The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

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2007-2008 Undergraduate Courses in French

AUTUMN WINTER SPRING
10100 Beginning Elementary French I 10100 Beginning Elementary French I 10200 Beginning Elementary French II
10200 Beginning Elementary French II 10200 Beginning Elementary French II 10200 Beginning Elementary French II
10300 Beginning Elementary French II 10300 Beginning Elementary French II 20100 Language, History, and Culture I
20100 Language, History, and Culture I 20100 Language, History, and Culture I 20200 Language, History, and Culture II
20200 Language, History, and Culture II 20200 Language, History, and Culture II 20300 Language, History, and Culture III
20300 Language, History, and Culture III 20300 Language, History, and Culture III 20400 Cours de Perfectionnement
20400 Cours de Perfectionnement 20400 Cours de Perfectionnement 20500 Ecrire en français
20600 Phonétique et phonologie 20500 Ecrire en français 21000 Du moderne au contemporain
20700 Introduction à la littérature française I 20800 Littérature à l'Age des Lumières 21500 La Stylistique
21400 La Question de la subjectivité 22200 L'Autobiographie au XXe siècle 23300 L'espace tragique: Racine, Sartre, Beckett
21201 Balzac, Illusions perdues 25400 L'Age des lumières: Diderot et l'Encyclopédie 24800 M.A. Exam
29700 Readings in Special Topics 29700 Readings in Special Topics 26400 Novels of self-discovery: Stendhal, Flaubert, Fontane
27601 Débats et querelles littéraires au Moyen Age 29900 B.A. Paper Preparation: French 28301 La Comédie classique
27800 L'Égotisme littéraire et philosophique   29700 Readings in Special Topics

Some 30000 and 40000-level courses in French (FREN) are open to advanced undergraduates in Romance Languages with consent of instructor. Please contact the department for further information.

Language

These courses must be taken for a quality grade.


10100-10200-10300. Beginning Elementary French I, II, III. Must be taken for a quality grade. This three-quarter sequence is designed for beginning and beginning-intermediate students in French. Its aim is providing students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written French (e.g., grammar, vocabulary, phonetics, sociocultural norms) to develop their speaking, listening, writing, and reading skills to the level required to demonstrate competency on the French examination. Although the three classes constitute a sequence leading to the French competency examination, there is enough review and recycling at every level for students to enter the sequence at whatever level is appropriate for them. Staff. Summer (complete sequence offered); Autumn, Winter, Spring.

10201-10301. Continuing Elementary French II, III. PQ: Placement. Must be taken for a quality grade. This sequence has the same objectives as FREN 10100-10200-10300, but it is reserved for students with enough knowledge of the language to permit a more rapid assimilation of its foundational linguistic and phonetic patterns. Staff Autumn, Winter, Spring.


20100-20200-20300. Language, History, and Culture I, II, III. PQ: FREN 10300 or placement. Must be taken for a quality grade. In this intermediate-level sequence, students review and extend their knowledge of all basic patterns (e.g., grammar, vocabulary, phonetics, sociocultural norms) of the language. They develop their oral and written skills in describing, narrating, and presenting arguments. They are exposed to texts and audio-visual material that provide them with a deeper understanding of French literature, culture, and contemporary society. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring. (This complete sequence is also offered to participants in the Paris language program in Autumn Quarter.)

20400/30400. Cours de perfectionnement. PQ: FREN 20300 or placement. This course is designed to help students attain high levels in reading, writing, speaking, and listening through readings and debates on various issues of relevance in contemporary French society with emphasis on summarizing textual and oral documents. Staff. Winter. (This class is also offered to participants in the Paris language program in Summer and Autumn Quarters.)


20500/30500. Ecrire en français. PQ: FREN 20300 or placement. Enrollment in Paris study abroad program for Summer and Autumn Quarters. This course is strongly recommended for students in the academic year Paris program. The goal of this course is to help students achieve mastery of composition and style through the acquisition of numerous writing techniques. Using a variety of literary and nonliterary texts as models, students examine the linguistic structures and organization of several types of written French discourse and are guided in the acquisition of the rules underlying each discourse type. Staff. Spring. (This class is also offered to participants in the Paris language program in Summer and Autumn Quarters.)


20600/30600. Phonétique et phonologie. PQ: FREN 20300 or placement. This course involves a systematic study of the French phonological system, placing equal emphasis on the recognition and the production of French sounds in context. Students also examine the relationships between the French sound system and French orthographic norms and grammatical distinctions. Classroom exercises and homework include examining authentic spoken discourse representing a variety of discourse styles and activities to promote the acquisition of spoken proficiency. Staff. Autumn. (This class is also offered to participants in the Paris language program in Summer Quarter and Autumn Quarter.)

Literature and Culture

All literature courses are conducted in French unless otherwise indicated. French majors do all work in French. With prior consent of the instructor, non-majors may write in English.


20700. Introduction à la littérature française I. This course is designed to give a historical overview of French literature in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There are close readings and discussions from representative works of this period. Among the authors studied are Rabelais, Ronsard, Montaigne, Descartes, Pascal, Corneille, Racine, Molière, La Fontaine, and Mme. de La Fayette. D. Delogu. Autumn.


20800. Littérature à l'Age des Lumières. PQ: FREN 20300 or consent of instructor. This course presents major literary and dramatic works of the eighteenth century such as those by Montesquieu, Prévost, Marivaux, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, and Beaumarchais. The class includes close readings and discussions. R. Morrissey. Winter.


21000. Du moderne au contemporain. PQ: FREN 20300 or consent of instructor. This course presents major literary and dramatic works of the twentieth century, including works by such authors as Gide, Claudel, Mauriac, Aragon, Genet, and Proust. Subjects might include absurdism, existentialism, gender and sexual identity, social upheaval, the post-modern condition, and the rise of cinema. The class includes close readings and discussions. Alison James. Spring.


