREN 2020 by the Placement Test; or a score of 3 on the AP French language exam; or a score of at least 660 on the SAT. Required as preparation for all subsequent courses except FREN 2933 and FREN 3030.

This course offers an introduction to narrative writing in French. Emphasis is placed on writing, revision, and an intensive review of grammar rules as they apply to oral and written communication. A variety of assessment formats include compositions, presentations, short quizzes, dictations, and a mid-term and/or final exam. Preparation and active participation are essential to improve reading, writing, and speaking skills. The course is conducted in French.

FREN 3032 - The Writing and Reading of Texts

Prerequisite: French 3031. French 3032 itself is a prerequisite for all undergraduate courses on a higher level except French 2933 and French 3030.

This course will prepare students for upper-level French courses by introducing them to the skills necessary to analyze literature and to express ideas in written and oral form. Specifically, students will read literary texts from a variety of periods; they will learn to identify the elements that authors use to construct these texts; and they will learn the technical terms used to analyze poetry, prose, and theater. Grading will largely depend on the student's development of an analytical perspective on literature and on the student's ability to compose well-structured papers in correct French. The minimum writing requirement is 10-15 pages for the semester, with at least one paper assignment of 5 pages. In addition, students will be expected to participate actively in order to advance their speaking skills in French. All discussions, readings, and assignments will be in French.

FREN 3034 - Advanced Oral and Written Expression in French

Prerequisite: Students must have completed French 3031 and French 3032 or their equivalent. Counts for major/minor credit.

An intensive course designed to improve more advanced students' oral and written language skills. Assignments include discussion on topics of current interest, presentations, translations, and compositions. All materials are French- or Francophone-related. The course focuses on language development in a Francophone cultural context, so students can get familiar with French and Francophone cultures and comfortable in expressing their viewpoints in French. Of course, consistent attendance and active participation are essential.

FREN 3041 - Literature of the Middle Ages & the 16th Century

The French Middle Ages and Renaissance, a period covering over 500 years, may seem like a faraway world of knights and crusaders, castles and intrigues; yet books from those centuries between 1050 and 1600 shaped ideals, tastes and cultural icons that still prevail today. From best-sellers to box-office hits, modern culture betrays its fascination with that distant past. In this course you will go beyond anachronism and learn about the real thing. We will read in modern French La Chanson de Roland, the founding epic of la douce France; Yvain ou le chevalier au lion, an Arthurian romance; some lais of Marie de France, the first woman storyteller in France; excerpts from Christine de Pizan’s utopian vision, La Cite des Dames; Marguerite de Navarre’s novella collection, the Heptaméron; and Rabelais’s Pantagruel, a fantastic tale of giants in Utopia. We will close with selections from Montaigne’s Essais, where the author reflects on the New World of America and the equally novel territory of the self. The class will be conducted in French. There will be three short papers, totaling 12-15 pages, a mid-term and a final.

FREN 3042 - Literature of the 17th & 18th Centuries: Performing the Self

Prerequisite: FREN 3032.

The 17th and 18th centuries stressed the importance of conscious self-fashioning and self-presentation in society. Many approaches to this activity appear in important literary works from the period. One might conform to existing social types or attempt to run against prevailing norms. The results of either approach might be comic or tragic, for the social world was represented as pitiless. In this course we will read works by Molière, Corneille, Lafayette, Rousseau, Laclos, and Montesquieu.

FREN 3043 - Literature of the 19th, 20th, & 21st Centuries: Great Books

Ce cours est une introduction à la littérature française moderne. Nous nous intéresserons en particulier à cinq grands romans.Bien que ce cours ait pour objectif principal de vous faire découvrir les auteurs, les mouvements, et les styles narratifs ayant marqué le paysage littéraire français, nous chercherons également à aller au delà d’une simple lecture descriptive. Ce cours implique une participation orale active ainsi qu’un travail d’écriture régulier sur les oeuvres au programme.

FREN 3046 - African Literatures & Cultures

Prerequisite: French 3032.

This course will explore aspects of African literatures and cultures. It will focus on selected issues of special resonance in contemporary African life. Oral literature and its continuing impact on all other art forms. Key issues in French colonial policy and its legacy in Africa: language, politics, education. The course will examine the image of the postcolonial state and society as found in contemporary arts, paintings, sculpture, music, and cinema. Selections from painters like Cheri Samba (Democratic Republic of Congo), Werewere Liking (Cameroun) and sculptors like Ousmane Sow, including such popular icons as Mamy Wata and forms such as Souwere glass painting; from musicians like Youssou Ndour (Senegal), Cheb Khaled (Algeria), Seigneur Rochereau, Tshala Muana (DRC), Salif Keita (Mali), and Cesaria Evora (Cape Verde); from Mande, Peul, and Kabyle oral literatures in French translation; from filmmakers D.D. Mambety, Moussa Sene Absa, and Ngangura Mweze. Visit to National Museum of African Arts depending on availability of funding. The final grade will be based on contributions to discussions, a mid-term exam, 2 papers, and a final exam.

