N.B. The course schedule will be available in May of 2012. Course descriptions and required texts are subject to change.
Courses
Courses offered in the past four years.
▲ indicates offered in the current term
▹ indicates offered in the upcoming term[s]
FREN 6509 - Applied Stylistics I ▲
Stylistique appliquée I: Maîtrise du discours écrit et du texte / Applied Stylistics I: Mastering Written Discourse and Text
FREN 6509 is a refresher course that systematically covers all the basic language structures and various types of discourse : narrative, descriptive, and dialectical. The objective is to encourage students to write clearly and subtly. The course focuses on the daily practice of exercises. Students will require a unilingual dictionary and a grammar textbook.
Required text: Nouvelle grammaire du français (cours de civilisation de la Sorbonne), par Y. Delatour, D. Jennepin, M. Léon-Dufour et B. Teyssier, Hachette, 2004 (ISBN : 9782011552716). "
Language & StylisticsSummer 2008, Summer 2009, Summer 2010, Summer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6510 - Applied Stylistics II ▲
Stylistique appliquée II: Composition avancée / Applied Stylistics II: Advanced composition
This course aims to help students perfect their written French, explore and use argumentative strategies, and develop an authentic style. Identification and resolution of writing problems, stylistic exercises and composition of texts, independently and in workshops.
Required text: Chovelon, Bernadette et Barthe, Marie (2002). Expression et style: Français de perfectionnement. Presses Universitaires de Grenoble ISBN 2 7061 1081 8
Language & StylisticsSummer 2008, Summer 2009, Summer 2010, Summer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6514 - Applied Phonetics ▲
Production orale et prononciation / Oral Production and Pronunciation
In this course, students will develop and perfect their oral production skills, by means of various original materials and through a wide array of challenging oral production activities. By working on the linguistic and socio-cultural dimensions of a variety of useful communicative speech situations, students will acquire and consolidate a more sophisticated and lasting proficiency in oral expression. Each class will include systematic work on pronunciation, carefully integrated into the program of the day or the week; practice & correction of French pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation through a wide array of oral exercises (discrimination, repetition, dialogues, in-situation activities...). In all aspects of the course, improving communicative ability will be the priority. A mid-session individual interview will allow students to measure their progress and receive customized suggestions to maximize their oral performance.
Texts: an online course pack including documents and supporting material, articles, and short collections of thematic material to stimulate debate and discussion; excerpts of plays, audio and video clips, etc.
N.B.: Initially, first-year graduate students will be placed in this course on the basis of their scores on the oral interview; although any remaining seats will be opened to other interested students, they should normally register in 6612."
N.B. Initially, first-year graduate students will be placed in this course on the basis of their scores on the oral interview; although any remaining seats will be opened to other interested students, they should normally register in 6612.
Language & StylisticsSummer 2008, Summer 2009, Summer 2010, Summer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6515 - French-English Translation I
FREN 6520 - Intro to Francophone World
Introduction au monde francophone / Introduction to the Francophone World
This course introduces a major theme in French studies, whose understanding has become absolutely indispensable—for French teachers especially—in its many aspects: history, society, culture, language. Coursework will therefore combine a study of the French-speaking regions, of ways of expressing identity through the French language, and of language meeting culture, with an analysis of transnational Francophone strategies for development and solidarity.
Text: A course pack will be provided.
Recommended Texts: Coll., Mondes francophones, ADPF Éditions, 2006 ; Jacques Barrat, Claude Moisei, Géopolitique de la francophonie, un nouveau souffle ?, Paris, La documentation française, 2004 ; Xavier Deniau, La francophonie, PUF, « Que sais-je », 1986 ; D. Wolton, Demain la francophonie, Paris, Flammarion, 2006.
Summer 2008
FREN 6522 - Urban Sociolinguistics ▲
Sociolinguistique du français : vers une sociolinguistique urbaine / Sociolinguistics of the French language : towards urban sociolinguistics
"This course is intended as an introduction to the problematic pertaining language use within a social context from a sociolinguistic standpoint – discipline dedicated to the study of language in its social and cultural manifestations. The issues discussed in class will range from: sociolinguistics as a field of research, social variation in French, verbal interactions, linguistic representations, and the emergence of an urban sociolinguistic domain. No previous knowledge of linguistics is required.
Text: a coursepack will be provided.*
LinguisticsSummer 2010, Summer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6524 - Introduction to Linguistics ▲
Introduction à la linguistique / An Introduction to Linguistics
This course is meant to be a first contact with the principles and methods of linguistic analysis. Involving an introduction to linguistics, this course is appropriate for those begining their French linguistic studies as well as to advanced level students willing to increase and systematize their knowledge by means of a structured reflection on certain fundamental concepts of general linguistics.
