Course Catalog - French
French 101 - Elementary French 1
Fall
This first half of an introduction to the fundamentals of the French language focuses on the acquisition of the basic listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills and presents an introduction to the cultures of the French-speaking world. This course is restricted to students with no previous study of French. Five class hours weekly. Conducted in French. One and one-quarter units.
French 102 - Elementary French 2
Fall, spring
This second half of an introduction to the fundamentals of the French language reinforces and deepens basic listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in French as well as knowledge of the cultures of the French-speaking world. Prerequisite: French 101 or the equivalent score on the placement test. Five class hours weekly. Conducted in French. One and one-quarter units.
French 201 - Intermediate French 1
Fall, spring
The first half of a review of the fundamentals of French supplemented by reading of literary and cultural material and by practice in oral expression. Prerequisite: French 102 or the equivalent score on the placement test. Four class hours weekly. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 202 - Intermediate French 2
Fall, spring
The second half of a review of the fundamentals of French supplemented by reading of literary and cultural material and by practice in oral expression. Prerequisite: French 201 or the equivalent score on the placement test. Four class hours weekly. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 301 - Composition and Conversation
Fall, spring
Designed for gaining proficiency in oral and written French. Emphasis on developing correctness and fluency in everyday situations. Regular methods of instruction include dictation, phonetic transcriptions, discussions, debates, compositions and lab exercises. Required for French majors and recommended for first-year students with advanced placement. Prerequisite: French 202 or the equivalent score on the placement test. Four class hours weekly. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 302 - Approaches to Reading and Writing
Every third year
Designed to give students the tools to read and write critically in French. Students will examine texts representative of major genres and will acquire lexical flexibility, rhetorical skills and stylistic proficiency. Prerequisite: French 301. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 303 - French Life & Letters: Middle Ages to 1800
Every third year
An overview of French life and letters from the Middle Ages to 1800. Focus is on literature, but other types of material are included to provide insights into the cultural, historical, and ideological contexts. Designed to give students the tools to read and write critically in French. Students will examine texts representative of major genres and will acquire lexical flexibility, rhetorical skills and stylistic proficiency. Prerequisite: French 301. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 304 - French Life & Letters: the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries
Every third year
An overview of French life and letters from 1800 to the present. Focus is on literature, but other types of material are included to provide insights into the cultural, historical, and ideological contexts. Designed to give students the tools to read and write critically in French. Students will examine texts representative of major genres and will acquire lexical flexibility, rhetorical skills and stylistic proficiency. Prerequisite: French 301. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 399 - Special Topics
Annually
A thematic topic is the focus of the course. Designed to give students the tools to read and write critically in French. Students will examine texts representative of major genres and will acquire lexical flexibility, rhetorical skills and stylistic proficiency. Prerequisite: French 301. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 401 - Advanced French
Every third year
Designed for students who seek to reach an advanced level of proficiency in French. The four skills are stressed. Particular emphasis on exercises that focus on complex language structures. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 402 - Translation
Every third year
Through the translation of selected passages, seeks to teach students to write with precision and clarity in both French and English. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 403 - Syntax
Every third year
An appreciation of the structure of the French sentence through two types of analyses: “analyse grammaticale” and “analyse logique.” Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 404 - Performing (in) French
Every third year
Aims to develop oral skills: pronunciation, effective public speaking strategies, and lyrical as well as dramatic interpretation. Student performances consist of the recitation of literary texts. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 405 - System & Style: The Dynamics of Language
Every third year
An examination of the different components and aspects constitutive of the French language through an analysis of its origins, phonetics, lexicon, morphology, syntax, and semantics as well as the network of rhetorical elements that combine to create a discourse. The study of language as a rigorously coded system that can assume a plurality of styles. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 413 - Seminar: French Poetry
Every third year