Selections from the following texts will feature among the required reading list:

Wéréwéré Liking - Statues colons

A. Sow - La Femme, la Vache, la Foi

D.T. Niane - Soundjata ou l'épopée mandingue

Amadou Hampaté Ba - Koumen

FREN 3584 - Topics in French Cinema

This course provides an introductory overview of French Cinema from the silent era to the present. Emphasis will be placed on important directors and styles as well as on acquiring the vocabulary and analytical tools needed to produce excellent written work about film in both print and digital form.

FREN 3585 - Topics in Cultural Studies: Aesthetic Revolutions and Cultural Currents

Prerequisite FREN 3032.

A course on the emergence of aesthetic and intellectual movements such as Romanticism, Naturalism, Realism, Impressionism, Symbolism, Decadence, Dadaism, Surrealism, Existentialism, and the New Wave. These movements represent engagement with or resistance to the society, culture and events of their time. We will study examples of several “isms” (in text, painting, film) while exploring how they got their name, and what they reveal about French culture. Course conducted in French.

FREN 3655 -Victor Hugo: Poète, Dramaturge, Romancier, Critique Social, Artiste

Prerequisite: FREN 3032.

A literary and political giant of nineteenth-century France, Victor Hugo was by age 25 a much-admired poet whose play Hernani ushered in the Romantic revolution in theater. A tireless social critic, Hugo argued for many causes, including educational reform and abolition of the death penalty. When not writing novels, such as Notre-Dame de Paris and Les Misérables, he was carving out an important political career and creating drawings and paintings that influenced some Surrealist artists.

In plunging into Hugo’s works, we will ask some big questions: What difference can a poète engagé make in society? How do literature and art inspire us? What is the impact of their beauty, of the emotions and new ideas they bring us, and of the author’s vision? In reading an abridged Les Misérables, Hugo’s poetry, speeches, and public letters to the world—and in considering his art work and political exile—we will talk about the universality of his themes (for instance, passionate love, familial love, justice and injustice, liberty, and God).

Our goals: appreciate Victor Hugo’s genius and literary style; discover perspectives and themes that speak to us individually; write about ideas analytically and compellingly; reflect on our personal roles in society. Course work includes discussion, essays, group work, an oral presentation, and a research project completed over the course of the semester. Taught in French. To sign up on the permissions list, please read the information and complete the form you will find on this web page: http://faculty.virginia.edu/marva/permission.htm.

FREN 4020 - History of the French Language

Prerequisites: the ability to read, write and speak well in French. Previous course work in phonetics, historical linguistics, and other Romance languages would be helpful. The course will be conducted in French and counts for major credit in the French and Linguistics Programs.

This course will look at some of the ways in which the French language has changed through time, with respect to vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, orthography, meaning, discourse, and the like. Social, cultural, political, environmental, as well as purely linguistic factors that have played some part in language change will be considered. Our approach will be non-traditional and somewhat novel. We begin with an inventory of penetrating questions, for example: why does one say ‘cheval’ in the singular but ‘chevaux’ in the plural (and cf. ‘animal ~ animaux'; but ‘vache ~ vaches’); or why did ”nos ancêtres les Gaulois” ‘bequeath’ so few of their words to the French lexicon; or why does the utterance “t’as pas dix balles?” immediately strike you as being ‘non-standard’-- and when was the language conventionalized anyway? Answers to such questions will provide the impetus for a more in-depth study and discussion of some of the major (underlying) diachronic changes and currents in the language.

FREN 4035 - Tools and Techniques of Translation

Prerequesites: B+ average in FREN 3031, 3032, and 4031 or instruction permission.

Survey of the main tools and techniques of translation. Written and oral translation exercises to and from the target language. Selection of texts will vary.Taught in French.

FREN 4510 - Advanced Topics in Medieval Literature: Medieval Beasts

How are human beings related to the animal kingdom?What distinguishes them from (other) animals?What and how do humans and (other) animals learn from each other?Since long before the animal rights movement, Bugs Bunny or pet psychiatrists, writers--literary, philosophical and scientific--have recorded the human struggle with these questions.In this course, we will examine French depictions of animals in bestiaries (theological/scientific encyclopedias of the animal world), fables, allegories and romances written between 1150 and 1350.We will explore medieval views on the respective places of human beings and animals in the natural world, the treatment of creatures that problematize classification (e.g., werewolves), and animal symbolism and associations that continue to the present (e.g., the lion as symbol of God, the crafty fox).Requirements for the course include active participation, a short textual commentary, a research paper of 10-12 pages, and a final exam.