An introduction to a complex discipline can be dealt with through different approaches. While proposing a view of the organization and functioning of the human language, presenting the great notions of modern linguistics and the main research fields, we will divide the present course into four broad areas: phonetics and phonology, morphology, lexical semantics, and semantics of the enunciation (enunciative and pragmatic approach).
No previous knowledge of linguistics is required.
LinguisticsSummer 2008, Summer 2009, Summer 2012
FREN 6525 - Intro to Literary Analysis ▲
Lire, comprendre, écrire le voyage: méthodes d'analyses textuelles / Reading, understanding, and writing about travel: methods of textual analysis
This course will help social science and literary students master analytical and textual methodologies. These methodologies will allow students to read and comprehend texts in depth while developing their written analytical skills by performing methodological exercises such as summaries, technical explanations, close readings, argumentative dialectical essay, reading analyses or oral thematic presentations.
In these exercises, we will study tropes on the Other in literature, anthropology, sociology, and politics. What representation and images of travel, the foreign and the Other, stem from the French reader’s perspective? And who is this Other? Etymologically “the one who is not here”, the Other can be the neighbor, the opposite sex, the foreigner -- whoever is different. And what usage is made of such fluctuating representations? In a quest for travel and alterity through different texts spanning the 16th to the 21st centuries, we will explore the anthropological, sociological, political, stylistical, poetical, critical and ideological renewal of transcribed viewpoints of human identity and French clichés. To this end, we will study textual excerpts from different horizons might they be geographical, political, sociological, anthropological or historical.
Required texts :
1) A coursepack comprised of diverse argumentative texts (including Le Passeur, short story by Le Clézio)
2) Le Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville, Denis Diderot, LGF Libretti 13809 ISBN 2253138099
3) La Théorie du Voyage, Michel Onfray, LGF LDP Biblio essai 4417 ISBN 2253084419
4) Le Roi de Kahel (Tierno Monénembo), Seuil Cadre Rouge, ISBN 2020851671 5) La Ronde, JMG Le Clézio, éd. Folio/ Gallimard, ISBN 978 207038237 8
Final grade: Will be determined by five written exercises (60%) and two oral presentations (40%) "
Lit Theory/Analysis PedagogySummer 2008, Summer 2009, Summer 2010, Summer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6543 - The Post-Molierists
Comment écrire une comédie après Molière ? Les post-moliéresques, de Molière à Marivaux. / Is it possible to pen a comedy after Molière ? The post-Molièrists, from Molière to Marivaux
How is it possible to think about comedy after Molière? What are the necessary methods to represent, conceive, and bring to life a comic play after Molière’s ingenious innovations, after the revival of the farce, after the invention of classical morals in “La Grande Comédie”, after the creation of the ballet comedy, after the victories at the end of so many quarrels, after so much comic and satiric brilliance, after such a supreme theatric genius? This is the challenge which the “post-Molièrists”, Regnard and Lesage, confronted as best they could, before Marivaux reworked the definition of comedy. Their response is simple but efficient as they imagined a theatrical reproduction of a party, a pot-pourri comedy, the elaborate recreation and imitation at the heart of a light-hearted knowledge, bitter, dark, and philosophical.
This in-depth study of classical theater offers two tracks, one methodological (section A) and the other literary (section B). Section A will help literature and social science students learn to master analytical and textual methodologies that will allow them to read and comprehend a variety of texts in depth while at the same time developing their analytical writing skills by performing methodological exercises such as summaries, syntheses, technical explanations, close readings, argumentative dialectical essays, and thematic oral presentations. Section B presents an academic exploration of the evolution of French comedy during the 17th and 18th centuries, combining the historical, literary, theatrical, cultural, philosophical, and social perspectives. In both cases, the course will be accompanied by the texts as well as different versions of the play represented on the screen.
Texts: 1) Dom Juan (Molière)
2) Les Fourberies de Scapin (Molière)
3) Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (Molière)
4) Le Légataire universel (Regnard)
5) Turcaret (Lesage)
6) L’île des Esclaves (Marivaux)
N.B Students who choose section A can validate their credits in methodology (equivalent to 6525).
Literature PedagogySummer 2009
FREN 6560 - Intro to Science of Language
Introduction to the Science of Language
This introductory course to the science of language is addressed to advanced level students. It will focus on the systematization of their linguistic knowledge by structuring certain fundamental concepts on general linguistics. Moreover, it will be introduced how certain recent linguistic models would allow to formulate working hypothesis applicable to other disciplines, such as Psychology.