21201/31201. Balzac, Illusions perdues. PQ: Open to 3rd & 4th year undergrads only. We will read and interpret Honoré de Balzac's best-known novel, the story of a young poet who sacrifices his talent to his ruthless ambition. Starting from a close reading of the text, we will examine the moral and sociological implications of the novel. The course will be taught in French, but participants who are not French majors/minors or graduate students can use the English translation of the novel and write their assignments in English. Thomas Pavel. Autumn.


21500/31500. La Stylistique. PQ: FREN 20400 or consent of instructor. This course focuses on linguistic and literary problems of textual analysis. It examines literary and stylistic techniques in poetry and prose with concentration on the explication de texte method of literary study. Alison James. Spring.


22200/32200. L'Autobiographie au XXe siècle. PQ: Advanced undergraduates accepted with consent of instructor. This course will trace the development of the autobiographical genre in the French literature of the twentieth century. We will consider such topics as truthfulness and fiction, the "autobiographical pact," chronology and causality, and the construction of the self. While focusing on key literary works, the course will also give an overview of critical approaches to autobiography. Authors studied will include Gide, Leiris, Colette, Sartre, Barthes and Sarraute. Classes conducted in French. Alison James. Winter.


23300. L'espace tragique: Racine, Sartre, Beckett. PQ: Prerequisite French 203 or consent of instructor for non-French majors. The neoclassical rules of drama - and in particular the "three unities" of action, time and place - limited all staged performance to a single, well-defined space. In the second half of the seventeenth century, Racine perfected the dramatic power of such intense spatial confinement. Yet, well after the romantic revolt reopened stage action to the full mobility and rapid scene changes, a number of twentieth century playwrights returned to the minimalist and claustrophobic single stage space, most notably with Sartre's Huis clos (No Exit) and Samuel Beckett's tragicomedies. We will examine the confined space of tragedy from a variety of angles, theatrical, literary, and philosophical. Readings and class discussion in French, though non-French majors may both write papers and make oral presentations in English. Larry Norman. Spring.


25400/35400. L'Age des lumières: Diderot et l'Encyclopédie. No author better represents the Age of Enlightenment in all of its complexity than Denis Diderot; no work did more to spread the ideology of the Enlightenment than the Encyclopédie. Mobilizing many of the great – and the not-so-great – philosophes of the eighteenth-century, this monumental work that undertook to organize and transmit the totality of human knowledge is also a very subversive work. We will look at the Encyclypédie in its context and explore such issues as the techniques of reading it implies, its notions of what constitutes truth, and some of the implications of the collective, dialogical nature of the enterprise. Readings will include miscellaneous works by Diderot, a selection of texts by him and others drawn from the Encyclopédie texts of other philosophes. There will be an oral presentation and a research paper. All work is done in French but exceptions will be made for students from other departments. R. Morrissey. Winter.


26400/36400. Novels of self-discovery: Stendhal, Flaubert, Fontane. PQ: Open to 3rd & 4th year undergrads only. A study of Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma, Flaubert's Madame Bovary, and Fontane's Effi Briest emphasizing the search for self-identity and the erratic pursuit of happiness. The course will be taught in English. French majors/minors and graduate students will read the French texts in the original and participate in a weekly French discussion group. Thomas Pavel. Spring.


27601/37601. Débats et querelles littéraires au Moyen Age. Ce cours examinera le genre multiforme du débat littéraire. En premier lieu nous prendrons en considération la mise en scène des débats dans les tensos des troubadours, les jeux-partis, les jugements d'amour, et les débats du clerc et du chevalier. Ensuite nous examinerons quelques querelles littéraires bien réelles, notammant celles autour du Roman de la Rose et de la Belle Dame sans Merci. D. Delogu. Autumn.


27800/37800. L'Égotisme littéraire et philosophique. Le cours examinera l'égotisme comme figure de discours. Il comportera une partie théorique : rhétorique janséniste (Pascal, Logique de Port-Royal), théorie linguistique des personnes grammaticales (avec en particulier une réflexion sur l'utilisation qui a été faite des idées d'Émile Benveniste sur la subjectivité linguistique et sur l'énonciation). Ces éléments de théorie seront mis à l'épreuve dans des lectures de textes littéraires classiques relevant du style égotiste. L'idée générale du cours sera de montrer l'abîme qui sépare l'égotisme comme forme littéraire de l'égotisme comme forme de discours philosophique sur l'ego ou le moi (self). Vincent Descombes. Autumn.


28301/38301. La Comédie classique. PQ: Open to undergraduates who have completed French 20700, or with consent of instructor. Molière casts a broad shadow in literary history over his predecessors and immediate successors. Yet his work, revolutionary though it may be, is deeply situated in the theatrical and aesthetic context of an enormously successful genre in the seventeenth century. While devoting considerable attention to Molière, we will consider the Latin, Spanish and Italian roots of French classical comedy as well as the early comedies of Corneille and Rotrou. We will also consider the influence of Molière's work on later French classical comedy (through Marivaux), and on English Restoration comedy. Readings and class discussion in French. Larry Norman. Spring.


29700. Readings in Special Topics. PQ: FREN 10300 or 20300, depending upon the requirements of the program for which credit is sought. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Directed readings in special topics not covered by courses offered as part of the program in French. Because registration in FREN 29700 is subject to departmental approval, the subjects treated and work completed for the course must be chosen in consultation with the instructor no later than the end of the preceding quarter. Autumn, Winter, Spring.


29900. B.A. Paper Preparation: French. PQ: Consent of B.A. adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. This course offers a structure for students writing their B.A. papers. Students work with a faculty member of their choice who directs their paper and supervises their writing. Winter.