FREN 4530 - Advanced Topics in 17th Century Literature: Tragedy

Prerequisite: FREN 3032 and at least one French literature course at the 3040 level.

This course will concentrate on the tragedies of Pierre Corneille (principally Médée, Le Cid, Horace) and Jean Racine (Phèdre, Andromaque, Iphigénie). Initially, however, we will sample some earlier works by Alexandre Hardy, Jean Rotrou, and Tristan L’Hermite. There will be an oral presentation, quizzes, a mid-term paper, and a final paper.

FREN 4581 - Advanced Topics in Francophone Literature: La réécriture de l’histoire en mots en images dans la littérature et le cinéma francophone caribéen et africain

Ce cours propose d’analyser comment les écrivains et cinéastes caribéens et africains francophone revisitent le passé de la colonisation et des luttes de libérationde pays et de peuples placés sous la tutelle ou sous le joug d’un pouvoir européen, en l’occurrence la France. Nous étudierons la reconstruction en mots et en images d’une histoire principalement écrite par des chroniqueurs et historiens occidentaux, une histoire falsifiée qui demande à être réécrite, réévaluée. Cette exploration littéraire et cinématographique marque la volonté de se réapproprier une histoire obscurcie et raturée afin de restaurer la mémoire effacée et de rétablir une vérité historique qui ne soit plus celle unilatérale, linéaire et hiérarchisée du regard eurocentriste et impérialiste. Nous analyserons les œuvres d’écrivains et de réalisateurs originaires de différentes aires francophones (la Martinique avec Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, Daniel Boukman et Euzhan Palcy, Haïti avec Raoul Peck et Jan J. Dominique, le Sénégal avec L.S. Senghor et Ousmane Sembène, l’Algérie avec Assia Djébar), tout en abordant des genres littéraires variés (roman, poésie, théâtre, essais) et des productions filmiques de diverses natures (documentaires et fictions ancrées dans la réalité historique). Nous verrons comment les œuvres de ces écrivains et cinéastes contribuent au rétablissement de «la chronologie tourmentée d’un temps stabilisé dans le néant d’une histoire imposée» (E. Glissant, Le discours antillais, 1981).

FREN 4811 - Francophone Literature of Africa

Prerequisite: French 3032.

Introduction to the Francophone literature of Africa; survey, with special emphasis on post- World War II poets, novelists, and playwrights of Africa. The role of cultural and literary reviews (Légitime Défense, L'Etudiant noir, and Présence Africaine) in the historical and ideological development of this literature will be examined. Special reference will be made to Caribbean writers of the Negritude movement. Documentary videos on African history and cultures will be shown and important audio-tapes will also be played regularly. Supplementary texts will be assigned occasionally. Students will be expected to present response papers on a regular basis.

In addition to the required reading material, 2 essays (60%), regular class attendance, and contribution to discussions (10%), and a final exam (30%) constitute the course requirements. Papers are due on the dates indicated on the syllabus.

Required reading:

Diop, Birago. Les contes d’Amadou Koumba .

Chevrier, J.Anthologie Africaine: Poésie

Bâ, Mariama. Une si longue lettre.

Assia Djebar. Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement (Toolkit).

Boudjedra, Rachid. L'escargot entêté.

FREN 4838 - French Society and Civilization

Prerequisite: successful completion of at least one 3000-level course in literature or cultural studies beyond 3032.

French 4838 is designed to provide students with a background in social, cultural, political, and institutional aspects of contemporary French society in the context of recent history. We will first examine the role of geography, history, education, and politics in shaping contemporary French attitudes, cultural practices, and institutions since the Second World War. We will then focus on important social questions facing contemporary France: changing family structures, the role of women, religion, immigration, and France¹s place in the European union. Course materials include readings from the French press and other published sources, films, music, internet exploration, and radio and television broadcasts. The course strongly emphasizes oral participation and discussion, and students are expected to follow current events throughout the semester.

FREN 5530/8530 Topics in 17th –Century Literature – Littérature française du XVIIe siècle : Femmes et culture littéraire

Depuis une dizaine d’années les phénomènes littéraires et culturels entrelacés des « salons » (ou « ruelles »), de la galanterie, de la préciosité, et de l’honnêteté attirent de plus en plus l’attention critique et érudite.  Il s’agit d’une importante reconfiguration de la production et des pratiques culturelles dans laquelle les femmes écrivains ont un rôle décisif.  La « galanterie » émerge comme phénomène littéraire et social important et dynamique dès les années 1650, surtout dans le cercle de Madeleine de Scudéry et de Paul Pellisson, mais cette éclosion est annoncée par d’illustres précurseurs comme Guez de Balzac. C’est après la Fronde que ce phénomène—un style, un air ou un complexe de valeurs—s’impose comme marque quasi-officielle de la jeune monarchie de Louis XIV.  Notre séminaire, qui sera guidé par les importants travaux historiques et critiques de Delphine Denis, d’Emmanuel Bury, de Myriam Maître, d’Alain Viala, et de Stephanie Bung, consistera en la lecture attentive d’un certain nombre des principaux textes « galants ».  Parmi les auteurs lus pourront figurer Scudéry, Pellisson, Balzac, Lafayette, Voiture, Sarrasin, Sévigné, Villedieu, Méré, et Racine.