Required Text: a coursepack will be provided.
LinguisticsSummer 2011
FREN 6587 - Francophone Lit of Maghreb ▲
Litterature francophone du Maghreb: Themes et Ecriture / Francophone Literature of Maghreb: Themes and Style
(Section A – Methodology ; Section B – Literature)
From its genesis in the nineteenth century, francophone literature of North Africa has not ceased to inspire controversy. Supplanting an existing cultural and linguistic foundation, it found its rightful place through the cultural imagery of the three Maghrebian countries, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Initially conceived as a form vehiculaire (idiom of communication), over time the written works of the Maghreb evolved into a vernaculaire (idiom of expression). Before constituting a full-fledged literary domain, pedagogical materials written in French by teachers who were natives of the Maghreb appeared in the form of reviews, such as Soleil and Simoun. Unfairly dismissed by critics as “mimetic”, this generation nevertheless would become pioneers in a discourse of protest, paving the way for more substantial works by the writers who would follow.
This course will use a comparative format to address francophone literature in terms of its variety of expression and its diversity of production. We will seek understanding by referring both to French literature and to the theoretical prisms which permit an analytical approach to the texts. The literature of the Maghreb lays claim to its specificity by forming an autonomous domain of creation and study. We will attempt to define the sociological and anthropological stakes which are at play in each text. We will also examine from a literary perspective the significant 'shake-ups' of these societies and their treatment, such as independence, linguistic and democratic questions, and, finally individual liberty, notably that of the woman. We will also examine the panorama of the literature of immigration, also referred to as “Beurre”. Lastly, we will evoke the works of two major writers whose perspectives undoubtedly entail a process which is at once transnational and universal. It consists of moving beyond the close borders of francophonie in order to propose a new method of examining the new horizons of a 'francopolyphonique' style.
Required texts: 1) Le Passé simple, de Driss Chraibi, Gallimard, Folio, ISBN 978-2-070377282
2) L'amour, la phantasia, de Assia Djebar, Editions Le Livre de poche, Collection littérature et documents ,ISBN-978 2253151272
3) La Nuit sacrée, de Tahar Benjeloun, Editions Le seuil, collection Points. ISBN 978- 2020255837
4) L'escargot entêté, de Rachid Boudjedra, Editions Gallimard, collection Folio,ISBN 978-2070376865.
N.B Students who choose section A can validate their credits in methodology
(equivalent to 6525).
(Besides regular credits this course may also count for one unit (i.e. 3 credits) in the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies program)
Literature PedagogySummer 2010, Summer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6589 - Aspects of Maghreb Francophone
Introduction à la littérature maghrébine de langue française / Introduction to Maghrebian Francophone Literature
This course studies the history of French-language Maghrebian literature through works from the colonial and post-colonial periods by prominent authors and within main currents such as the “Algerian novel.” Beginning in the Fifties, this genre has distinguished itself by its literary qualities and discursive ambitions, a critical affirmation aiming to decipher social phenomena and denounce traditionalist practices. In the Seventies, a new generation of novelists came into its own in the three countries of French-speaking North Africa, searching for renewal of the genre (Rachid Boudjedra, Tahar BenJelloun, Mohammed Khaireddine), while the French language became, in the Eighties, a space where permissiveness could thrive (Tahar Djaout, Rachid Mimouni, Boualem Sansal, Assia Djebar). Lastly, we will examine the latest frontiers of this field, the detective novel (Yasmina Khadra) and migrant literature.
Texts: Driss Chraibi, Le Passé simple (Paris, Gallimard Folio, 1986); Albert Memmi, La Statue de sel (Paris, Gallimard Folio, 1972); Assia Djebar, L’Amour, la fantasia (Paris, Albin Michel, coll: Le Livre de Poche, 2001).
This course can also apply toward the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies.
LiteratureSummer 2008, Summer 2009
FREN 6591 - Mediterranean Hist Art & Civ
La Méditerranée, une lumière jamais éteinte : Histoire, arts et civilisations des Cyclades aux temps modernes. / Mediterranean History, Arts, and Civilization from the Cyclades to Modernity
This course will begin with the study of the mysterious civilization on the Cyclades Islands 2,000 years before Christ and will cover the classical period of ancient Greece, Imperial Rome, the fall of the Roman Empire, the birth of Christianity, the Middle ages in Europe, Byzantine art in Venice and in Ravenna, the religious schism between the Western and the Eastern churches, the Venetian Empire, the Renaissance in Europe, Luther’s Reformation and the crisis of the arts in Northern Europe. Texts: Jean Carpentier et François Lebrun, Histoire de la Méditerranée, éd du Seuil, Paris 1998. ISBN 2-02-03062-0; Gilles Sauron , La grande Fresque de la Villa des Mystères à Pompéi, éd Picard, Paris, 1998. ISBN 2-7084-0545-4.
