Courses

Through readings, films, discussion, and activities, students learn the defining values of their own country, those of France, and key differences between the two cultures. Taught in French. Prereq., FREN 3060 or equivalent.

Introduces students to the polemic colonial, social, and cultural interactions of France and Islam. Close attention will be paid to paradigms of identities of one of the major European nations and the Islamic world. Readings and discussion topics for this course cover the social, cultural, and literary depictions of Islamic and French interactions, negotiations, and contradictions. Taught in English. Restricted to juniors and seniors. Cannot be used for French major or minor credit. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity.

Concentrates on developing (or preserving) speaking fluency, correct pronunciation, and a good working vocabulary. May be repeated once for credit. Prereq., FREN 3060 and/or 3500, or instructor consent.

Topics vary each semester. Consult the online Schedule Planner for specific topics. See also FREN 4120.

Topics vary each semester. Consult the online Schedule Planner for specific topics. See also FREN 4110.

Studies the literary expression of French-speaking peoples of Africa, the Caribbean, and French Canada. Gives special attention to oral tradition, identity question, and cultural conflict. Prereqs., FREN 3100, 3110, and 3120, or instructor consent. Prerequisites: Restricted to students with 27-180 credits (Sophomore, Junior or Senior) only.

Through a wide variety of texts and audio-visual documents, students learn the structures of contemporary French society and study the cultural phenomena of that society. Prereqs., FREN 3050 and 3060.

Explores the complex and evolving cultural and historical contexts of medieval and Renaissance French. Introduces the masterpieces of French medieval and Renaissance literature, including the Chanson de Roland and Arthurian romance. Also focuses on the work of Marie de France, Guillaume de Lorris, and Jean de Meun, Christine de Pisan, Machaut, Villon, Louise Labe, and the poets of the Pliade, Rabelais, and Montaigne. Prereqs., FREN 3100, 3110, and 3120 or instructor consent.

Readings of plays by Corneille, Moliere, and Racine introduce students to theatre's role as a mirror of the multifarious tensions shaping modern Western experience. Taught in English with English translations. Approved for arts and sciences CORE curriculum: literature and the arts.

Close readings of farces and comedies of Moliere in context with selected comedies by Corneille, Rotrou,and Cyrano de Bergerac and selected satires by Boileau and La Fontaine. Themes include comedy as a form of social criticism and the sociocultural significance of such episodes of Moliere's career as the scandalous quarrels of L'ecole des Femmes and Tartuffe. Prereqs., FREN 3100, 3110, and 3120 or instructor consent.

Studies fiction, essays, theatre, and philosophical tales. Emphasizes the Enlightenment in France through the texts of its major representatives: Montesquieu, Voltaire, Marivaux, Diderot, and Rousseau. Prereqs., FREN 3100, 3110, and 3120, or instructor consent.

Close readings of texts by Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Marivaux, and Beaumarchais. Focuses on the evolution of literary genres and the influence of philosophy, politics, and social change on belles lettres. Prereqs., FREN 3100, 3110, and 3120, or instructor consent.

Examines fiction, poetry, and theatre in 19th century France. Focuses on developing and changing literary styles and subject matter throughout the century in historical, philosophical, and social context. Prereqs., FREN 3100, 3110, and 3120, or instructor consent. Prerequisites: Restricted to students with 27-180 credits (Sophomore, Junior or Senior) only.

Close readings of plays from the turn of the century to the contemporary period introduce the principal themes and techniques of modernist and postmodernist French theatre. Students are encouraged to consider problems commonly evoked by these texts, and to compare the positions that each text takes on such problems as the status and uses of language, the function and limits of the theatre, and the dialectic of appearance and reality. Prereqs., FREN 3100, 3110, and 3120, or instructor consent.

Close readings of novels from the 1930s to the contemporary period introduce the principal themes and techniques of the modernist and postmodernist French novel. Students are encouraged to analyze a variety of questions commonly evoked in these texts, such as the problem of representation, the uses and abuses of writing, the relation of fiction and history, and the status of the subject in the world. Prereqs., FREN 3100, 3110, and 3120 or instructor consent.

Covers various topics in the French and some other Francophone cinemas (Belgian, Swiss, Quebecois) from 1895 to the present. Focuses on periods, schools, themes, and directors from Melies to Duras, and the critical approaches by which they are studied. Varies from year to year. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours on different topics. Prereqs., junior standing and 6 hours in French literature, other literature, or film studies.

Presents current methodology and techniques for teaching foreign language for proficiency. Areas of study include ACTLFL guidelines, National Standards, assessment, classroom activities, curriculum, and syllabus design. Prereqs., FREN 3100, 3110 or 3120, an additional course above FREN 3060, and admission to the teacher certification program or instructor consent. Restricted to juniors/seniors.

Focuses upon recent innovations in the French novel, and upon the postmodernist literary aesthetic. Students will examine a variety of avant-garde novels, and analyze the kinds of literary experimentation that those novels propose. They will be asked to consider a series of questions concerning the changing nature of literary representation and the status of the novel as a cultural form. Taught in English. Restricted to juniors/seniors. Cannot be used for major or minor credit. Prerequisites: Restricted to students with 57-180 credits (Junior or Senior).

Upon consultation only and at the undergraduate level. May be repeated up to 7 total credit hours.

Attempts to investigate how extreme historical events (war, genocides, terror attacks) function as "Trauma" and how these extreme events are dealt with by personal and collective memory in historical narratives, literary and cinematic fiction, and memorials. Amnesia and other types of historical negations or revisions will be analyzed, along with representations of trauma and the difficulties raised by this memorializing. Taught in English. Restricted to juniors/seniors. Cannot be used for majoror minor credit. Approved for arts and sciences CORE curriculum: ideals and values.

Offered as part of the supervised student teaching in a secondary school required for state certification to teach French. These hours do not count toward student hours in the major nor in the maximum departmental hours allowed. Prereq., FREN 4750 or 5770 and admission to the secondary teaching education program. Coreq., EDUC 4712. Pass/fail only. Prerequisites: Restricted to students with 27-180 credits (Sophomore, Junior or Senior) only.

The senior honor thesis is a 40 to 45 page original research paper, written in French, and constitutes a requirement for graduating with departmental honors. Prereqs., all third-year course requirements including FREN 3200. Recommended prereq., at least one course numbered FREN 4100 or above.

Preparation of a 15-page research paper in French presented to two members of the department faculty and defended orally in class. Prereq., all third-year requirements and advisor consent. Recommended prereq., at least one course numbered FREN 4100 or above.

Different topics are offered and, in a number of cases, cross-listed with other departments. Prereq., graduate standing or instructor consent. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours on different topics. Prerequisites: Restricted to Graduate Students only.

Different topics are offered and, in a number of cases, cross-listed with other departments. Prereq.,graduate standing or instructor consent. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours on different topics.