FREN 5570/8570 – Topics in 20th & 21st Century Literature :  Thinking the Visual/Writing     
the Image in Modern and Contemporary France

Conceived as an introduction to the field of word and image studies, this seminar invites graduate students to examine some of the most intriguing points of intersection to have emerged between literature and visual culture in France over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  We will begin by exploring how the development of new visual technologies in the middle of the nineteenth century sparked new ways of seeing, and of writing about, the world.  Students will investigate the impact of the proliferation of “the visual” in modernity, and its role in shaping a variety of literary modes (like Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism).  Throughout the semester we will call on major works of narrative, poetry, cinema, photography, painting, criticism, and theory (a term that implies how sight might lead to insight) to help us ponder the distinctive pull of intermedial or interart hybridization (to invoke just a few of the many terms currently à la mode).  What happens when cinema “thinks” photography, when poetry “dreams” of film, or when literature “envisions” painting?  How do French writers, filmmakers, thinkers, and visual artists engage with vision and the act of seeing?  How have critics devised new ways of reading the aesthetic sparks that fly from the interdisciplinary convergence of the image-text? 

Course taught in French and English. Featuring work by authors, artists, and thinkers including, but not limited to: Baudelaire, Poe, Zola, Buñuel, Mallarmé, Alféri, Godard, Resnais, Viel, Daeninckx, Varda, Eustache, Marker, Ozon, Perec, Modiano, Michon, Barthes, Crary, Foucault, Virilio, Sontag, Bazin, Benjamin, Krauss, and Bellour.  Required reading in French, though much of the material is available in English translation.  

FREN 5585/ 8585: France in the Long Nineteenth Century, 1789-1918

This course focuses on the cultural and historical influences that have shaped Modern France. We will explore the essential relationship between culture and political power in France, the changing role of government, and how ordinary men and women experienced social change.

Topics to be studied include: the French Revolution and its legacy; French literary and political culture; the writing of history in the 19th century; the role of caricature, public art and visual culture; the expansion of empire; religion and republicanism; Paris versus the provinces; regional migration and immigration; the rise of a commercial mass society; the Dreyfus Affair and the Belle Époque; changing gender relations; and the cataclysmic effects of the First World War.

Readings, in English and in French, will be drawn from primary historical and literary sources, memoirs, and secondary historical texts. Course discussion and writing will be done in French, unless otherwise arranged with the instructor.

FREN 5520/8520 – Topics in 16th Century Lit: 1515 – 2015: Marguerite de Navarre and the Beginnings of the Renaissance

In 1515, François Ier became king of France, bringing his close relatives, including his sister Marguerite, to the center of power. The date has become synonymous with the beginning of the French Renaissance – a term, however, coined only later in the 19th century. The 500th anniversary of this event, for which widespread celebrations have been prepared, invites us to reconsider what was at stake, intellectually and culturally, in the first half of the sixteenth century, both from the perspective of those involved and from ours. The seminar will focus on the figure of Marguerite de Navarre, who in the years before her death in 1549 – the year in which Du Bellay also published his manifesto text La Deffence et illustration de la langue françoise – worked on her great novella collection the Heptaméron. At the same time, she also revised and (re)published many of her earliest works, including the Miroir de l’âme pécheresse (1531), collected in the 1547 Marguerites de la Marguerite des Princesses. Among other topics, we will examine Marguerite’s use of the framed narrative, both in poetry and in prose; her engagement with humanism and with ancient and Italian models, including neo-Platonism; her involvement with religious reform movements, notably Evangelicalism; her contribution to the ongoing Querelle des femmes; and her relationships with and patronage of other writers and thinkers in her circle such as Marot and Rabelais.

FREN 5540/8540: Topics in 18th-Century Literature: The Human Body in the Eighteenth Century

This course will examine how thinkers of eighteenth-century France conceived of the human body and how these concepts informed the literature of the era. These thinkers dealt with questions such as: what is the connection between the soul and the body? How can we explain differences between various races and nationalities? Does science justify gender roles, in particular Rousseau's new ideas about motherhood? Could too much or too little sexual activity kill you? What was the physiological basis for emotion? How do we explain exceptional cases like albinos or so-called monstrous births? And to what extent did society control the individual's body? These questions will be part of a series of bodily issues that we will discuss during the semester.