(Besides the regular credits, this course may also count for one unit of credit (i.e. 3 semester hours) in the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies program).
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2009, Summer 2010
FREN 6602 - Ennuciative & Prag Linguistics
Énonciation et pragmatique / Enunciative Linguistics and Pragmatics Linguistics*
In this course, students will be introduced to the analytical tools of enunciative and pragmatic linguistics. These tools will be useful in interpreting texts, whether literary, political, advertising, or journalistic in nature. The objective of the course is twofold: it necessarily demands a critical attitude and thinking on the part of students, guided by the professor, about the concepts and theories associated with these two linguistic approaches. The chief goal, though, is to apply and check these against a varied corpus, from the contextualized statement to the text fragment. More specifically, students will develop scientific rigour in their thinking about linguistics. By the end of the course, students should be able to answer the question: “What can I do, faced with any language-related item, using the tools at my disposition?” The content of the course will be organized into two main blocks: enunciative linguistics and pragmatic linguistics.
Text: Maingueneau, D.: L’énonciation en linguistique française, Hachette, 1999.
LinguisticsSummer 2009
FREN 6605 - Roman Linguistics Studies
Le français et les langues de la Méditerranée: études de linguistique romane / French and Mediterranean Languages: Romance Linguistics Studies
The purpose of this course is to present a general overview of Romance linguistics. We will cover the main so-called neo-Latin languages (among them: Romanian, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and French) from both a diachronic and a synchronic perspective. Our approach will highlight, on the one hand, the evolution of Romance languages in their socio-historical contexts and, on the other hand, a general reflection on the language, the different linguistic varieties, and the problems raised in a given society. No previous knowledge of Latin or the other, non-French Romance languages is required.
* (Besides regular credits this course may also cont for one unit (i.e. 3 credits) in the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies program)
Linguistics Language & StylisticsSummer 2008, Summer 2010
FREN 6606 - Politics in a United Europe
Les politiques d’une Europe unie / Politics in a United Europe
More than fifty years after the treaty of Rome, Europe has become a major power of more than 400 millions of people. Based on the friendship between France and Germany, it has been a factor of peace and prosperity. However, since the end of the Cold War and the Treaty of Maastricht, Europe has been more and more criticized. The “no” to the constitutional treaty in France in 2005 has been a major setback. The economical crisis also puts a lot of strain on the European Union. Our aims are to explain:
1- How Europe has become what it is: its institutions and its different stages.
2- How France has had to adapt its institutions to the European construction. How France had to give up large fields of its sovereignty, especially since the Euro. In other words, how Europe has influenced French politics and policies
3- And finally how Europe can find its place in a globalized world.
No previous knowledge is required.
Required Texts:
Bino Olivi et Alessandro Giacone, L’Europe difficile: Histoire politique de la construction européenne, Folio Histoire Gallimard 2007
“L’Europe Difficile: Historie politique de la construction européenne”, Bino Olivi et Allessandro Giacone, Filio Histoire Gallimard 2007
(Besides regular credits this course may also count for one unit (i.e. 3 credits) in the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies program)
N.B. Students who choose section A can validate their credits in methodology (equivalent to 6525) or they can choose standard evaluation without validating the methodology unit.
Civ Cul & Soc PedagogySummer 2009, Summer 2010
FREN 6607 - 5C BC Greco-Roman Culture ▲
5th Century BC Greco-Roman Culture and its Influences until the Renaissance
This class will be developing the influence of Greek art on Roman Empire and Renaissance period. Then we will concentrate on the female nude evolution, its despairing during middle age and reemerging during Renaissance (Botticelli, Raphaël, etc.). Giotto masterpiece, starting point of the Humanism Cultural Revolution, will be subject of this study. Finally we shall spend time on 15th and 16th century painters such as Masaccio, Piero della Francesca, Mantegna and Michel-Angelo.
