Holy Cross HomeSearchSite IndexDirectionsWeb ServicesCalendar
About HCAdmissionsAcademicsAdministrationAlumni and FriendsAthleticsLibrary


                                    FRENCH COURSE CATALOG

 

FRENCH 101Elementary French 1Fall
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 102Elementary French 2Fall, 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 201Intermediate French 1Fall, 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 202Intermediate 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 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 score on the placement test. Four class hours weekly. Conducted in French. One unit.

FRENCH 302Approaches to Reading and WritingEvery 3rd 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 303French 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 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 304French 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 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 399Special TopicsAnnually
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 401Advanced FrenchEvery 3rd 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 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 404Performing (in) French Every 3rd 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 405System & Style:The dynamics of LanguageEvery 3rd 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 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. 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 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). 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 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. 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 42720th-21stCentury Novel Every 3rd 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 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 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, 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 461Writing Madness in Africa Every 3rd 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 462Detective Stories from Francophone Africa and the Caribbean
Every 3rd 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’ 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 463Writing as an Immigrant from the Francophone Africa and the Caribbean Every 3rd 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.
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 499Special TopicsAnnually
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, 492TutorialAnnually
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. Conducted in French. One unit.

*The final authority on college and departmental policy is the College Catalog. The catalog should always be consulted when planning your curriculum.

back to top

 

   College of The Holy Cross   |   1 College Street, Worcester, MA 01610   |   (508) 793 2011   |   Copyright 2004   |                  email   |   webmaster@holycross.edu