Primary texts will include articles from the Encyclopédie, chapters of Rousseau's Emile, works by Buffon, Diderot, Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, and a number of eighteenth-century scientists. We will also consider scientific treatises from Antiquity that influenced medical thought about national differences and gender roles. In addition to these primary texts, we will also look at scholarly research about the body in the eighteenth century, such as works by Anne Vila, Michel Foucault, and Philippe Ariès.

FREN 5584/8584 Cinéma, histoire, mémoire

Some scholars argue that film, an essentially twentieth-century medium, has shaped the mental universe of the century. Throughout the century, cinema has maintained a complex and evolving relationship to historical events and circumstances. Film has played a role both in recording and shaping history, as well as in shaping collective and individual memory of past events. In this course, we will explore the interconnections among history, memory, and cinema with regards to two periods from the French past that have ongoing historical and memorial legacies in contemporary France: the colonial period and the Second World War. We will address questions such as whether films are products of a particular socio-historical context, how they have shaped and reflected historical events, and how they have actively intervened in debates over the writing of history and memory. Throughout the course, we will pay particular attention to the specificities of film form and language in negotiating these relationships.

We will examine a range of documentaries and fiction films from French and Francophone filmmakers from the late 1930s to the present, including three films from the M.A. reading list. We will also read widely in French history, film history, and film theory. Students will be expected to acquire a working knowledge of film vocabulary in French, to write a publishable film analysis paper in French or English, and to complete a digital video project in French.

FRTR 2584--French Cinema

The French have been pioneers in film, from the early shorts of the Lumière brothers and Méliès, through the early classics of the 1930s, and during the New Wave and beyond.  French directors and critics have transformed movie-making beyond the boundaries of France, giving us a way of looking at such American phenomena as “Film Noir.” This course is an introduction to masterpieces of French cinema, including works by Jean Cocteau, Jean-Luc Godard, Chris Marker, Jacques Tati, François Truffaut, Agnès Varda and others. Students will study film genres and movements (Poetic Realism, the New Wave) in relation to social, cultural and aesthetic trends. They will also learn to identify and analyze film techniques (camera angle, camera movement, montage, and more). FRTR can be taken to meet the second writing requirement (by individual request) and it counts towards the Humanities area requirement. FRTR 2584 does not count toward the French major or minor. Lectures and discussion in English.  For questions, contact John Lyons (jdlf2@virginia.edu).

MW 2:00 – 3:15 (Lyons)

FREN 3030 – Phonetics: The Sounds of French

FREN 3030 is an introductory course in French phonetics, intended to present basic concepts in phonetic theory and teach students techniques for improving their own pronunciation. It includes an examination of the physical characteristics of individual French sounds; the relationship between these sounds and their written representation (spelling); the rules governing the pronunciation of "standard French"; the most salient phonological features of selected French varieties; phonetic differences between French and English sounds; and much more. Practical exercises in 'ear-training' and 'phonetic transcription' (using IPA) are also essential elements in this dynamic course.

Taught in French. Counts for major/minor credit in French and in Linguistics.

TR 11:00  AM - 12:15 PM (Saunders)
TR 12:30 PM– 1:45 PM (Saunders)

FREN 3031 - Intensive Grammar and Composition

Prerequisite: Completion of FREN 2020 or 2320; exemption from FREN 2020 by the UVA (F-Cape) Placement Test; a score of 3 on the AP French Language Exam; or a score of at least 660 on the SAT exam. FREN 3031 is a prerequisite for all subsequent French courses except FREN 3010.

This course offers an introduction to narrative writing in French. Emphasis is placed on writing, revision, and an intensive review of grammar rules as they apply to oral and written communication. The variety of assessment formats includes compositions, presentations, short quizzes, dictations, and a mid-term and/or final exam. Preparation and active participation are essential to improve reading, writing, and speaking skills. The course is conducted in French.

FREN 3032 - The Writing and Reading of Texts

Prerequisite: French 3031. This course is a prerequisite for all French undergraduate courses on a higher level.

This course will prepare students for upper-level French courses by introducing them to the skills necessary to analyze literature and to express ideas in written and oral form. Specifically, students will read literary texts from a variety of periods; they will learn to identify the elements that authors use to construct these texts; and they will learn the technical terms used to discuss poetry, prose, and theater. Grading will largely depend on the student's development of an analytical perspective on literature and on the student's ability to compose well-structured papers in correct French. The minimum writing requirement is a total of 10-15 pages for the semester, with at least one paper assignment of 5 pages. In addition, students will be expected to participate actively in order to advance their speaking skills in French. All discussion, readings, and assignments will be in French.

FREN 3034-001 - Advanced Oral and Written Expression in French

Prerequisite: Students must have completed French 3031 and French 3032 or their equivalent.