This course may be applied toward the MA in Mediterranean Studies
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6609 - Comparative Stylistics ▲
Comparative Stylistics: Two Languages so Close and yet so Far Apart
Learning a foreign language, contrary to what happens for a mother tongue, usually does not occur in a vacuum. Any foreign language student quickly becomes aware of the fact that interferences do exist between the native language and the studied language; these may take the names of false-friends, anglicisms, gallicisms, literal translations etc. The objective of this course will be to become aware of the processes which may be at play when going from one language to the other, a field of study which is called comparative stylistics or science of translating. The aim will therefore be to identify, understand and master the mechanisms at stake in order to improve one’s competence in the French language, while being aware of the “juncture points” between English and French. The course is primarily intended for 2nd, 3rd or 4th year students, or students not having to take 509 or 510.
There will be no compulsory text book, documents will be posted from week to week on the course site; however it might be advisable to have a good unilingual French dictionary (for example: Lexis Larousse de la langue française) and a good bilingual dictionary (for example: Le Robert & Collins français-anglais et anglais-français).
Language & StylisticsSummer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6611P - Literature and Form
FREN 6612 - Language & Theater ▲
Théâtre et langue / Theater and Language
N.B. This course meets 2 hours per day
This course aims at developing ease and fluidity of oral communication in French. With support of contemporary Francophone's plays, students will discover the French languages diversity by working on pronunciation, quality of their voice, gesture, breathing... A short production composed of different parts of the plays studied during the course will be performed in public toward the end of the summer session.
Required texts: 1) Conte à Mourir Debout de Frantz Succab (caraïbes) Edition Lansman collection « théâtre à vif »
2) Grammaire en Fête par Andrée Chédid (origine Egyptienne) édition Folle Avoine « les jeux du savoir »
3) Cannibales de José Pliya (origine africaine) édition quatre-vents L’avant-scène théâtre
Summer 2009, Summer 2010, Summer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6614 - Francophone Theater 1950-60's
Étranger et étrange dans le théâtre francophone des années 1950-60: Arrabal, Beckett, De Obaldia et Ionesco / Strange and Stranger in the Francophone Theater of the 1950s and 1960s: Arrabal, Beckett, De Obaldia and Ionesco
A large number of young playwrights flourished in France in the '50s and '60s. They revolutionized theater by constantly questioning its very foundation through examination of the link between language, comprehension of the world, and defining one’s identity. The leaders of this movement, called "absurdist theater," were foreigners. Through close readings, this course will establish the links between the fact they were "strangers," the ever present theme of "the strange" in their plays, and their constant questioning of language as a tool on their ontological quest.
Texts : Arrabal, F L'Architecte et l'Empereur d'Assyrie (extraits) ; Beckett, S. En attendant Godot Minuit, 2001 ; Fin de Partie, Minuit, Minuit, 2001 ; Ionesco, E. Rhinocéros Gallimard-Folio, 1991 ; Obaldia, R. Genousie Arche-Scène ouverte , 1987
LiteratureSummer 2008
FREN 6615P - Surrealism is Humanism
THIS COURSE IS TAUGHT AT THE POITIERS SITE
Poésie et civilisation: Le surréalisme est un humanisme / Poetry and Civilization: Surrealism is Humanism
Suite à la Première Guerre mondiale, les milieux littéraires français manifestent un désir de rupture et de révolte qui trouve l’une de ses plus considérables affirmations, en 1920, dans Les Champs magnétiques : André Breton et Philippe Soupault y éprouvent une écriture libérée de tout carcan et préparent un tournant esthétique et philosophique majeur du XXe siècle : le surréalisme. Si le mouvement s’est répandu, après l’éclat destructeur et éphémère de Dada à Paris, dans presque tous les arts (peinture, théâtre, cinéma), la poésie reste l’expérience surréaliste privilégiée. Elle est comprise comme une libération par le langage, permettant d’accéder au dévoilement des êtres et du monde, à travers l’exploration de domaines refoulés par la raison et la logique : le merveilleux, le rêve et l’inconscient. Mais le projet surréaliste dépasse la seule question de la création poétique : il représente une crise profonde de la conscience européenne, qui implique la contestation des valeurs établies (famille, patrie et religion) et l’intégration des discours intellectuels de son temps (marxisme et psychanalyse). Il s’agit, fondamentalement, de proposer une nouvelle morale, conciliant l’amour et la liberté, et de modifier ainsi radicalement la condition humaine — ou, pour le dire autrement, de faire déborder le mystère poétique dans la vie quotidienne.
