Courses

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.

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.

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.

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.

Designed for gaining proficiency in oral and written French. Emphasis on developing correctness and fluency in everyday situations. Regular methods of instruction include discussions, web activities, skits, listening comprehension, grammar review. Required for French majors and minors. Recommended for first-year students with advanced placement. Four class hours weekly. French.

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. Conducted in French.

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. Conducted in French.

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. Conducted in French.

Arts will be the thematic focus of the course and will encompass readings on urbanism and architecture, film, advertising, comic books, choreography, equestrian theater, political songs, painting, and photography. 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. Conducted in French.

Paris will be the thematic focus of the course and will encompass a variety of readings on the City of Lights' history, urban design and landscape, landmarks and symbols, cultural institutions, artistic and intellectual neighborhoods. We will also examine how poets, novelists, playwrights, and filmmakers have represented Paris by studying sample(s) of their respective art form. Designed to give students the tools to read and write critically in French. Students will examine texts representative of major genres (poetry, theater, novel) and will acquire lexical flexibility, rhetorical skills and stylistic proficiency. Conducted in French.

The general theme of the Fantastic is the focus of this course. As a literary and cinematic genre, the Fantastic is characterized by the intrusion of the supernatural into our natural world. This intrusion, which can take many forms, destabilizes both the reader/spectator and the characters within the text itself. Students will study a variety of works on the topic. 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. Conducted in French.

In this course, students analyze works of literature written by francophone authors that feature a voyage, either literal or metaphorical. 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. Conducted in French.

In this course, we will analyze works of literature written by authors of diverse backgrounds based in France. One of the course's goals is to explore the many faces of the country, not just that of the Parisian elite. Focus is on literature, but other types of material are included to provide insights into the culture, 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. The course will bring student' proficiency to the level of accuracy and clarity required for the satisfactory completion of 400-level course. Conducted in French [counts toward the French major and minor. Satisfies the College's Language Common Area Requirement]

What makes French people laugh? French humor will be the thematic focus of the course which will examine the place of laughter in French literature (plays, short stories, poems, etc.), art (painting, caricature, the bande dessinée or French graphic novel), and culture (in the media and stand-up). Indeed, laughter is a vital form of communication not to mention a powerful political tool. 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. Conducted in French.

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.

Through the translation of selected passages, seeks to teach students to write with precision and clarity in both French and English. Conducted in French.

Even though the French commonly do not believe that one can learn how to become a successful fiction writer by taking courses in creative writing, they admit that there are certain tricks and techniques pertaining to the art of writing that one must know in order to write a fine piece of literature. In this course, we shall take up the challenge. We shall first read samples of fictional works (excerpts, a fable, a tale, a short story, a novel), take them apart to understand how they are fabricated, and analyze each component at play in detail. Students will then compose similar short pieces. By the end of the semester, students will try their hand at a larger piece of fiction in French. Conducted in French.

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. Conducted in French.

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. Conducted in French.

A critical examination of contemporary Francophone music and new poetic forms such as slamming across Africa, Europe, North-America and spanning genres such as afro-pop, hip hop, reggae, zouk. The course seeks to highlight the use of music and spoken work as instruments to contest the prevailing political discourse and a platform to engage social changes.

Emerging Francophone Classics introduces students to recent texts by renowned Francophone writers from Africa, the Caribbean, and the African diaspora. The course engages students in the examination of issues and themes such as immigration, cultural identity, and gender through authors such as Dany Laferrière (Lénigme du retour), Boubabcar Boris Diop (Le temps de Tamango), Véronique Tadjo (Loin de mon père), Fatou Diome (Celles qui attendent), Maryse Condé (Le Cur à rire et à pleurer), Fawzia Zouari (Ce pays dont je meurs), etc. It explores literary aesthetics associated with the individual writers as well as the linguistic influences of their regions of origin.

This course focuses on cinematic masterpieces, understood as either popular or critical successes, or both, in order to provide students with an in-depth study of French and French-language filmmaking from its inception in 1895 to the present. We move chronologically, and cover a variety of trends, periods, and genres, including the 1920s Avant-Garde, Poetic Realism, Occupation Cinema, the Tradition of Quality, the French New Wave, Beur and Banlieue filmmaking, the popular comedy, the documentary, and the road movie. We also explore French-language cinema produced outside Metropolitan France. Conducted in French.

This course introduces students to the politics of representation in contemporary French-language cinema, from France but also other corners of the French-speaking world. We focus specifically on issues of race, gender and sexuality as they emerge in a variety of filmic texts of the last few decades. Other considerations will include class, ethnicity, hybridity and multiculturalism. Key theoretical paradigms such as feminist film studies, queer theory and postcolonial thought will be utilized to contextualize and comprehend these categories. Conducted in French.

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.

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.

The French 19th century is haunted by scenes of entrapment. From Victor Hugo's prison narratives to the first ever locked room mystery, the period is marked by an impulse to enclose, be it within the walls of a dungeon, a lighthouse, a human body or within the limits of the text itself. This course invites students to explore the theme of confinement through a variety of genres (poems, short stories, novels, graphic novels, plays as well as film adaptations) and authors (Ignace Nau, George Sand, Marie Krysinska, Honore de Balzac, Guy de Maupassant, Rachilde, etc.). Questions we will be asking ourselves include: What do these narrative accounts of isolation reveal about the literary impulse behind bars? How does literature deal with (its own) limits? How can stories about confinement help us process our own experience of quarantine?

The course focuses on both the history and contemporary issues of Francophone cultures outside of France (in Europe, West Africa, Southeast Asia and the Americas). Politics, society, the arts, domestic and international affairs, decolonization, and postcolonialism are among the topics analyzed and discussed. Conducted in French.