FREN 3034, which counts for major/minor credit, is an intensive course designed to improve the oral and written language skills of more advanced students. Assignments include discussions on topics of current interest, presentations, translations, and compositions. All materials are French- or Francophone-related. The course focuses on language development in a Francophone cultural context, so students can become familiar with French and Francophone cultures and comfortable expressing their viewpoints in French. Of course, consistent attendance and active participation are essential.

In this class, students will learn the basics of physical and oral expression in French with an emphasis on theatre performance. The techniques emphasized apply to public speaking, stage performance and daily interactions. Different theatre approaches will be taught, ranging from role-playing to work on real life situations to an in-class performance of a Molière comedy.  

FREN 3034-002 - Advanced Oral and Written Expression in French

Prerequisite: Students must have completed French 3031 and French 3032 or their equivalent.

FREN 3034, which counts for major/minor credit, is an intensive course designed to improve the oral and written language skills of more advanced students. Assignments include discussions on topics of current interest, presentations, translations, and compositions. All materials are French- or Francophone-related. The course focuses on language development in a Francophone cultural context, so students can become familiar with French and Francophone cultures and comfortable expressing their viewpoints in French. Of course, consistent attendance and active participation are essential.

In this course, students will learn about the major industries of, the organizational structures of, and the primary positions within French and francophone businesses.  They will gain experience in business research, will hone their oral and written French for use in a business-setting, will give group and individual oral presentations, will craft CV’s and cover letters in French, will have practice job interviews, and will learn the practical aspects of living and working in France.  Students will also take a practice DFP (Diplôme de français professionnel) exam in Business French, a certification accepted by numerous universities and corporations, in order to prepare them to take the official exam if they so choose.

FREN 3041 The French-Speaking World I:  Origins

Prerequisites: FREN 3031 and 3032 or equivalents.
Knights rescuing damsels in distress.  Damsels rescuing knights in distress.  Quests for adventure, God, love, truth.  Bawdy ballads and soulful sonnets.  The first five hundred years of French literature provide endless entertainment and often unnerving perspectives on the world and its history.  The authors of this time are responsible for the ideas, stories and literary genres that determine our "modern" assumptions about subjects such as romantic love, common courtesy, gender, literary conventions, virtue and heroism, sport and entertainment, and truth.  Readings are in modern French translation and include the foundational text of modern Frenchness, La Chanson de Roland; the provocative Vie de saint Alexis; Arthurian tales of chivalry by Chrétien de Troyes and Marie de France;  Christine de Pisan's feminist Cité des dames; Michel de Montaigne's essays on cannibals and friendship; and a selection of lyric poetry from each century. 

FREN 3043 - The French-Speaking World III:  Modernities

Rather than focus on any single theme, movement, motif, or overarching problem, this seminar will examine a few of the most admired and influential novels--Great Books all!--in the history of modern French literature: from Honoré de Balzac’s tale of a young law student driven to make it in the big city (Le Père Goriot, 1835) and Gustave Flaubert’s portrait of the original desperate housewife (Madame Bovary, 1856), to Albert Camus' atmospheric L'Etranger (1942), Alain Robbe-Grillet’s scandalously puzzling La Jalousie (1957), and Georges Perec's critique of consumer society in the 1960s (Les Choses, 1965).  Each of these works will be considered within their larger cultural and historical contexts. We will round out the semester with one or two works by contemporary novelists who prove that French fiction is, indeed, thriving today.

Required work to include: active participation in class discussions, weekly Collab discussion board posts, an oral presentation, 2 longer papers (4-5 pages), and a final exam. Course conducted in French.

FREN 3051 - History &  Civilization of France;  Rev – 1945: Histoire et civilisation de la France contemporaine

Beginning with a study of the French Revolution, this course focuses on the cultural and historical influences that have shaped Modern France. We will explore the relationship between culture and political power, the changing role of government, and how ordinary men and women experienced social change. Readings will be drawn from primary documents, memoirs and secondary historical texts. Visual elements will be incorporated in this course as well as selected films.

Readings in this course will be done in both French and English. All lectures, discussions and writing will be done exclusively in French

Prerequisite: FREN 3032

FREN: 3585 - Topics in Cultural Studies:  L’immigration en France

L’immigration en France est sujet de nature interdisciplinaire. Il questionne l’histoire et la géographie  de la France et donc l’histoire des populations européennes, africaines et asiatiques à travers la proximité géographique ou l’histoire coloniale.

L’immigration en France suscite bien des débats sur les questions politiques, économiques, sociales et humanitaires que nous aborderons à travers une littérature variée : romans, articles académiques et revues de presse mais également   à travers des films et documentaires audio-visuels . 

(Taught in French)

                  
FREN 4031 – Grammaire et Style

Prerequisites: B+ average in FREN 3031, 3032, and or instructor permission.

Survey of the main tools and techniques of translation. Written and oral translation exercises to and from the target language. Text selections will vary.