Summer 2011
FREN 6616 - Exoticism in 17-19C Theater
(Section A – Methodology ; Section B – Literature)
The theatrical genre, characterized by a self-contained scene, traditionally ruled by unity of place, time and action, does not seem to lend itself to bigger spaces and location changes. However, since the beginning of the 17th century, some French playwrights have opened the scene to the representation of other parts of the world. Du Hamel was the first to set his action in Canada. The great playwrights Molière and Racine were interested in the Orient. Marivaux chose to set his plays in idealistic versions of the real world, creating the genre of utopian theater which challenges the traditional unity of place, time and action. Jules Verne adapted his fictional series of travel novels, Voyages Extraordinaires, to be played on stage. It’s theater inspired by world exploration, plays enacted on a stage yet depicting a larger world, that students in this literature class will explore, reading plays written from the 17th century to the 19th century.
Students can choose to take either a methodological section (6616A) or a literary section (6616B) of this course. The first option, section A, offers literary and social science students an opportunity to master analytical methods and textual commentaries that will allow them to read and understand a variety of theatrical texts, all while enhancing their analytical writing skills through various methodological exercises. These include summaries, literary comparisons, technical explanations, textual commentaries, argumentative dialectical essays, reading analyses and oral presentations. The second option, section B, offers students the opportunity to study the historic, literary, dramatic, cultural, philosophical and social evolution of the theatrical genre in France from the 17th to the 19th centuries in great depth. In both sections, students will read the plays and watch different film productions of each work as well.
Works to be studied:
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme by Molière
Bajazet by Racine
N.B Students who choose section A can validate their credits in methodology (equivalent to 6525).
Literature PedagogySummer 2010
FREN 6618 - Feminine Political Thought
La pensée politique au féminin / Feminine Political Thought
France is known for its prestigious tradition of critical reflection in politics, but the contribution of women to it is too often neglected. Based on texts analysis, the course will present major feminine figures of philosophers and thinkers from the 18th century to contemporary interventions. It will serve both as an introduction to the intellectual history of France and to its political development from the standpoint of gender studies.
N.B. The course includes a methodological perspective. Students can validate their credits in methodology (equivalent to 6525) by electing specific exercises (French type) for their evaluation or they can choose standard evaluation without validating the methodology unit.
Civ Cul & Soc Lit Theory/AnalysisSummer 2009
FREN 6619 - Intellectuals in France
L'intellectuel(le) en France... Une affaire politique et littéraire / Intellectuals in France: a Political and Literary Business (Section A – Methodology ; Section B – Civilization)
The figure of the intellectual is a typical feature of French literary, political, and even artistic life. The word was first used at the end of the 19th century in the wake of the "Dreyfus Affair" when a group of journalists and writers took side with the unjustly condemned Captain and accused the French army of forgery. However it had already been a long time since French writers had fought for justice in the debates of their time.
The course will introduce two major representatives of this conception based on the connivance between politics and literature for which words can make a difference in the evolution of politics. Using a text-study methodology, analyses will range from the great precursors, Voltaire and Rousseau to the contemporary period, the so-called "postmodern" movement and Michel Foucault, up to the contemporary work of Elisabeth Badinter.
The course includes a methodological perspective. Students can validate their credits in methodology (equivalent to 6525) by electing specific exercises (French type) for their evaluation or they can choose standard evaluation without validating the methodology unit.
Civ Cul & Soc Literature PedagogySummer 2008
FREN 6620P - Texts and Representation ▲
THIS COURSE IS TAUGHT AT THE POITIERS SITE
Texts and Representation / Ecriture et représentation
Ce cours s'intéresse au rapport de l'écriture avec l'image et la scène. Il s'articulera selon deux mouvement:
1) Ecriture et image fixe (peinture, photographie): textes et images du XVIIIe au XXe siècle; Problématique : Comment dire l’image ? par quels moyens le langage verbal peut-il rendre compte du visuel ? Les écrivains qui s’intéressent à la peinture sont nombreux : amateurs d’art, critiques et parfois défenseurs d’artistes contestés, ils tentent par la langue de rendre compte des effets produits par l’image. On en a choisi quelques-uns, exemplaires par leur style et leur attitude vis-à-vis de l’image (leur parti-pris esthétique), entre le XVIIIe et le XXe siècle. Corpus : Écrivains : Diderot, Baudelaire, Zola, Huysmans, Proust, Beckett, Barthes Artistes : Chardin, Delacroix, Arcimboldo, Manet, Goya, Magritte, Van Velde, Nadar, Sander Textes et images livrés en photocopies par l’enseignante
2) Texte et représentation: Fin de partie, de Samuel Beckett (1957); Problématique : le théâtre est à la fois un genre littéraire et une forme de spectacle, comment s’articulent ces deux aspects ? le corps de l’acteur, l’espace de la scène : comment ces caractéristiques du genre sont-elles pris en charge par l’auteur dans le texte ? Corpus : Extraits de pièces antérieures à Fin de partie livrés en photocopies par l’enseignante Fin de partie, Samuel Beckett, les éditions de Minuit (l’étudiant doit avoir son propre exemplaire);
Nota Bene : en partenariat avec *l’atelier de pratique photo* animé par le photographe Claude Pauquet, la note obtenue à l’atelier photo peut remplacer la moins bonne note (25%) sur les 4 obtenues dans ce cours : allez-y !