A critical study of French prosody and poetic practice with an analysis of poetical works drawn from Villon to the present. This course fulfills the literature requirement for the major. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 421 - French Literature from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance
Every third year
A critical study of the major works and authors of the Middle Ages (including La Chanson de Roland, Chrétien de Troyes, Le Roman de Renart, La Farce de Maître Pathelin, Villon), and the major poets and prose writers of the Renaissance (including Rabelais, Du Bellay, Ronsard, Montaigne). This course fulfills the literature requirement for the major. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 425 - From Realism to Impressionism and Symbolism
Every third year
By focusing on French literary and artistic developments of the second half of the 19th century, this course examines the paradoxical link between the attempt to express or represent reality and the emergence of a symbolist and even an abstract aesthetics. Works by Baudelaire, Bizet, Cézanne, Debussy, Degas, Flaubert, Jarry, Manet, Monet, Maupassant, Rimbaud, Rodin, Toulouse-Lautrec, Verlaine, and others are discussed. This course fulfills the literature requirement for the major. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 427 - 20th-21st Century Novel
Every third year
The major trends and theories by prominent 20th-21st Century novelists are considered. Selected works by authors such as Gide, Proust, Mauriac, Sartre, Colette, Camus, Breton, De Beauvoir, Beckett, Bernanos, Giono, Vian, Queneau, Perec, Pagnol, Tournier, Robbe-Grillet, Sarraute, Duras, Hyvrard, Modiano, Sollers, Lainé, Wittig, Roche, Yourcenar, Leduc, Ernaux, Angot, Germain and others. This course fulfills the literature requirement for the major. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 431 - Contemporary France
Every third year
Focuses on current issues in contemporary France. Politics, society, the arts, domestic and international affairs, education, the media, feminism, etc., are among the topics analyzed and discussed. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 441 - Francophone Cross-Culturalities & Creolizations
Every third year
A general introduction to the cultures outside France -in particular, those of America and Africa- that identify themselves as Francophone. Colonialism and post/neo-colonialism, the creation of new cultural identities and expressions from ethnic diversity, linguistic “variants” and marginalizations are among the topics analyzed and discussed. Prerequisite: A minimum or two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 451 - French Women Writers
Every third year
An examination of the works of major contemporary French women writers. Selected works by authors such as Colette, De Beauvoir, Yourcenar, Leduc, Duras, Delbo, Ernaux, Wittig, Hyvrard, Chawaf, François, Susini, Cixous, Sallenave, Redonnet, Lenoir, Angot, Bernheim, Germain, Detambel, Lê, Bouraoui and others. This course fulfills the literature requirement for the major. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 461 - Writing Madness in Africa
Every third year
Depending on the society, madness raises psychological, sociological, philosophical and political issues at the same time. In the colonial context, the African, the native is perceived as the “other,” the primitive, whereas the native also looks at the occupant, the European, as the “other,” a strange being. In modern African writing, madness may be represented from the conflict between the world views that leads to such a cultural production. This course fulfills the literature requirement for the major. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 462 - Detective Stories from Francophone Africa and the Caribbean
Every third year
Francophone African and Caribbean writers were inspired by the African American novelist, Chester Himes, a disciple of Dashiell Hammett. Therefore, this course necessarily starts with the history of detective story writing but also with Himes’s Harlem “domestic stories” as he called his thrillers. The course will then deal with the appropriation of detective story writing techniques by African American novelists and their African and Caribbean peers. This course fulfills the literature requirement for the major. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 463 - Immigrant Writers from Francophone Africa and the Caribbean
Every third year
In the postcolonial era and especially since African and Caribbean countries’ independence in the 1960’s, south-north immigration has increased dramatically. Such displacement has given birth to a new literature/culture that addresses migrations, identity formation and multicultural issues. This course will explore writings by men and women Francophone authors from Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and the Maghreb, all of them inspired by life experience in France, in Canada or another foreign land. A few related films will also be viewed and discussed. One unit
French 499 - Special Topics
Annually
A special course offered either semester for the study of a literary genre, form, theme or issue. Under this heading, courses in film are offered regularly. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.
French 491, 492 - Tutorial
Annually
Eligible students may elect one or both of these courses with the permission of the section coordinator. Tutorials are normally offered only to students who have previously taken all other advanced courses offered in a given semester. One unit.
* The courses and descriptions listed above are taken directly from the official College Catalog.