Taught in French.

FREN 4540 Advanced Topics in Eighteenth-Century Literature Topic:  Humor/Society/Power in Classical France

In this course, we will study some of the "greatest hits" of classical French literature, including comic plays by Molière and Marivaux, funny stories and poems by Voltaire, and social satires by Boileau and La Fontaine. These works will be contextualized within the social norms and the literary conventions of their time, especially vis-à-vis the models of Ancient Greek and Roman comic literature.

Reading these works will lead us to discuss issues such as: What is irony? Can something be funny in translation? How did the French define vulgarity? Can satire fix society? What is the relationship between comedy and censorship? Can women be funny? When does humor cross the line to cruelty?  Is comedy a weapon used by the powerless against the powerful, or vice versa?

Class requirements will involve active class participation, one 15-page paper that compares/contrasts a classical French comic text with a work of contemporary humor (of any culture), and an oral presentation on the topic of this paper.

FREN 4585-001 Advanced Topics in Cultural Studies(3 different sections/topics)

(Roger)Topic: America in French Literature

While France and America historically stood as allies from the very birth of the United States, anti-Americanism also has a long tradition in France, shaped and nurtured by generations of intellectuals and writers. As early as the 18th century, prominent French philosophers and scientists such as Buffon dwelled upon America’s «weaknesses» as a continent, prompting Thomas Jefferson’s counter-attack in his Notes on the State of Virginia. In the course of the 19th century, anti-Americanism moved to new topics, ranging from the lack of cultural life to economic greed and military imperialism.

From Baudelaire, who coined the French word “américanisation” in the 1850s to Jean Baudrillard, who in 1986 described America as a non-entity, French poets, novelists and writers played a decisive part in the elaboration and diffusion of anti-American stereotypes.

The seminar will explore this tradition, which accounts for a great number of French attitudes towards the US today.

The first four weeks will be devoted to a presentation of the most salient features of French anti-Americanism, in connection with specific historical periods (from the 18th to the 21st century): «L’Amérique invivable»,  «L’Amérique inculte», «L’Amérique impériale» et «L’Amérique introuvable».

The second half of the seminar will be organized thematically, each week being devoted to a selected, significant topic :  «La ville», «La violence», «La voracité», «Le vice et la vertu».

Readings will include an array of sources, ranging from natural history and philosophy to poetry and from short story to political pamphlet. We will discuss pages or chapters in Buffon, De Pauw, Jefferson, Baudelaire, Georges Duhamel, Céline, Sartre, Marcel Aymé, Jean Baudrillard,. We will also have a look at representations of the US in film (Le Mépris by Jean-Luc Godard and French popular culture : serialized fiction (La Conspiration des milliardaires), comic books (Tintin en Amérique), cartoons (Plantu). 

Assignments :

• students will be expected to participate in discussions on the readings.
• 2 short reactions papers  
• 1 mid-term exam
• 1 final paper (about 10 pages) on a topic chosen by the student in agreement with the instructor  will be due at the end of the semester.

Lectures and assignments in French. However, you should feel free to use English in discussions when necessary.

Please note the particular timetable of this class (which end at the beginning of November) and the unusual 2hour format of the sessions.

Taught in French

FREN 4585-002 Advanced Topics in Cultural Studies (3 different sections/topics)

 (Levine)Topic: Contemporary France in Film and Media Arts 

FREN 4585 will examine how contemporary debates about French history, language, education, politics, institutions, attitudes, and social issues are represented in film and other time-based art forms. Course materials include films and web-based media projects, accompanied by readings from the French press and other published sources. The course strongly emphasizes oral participation and discussion, and in addition to reading, writing, and film/media viewing, students will be expected to contribute to the discussion forums and other social media activities connected to the films and digital media works investigated in the course. They will also create a linear or non-linear digital audiovisual project relating to the themes of the course. No prior technical or visual skills are required, but a high level of willingness to engage with the creation and analysis of digital texts and images, as well as excellent oral and written skills in French, is preferred. They should also be open to working in teams. For questions, contact the instructor alevine@virginia.edu.

Prerequisite: FREN 3032 and 3584 or instructor permission.

FREN 4585-003 Advanced Topics in Cultural Studies (3 different sections/topics)

(Ferguson)Topic: Sex, Gender, and Beyond in Renaissance France

The term “Renaissance man,” exemplified by figures like Leonardo de Vinci or Michelangelo, expresses a certain ideal of the educated and multi-talented individual. But in 16th-century Europe, and in France in particular, what did it mean to be a man? And what did it mean to be a woman? In this period, poised between the Middle Ages and modernity, paradoxically inspired by the Ancient world and encountering the “New World” of the Americas, what concepts did people have of the self, of sex, and of gender and how were these experienced in daily life? Studying a variety of texts focusing on examples of exclusion, marginality, and transgression – same-sex eroticism, cross-dressing, sex change, etc. – we will explore the constraints and possibilities of a sexual culture that also intersected with religious dissidence and racial difference, a culture that requires us to reflect on our own assumptions and contemporary society’s norms.