LiteratureSummer 2012
FREN 6621 - Hist in Afr & Caribbean Cinema
L'histoire dans le cinéma africain et antillais postcolonial / History in African and Caribbean Postcolonial Cinema
History is one of French contemporary African and Caribbean cinema since his origin. From famous Senegalese creator Ousmane Sembene ( La noire de or Camp de Thiaroye ) to Martinican Euhzan Palcy ( Une saison blanche et sèche ), from another famous Senegalese Djibril Diop Mambety ( Le retour de la vieille dame ) to Camerounian Jean-Pierre Bekolo ( Quartier Mozart ), from Haitian Raoul Peck ( Lumumba ) to Martinicans Guy Deslauriers and Patrick Chamoiseau ( Le passage du milieu ), we will analyse forms of films, discourses and ideologies of creators. We will show particularly how these creators deal with colonialism, postcolonialism, politics history and aesthetics.
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2010
FREN 6622 - Francophone Cinema 1969-2000
Francophone Cinema and the Question of Autonomy (1969-2000)
Since the birth of the Pan-African film festival of Ouagadougou, FESPACO (1969), French African and Caribbean directors or filmmakers have addressed its and their histories, invented their own images, and shown their personal / internal point of view. With the films of Ousmane Sembène (La noire de…), Abderrahmane Sissako (Heremakhono), Med Hondo (Sarraounia), Souleymane Cissé (Finyé), Jean-Pierre Dikongué Pipa (Muna Moto), Euzan Palcy (Une saison blanche et sèche), Guy Deslauriers (Passage du milieu) or Christian Lara (1802 l’épopée guadeloupéenne) – among many others – we will examine the variety approaches and the whole significance of autonomy in the post-colonial era. This will include the invention of black continental history because of colonization or slavery, political reflections because of African conditions of Independence and cultural aesthetics because of conflicts with European civilization.
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2011
FREN 6625P - Cinema and Society ▲
THIS COURSE IS TAUGHT AT THE POITIERS SITE
Cinema and society : France in the 60’s and 70’s / Cinéma et Société: La France des années soixante et soixante-dix
Dans le courant des années cinquante, une réaction contre les conventions du cinéma classique apparaît un peu partout dans le monde, mais elle prend une tournure particulièrement remarquable en France, sous le nom de Nouvelle Vague : inspirés par l’élan de la jeunesse, de nouveaux cinéastes entendent aller à la rencontre du monde tel qu’il est, c’est-à-dire du réel. Le mouvement prend toute son ampleur dans les années soixante, à travers des œuvres qui s’inscrivent dans un procès historique en développant une approche « révolutionnaire », tant au plan esthétique qu’au plan idéologique. Ainsi, de la guerre d’Algérie à la guerre du Vietnam, de la société de consommation à la libération sexuelle, de l’évolution de la condition féminine aux transformations des rapports de classe, les faits politiques, économiques et sociaux se trouvent désormais au cœur de la création cinématographique. Mais cette préoccupation par rapport à la réalité la plus immédiate se mêle intimement à l’imaginaire et à la fiction, tandis que les films de la Nouvelle Vague s’enrichissent de la culture cinématographique, littéraire, picturale et musicale de leurs réalisateurs. Le cinéma se fait alors profondément réflexif, proposant, selon une formule de Jean-Luc Godard, l’art en même temps que la critique de l’art. C’est sans doute la raison pour laquelle l’influence de ce mouvement sur les auteurs les plus différents reste, aujourd’hui encore, tout à fait exceptionnelle. Livre: un polycop sera distribué.
Corpus:
• François Truffaut, Les 400 Coups, 1959.
• Jean-Luc Godard, À bout de souffle, 1960.
• Jean-Luc Godard, Pierrot de fou, 1965.
• François Truffaut, Baisers volés, 1968.
Les DVD de ces quatre films seront distribués aux étudiants lors du premier cours. Ils n’ont donc aucune œuvre à acheter.
