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                                    FRENCH COURSE CATALOG

 

FRENCH 101, 102Elementary French 1, 2Annually
Designed for students with no previous study of French for acquisition of a basic speaking, reading, and writing knowledge of idiomatic French. Five class hours weekly. One and one-quarter units each semester.

FRENCH 201, 202Intermediate French 1, 2Annually
A review of the fundamentals of the language supplemented by reading of literary and cultural material and by practice in oral expression. For students who have completed French 102. Four class hours weekly. One unit each semester.

FRENCH 232Moulin Rouge: Intersections of Art & Popular CultureEvery 3rd year
An interdisciplinary exploration of Paris at the turn-of-the-century. The myth of France’s “La Belle Époque” often portrays Paris in terms of the capital of a pleasure-seeking-and-driven consumer society. By examining the avant-garde and the modernist art of the period, the course will investigate the role of art and of the artist in society The course also aims to be the occasion for an appreciative look at the immense and profound artistic creativity that distinguishes the time and place of this belle époque. Works by Apollinaire, Baudelaire, Colette, Jarry, Rimbaud, Rostand, (Henri) Rousseau, Toulouse-Lautrec, Zola. Conducted in English. Does not count for French major or minor credit. One unit.

FRENCH 301Composition and ConversationFall, 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. Four class hours weekly. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 302Approaches to Reading and WritingEvery 3rd year
A course which aims to familiarize students with methods for the critical analysis of a variety of texts. It also further develops the students’ oral and written skills. Prerequisite: French 301. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 311French Life & Letters: Middle Ages to 1800Every 3rd year
An overview of French life and letters from the Middle Ages to 1800. Focus is on literature, but other types of cultural material are included to provide insights into the cultural, historical, and ideological contexts. Prerequisite: French 301. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 312French Life & Letters: 19th, 20th & 21st CenturiesEvery 3rd year
An overview of French life and letters from 1800 to the present. Focus is on literature, but other types of cultural material are included to provide insights into the cultural, historical, and ideological contexts. Prerequisite: French 301. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 399Special TopicsFall, Spring
Designed to give students the tools to read and write critically in the target (foreign) language. A thematic topic will be the focus of the course, and a variety of texts representative of all major genres (poetry, play, short story, novel) will be examined. Writing exercises include le résumé, le commentaire, la dissertation, l'exposé oral. Prerequiste: French 301. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 401Advanced FrenchEvery 3rd year
A course designed for students who seek to reach an advanced level of proficiency in French. The four skills will be stressed. Particular emphasis will be put on exercises that illustrate language as a system. Four class hours weekly. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 402TranslationEvery 3rd 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 403SyntaxEvery 3rd 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 413Seminar: French Poetry Every 3rd year
A critical study of French prosody and poetic practice with an analysis of poetical works drawn from Villon to the present. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 421Literature from the Middle Ages to the RenaissanceEvery 3rd 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). Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 422The Classical Theater and Its Aftermath Every 3rd year
Representative dramatic works of the 17th and 18th centuries are studied against the backgrounds of the dramatic theory from which they spring. The plays of Corneille, Molière and Racine are featured. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 42318th-Century French Literature Every 3rd year
An examination of the literature of the period as it relates to the changing social, intellectual and literary values that led to the French Revolution and its consequences. Authors treated include Beaumarchais, Saint-Pierre, Laclos, Lesage, Marivaux, Prévost, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Diderot, Sedaine, Voltaire. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 424 19th-Century Novel Every 3rd year
A close examination of the French novel from 1800 to 1900, including such authors as Constant, Stendhal, Balzac, Flaubert, Maupassant, Huysmans, and Zola. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 425From Realism to Impressionism and Symbolism Every 3rd 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. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 42620th-Century Theater Every 3rd year
The major trends and theories in the theater of this century are considered. The reading begins with examples of important 19th-century plays and continues to the modern period. Authors treated include Giraudoux, Beckett, Ionesco and others. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit

FRENCH 42720th-Century Novel Every 3rd year
The major trends and theories by prominent 20th-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. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 431 Contemporary France Every 3rd 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 432Moulin Rouge: Intersections of Art & Popular CultureEvery 3rd year
An interdisciplinary exploration of Paris at the turn-of-the-century. By examining the avant-garde and the modernist art of the period, the course investigates the role of art and of the artist in society. Works by Apollinaire, Baudelaire, Colette, Jarry, Rimbaud, Rostand, (Henri) Rousseau, Toulouse-Lautrec, Zola. Prerequisite : a minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. One unit.

FRENCH 441Francophone Cross-Culturalities & Creolizations Every 3rd 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 451French Women Writers Every 3rd year
An examination of the works of major contemporary French women writers. Selected works by authors such as Colette, De Beauvoir, Yourcenar, Leduc, Duras, Ernaux, Wittig, Hyvrard, Chawaf, François, Susini, Cixous, Sallenave, Redonnet, Lenoir, Angot, Bernheim, Germain, Detambel, Lê, Bouraoui and others. Prerequisite: A minimum of two French courses at the 300-level. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 499Special TopicsFall, spring
A special course offered either semester for the study of a literary genre, form, theme or problem. Under this heading, courses in film and in African and Caribbean Literatures and Cultures are offered regularly. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 491, 492TutorialAnnually
Eligible students may elect one or both of these courses with the permission of the department chair. Tutorials are normally offered only to students who have previously taken all other advanced courses offered in a given semester. One unit each semester.

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