FREN 4743 – Africa in Cinema

FREN 5520/8520 – Topics in 16th Century Lit: 1515 – 2015: Marguerite de Navarre and the Beginnings of the Renaissance

In 1515, François Ier became king of France, bringing his close relatives, including his sister Marguerite, to the center of power. The date has become synonymous with the beginning of the French Renaissance – a term, however, coined only later in the 19th century. The 500th anniversary of this event, for which widespread celebrations have been prepared, invites us to reconsider what was at stake, intellectually and culturally, in the first half of the sixteenth century, both from the perspective of those involved and from ours. The seminar will focus on the figure of Marguerite de Navarre, who in the years before her death in 1549 – the year in which Du Bellay also published his manifesto text La Deffence et illustration de la langue françoise – worked on her great novella collection the Heptaméron. At the same time, she also revised and (re)published many of her earliest works, including the Miroir de l’âme pécheresse (1531), collected in the 1547 Marguerites de la Marguerite des Princesses. Among other topics, we will examine Marguerite’s use of the framed narrative, both in poetry and in prose; her engagement with humanism and with ancient and Italian models, including neo-Platonism; her involvement with religious reform movements, notably Evangelicalism; her contribution to the ongoing Querelle des femmes; and her relationships with and patronage of other writers and thinkers in her circle such as Marot and Rabelais.

W 3:30 – 6:00 (Ferguson)

FREN 5540/8540: Topics in 18th-Century Literature: The Human Body in the Eighteenth Century

This course will examine how thinkers of eighteenth-century France conceived of the human body and how these concepts informed the literature of the era. These thinkers dealt with questions such as: what is the connection between the soul and the body? How can we explain differences between various races and nationalities? Does science justify gender roles, in particular Rousseau's new ideas about motherhood? Could too much or too little sexual activity kill you? What was the physiological basis for emotion? How do we explain exceptional cases like albinos or so-called monstrous births? And to what extent did society control the individual's body? These questions will be part of a series of bodily issues that we will discuss during the semester.

Primary texts will include articles from the Encyclopédie, chapters of Rousseau's Emile, works by Buffon, Diderot, Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, and a number of eighteenth-century scientists. We will also consider scientific treatises from Antiquity that influenced medical thought about national differences and gender roles. In addition to these primary texts, we will also look at scholarly research about the body in the eighteenth century, such as works by Anne Vila, Michel Foucault, and Philippe Ariès.

• Climate and humors: Galien/Hippocrate Barclay?, Dubos, Montesquieu, Buffon

• Races: Buffon, (Curran), Jefferson, but also something from Amis des Noirs

• Gender: (Laqueur), Aristote, Juan Huarte

• Sexual activity: Encyclopedia articles on dissipation, (Wenger), Nouvelle-Héloïse/Emile? Thérèse philosophe on determinism?

• Nerves (Vila?), energy (Delon, Treatise on Gens de lettres), digestion/hunger (Steven Kaplan?), death: Ariès? child rearing? ("Homme" in Encyclopédie, Ariès, Emile)

• Monstrosity: (Joan Landes), (Huet)

• Satire of French doctors (Molière, Zadig, Jacques le Fataliste), while foreign remedies are better (Voltaire/Montagu on Turkish smallpox vaccine, LPDP on Natchez cures, Jesuits in China), hygiène (Franklin, Vigarello, Foucault?)

• Materialist solution to mind/body problem: everything is body

T 3 :30 – 6 :00 (Tsien)

FREN 5584/8584 Cinéma, histoire, mémoire

Some scholars argue that film, an essentially twentieth-century medium, has shaped the mental universe of the century. Throughout the century, cinema has maintained a complex and evolving relationship to historical events and circumstances. Film has played a role both in recording and shaping history, as well as in shaping collective and individual memory of past events. In this course, we will explore the interconnections among history, memory, and cinema with regards to two periods from the French past that have ongoing historical and memorial legacies in contemporary France: the colonial period and the Second World War. We will address questions such as whether films are products of a particular socio-historical context, how they have shaped and reflected historical events, and how they have actively intervened in debates over the writing of history and memory. Throughout the course, we will pay particular attention to the specificities of film form and language in negotiating these relationships.

We will examine a range of documentaries and fiction films from French and Francophone filmmakers from the late 1930s to the present, including three films from the M.A. reading list. We will also read widely in French history, film history, and film theory. Students will be expected to acquire a working knowledge of film vocabulary in French, to write a publishable film analysis paper in French or English, and to complete a digital video project in French.

TR 2:00 pm – 3:15 pm (Levine)