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6627 - Evaluation & Testing in FSL ▲
Evaluation and Testing in French as a Second Language
"This course focuses on the theories and research underlying testing and evaluation in second language courses. Some of the topics that we will examine are the history of evaluation in the L2, the process of evaluation in the classroom, formative and summative assessment,
authentic assessment, the constructivist approach, skills assessment, criterion-referenced and standards-based assessment, assessment scales, self-assessment, concepts of validity and reliability, and computer-assisted assessment. The goals of the course are both theoretical and practical.
Required text : Lussier, D., & Turner, C. (1995). Le point sur… L’évaluation en didactique des langues. Montréal, Canada : CEC.
PedagogySummer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6627P - Lit & Representations 19 & 20C
Poitiers Site
*Literature and Representations of 19th and 20th Centuries*
Summer 2011
FREN 6628 - Cognition & L2 Teach & Learn
Cognition et enseignement et apprentissage des langues secondes / Cognition and L2 Teaching and Learning
Cognition and the cognitive process of the L2 learner will be the focus of this course. While exploring the different learning theories that have influenced the development of teaching approaches in the 20th and 21st centuries (e.g. direct, audio-oral, SGAV, communicative and task-based approaches) students will develop teaching units relevant to specific audiences and contexts and using appropriate media and teaching aids (texts, audio or visual recordings, websites). These teaching modules will be presented to the rest of the group at the end of the session if possible in the form of a classroom simulation.
Books to consult at the library: La classe de langue, Christine Tagliante, 2008 Clé International; J’apprends donc je suis, Hélène Trocmé Fabre, 1997, Les Editions d'organisation ; Evolution de l’enseignement des langues : 5000 ans d’histoire, Claude Germain, 1993, Clé International
PedagogySummer 2009, Summer 2010
FREN 6635 - Francophone African Novel
Le roman africain de 1950 à nos jours / The Francophone African Novel from 1950 to Today
This course is meant for MA and PhD students who would like to discover African literature, or expand their knowledge of it. We will examine the variations of the African novel (in both style and themes) throughout the past fifty years, and draw an outline of the different literary generations according to the historical events that affected the continent. The student will be presented with a short but salient overview of African literature and will become acquainted with the codes that will allow him/her to explore more deeply a literature in full emergence. After a short introduction on the oral sources and the influences of the 19th century naturalist novel, we will define the three major phases of the African novel (colonization, independence, migration), and study at length one representative novel of each.
Texts: Ferdinand Oyono, Le vieux nègre et la médaille (Collection 10/18, Paris); Ahmadou Kourouma, Les soleils des Indépendances (Editions du Seuil, Paris); Fatou Diom, Le ventre de l’Atlantique (Editions Anne Carrière, Paris).
Summer 2008
FREN 6636 - Mediterranean Cult & Civ
Histoire de la Méditerraneée / Mediterranean Ancient Culture and Civilization
The purpose of this course is to present a general view of the Mediterranean history from the Antiquity to Modern times. We will put a special emphasis on the Greek and Hellenistic period and on the Roman Empire. The Middle Ages with the rising of Islam, the crusades and the Italian cities will also be studied, as well as the Renaissance and the constitution of the Ottoman Empire.
We will finish our historical journey with the 19th century when Mediterranee was divided by western nations. Beyond the historical point of view, we will study the geographical and cultural aspects of the region. The course will thus have a pluridisciplinary approach.
Required Text: Jean Carpentier, Francois Lebrun, Histoire de la Méditerranée, editions seuil 2006.
N.B Students who choose section A can validate their credits in methodology (equivalent to 6525). (Besides regular credits this course may also count for one unit (i.e. 3 credits) in the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies program)
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2008, Summer 2011
FREN 6637 - Francophonie in North America ▲
La fracnophonie nord-américaine / Francophonie in North America
This course will explore the issues that are unique to the diverse francophone cultures throughout North America. Acadia, Quebec, French Ontario, Manitoba, New England and Louisiana were all welcoming grounds to french speaking settlers where their voices are still heard. Each region, however, evolved differently both culturally and linguistically depending primarily on the presence of English, the dominant language of North America. By looking at the socio-linguistic structures and the functioning of each of these communities, the similarities that link these Franco-North American communities will become apparent. Students will see how Quebec has become, through its history, institutions, demography and geography, a major epicentre for North American francophone culture.
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2010, Summer 2012
FREN 6640 - Hist France:Metropol to Global ▲
Histoire de France—de l’échelle métropolitaine à l’échelle-monde / History of France—From the Metropolitan to the Global Level
(Section A - Methodology ; Section B - Civilization)
This course offers students a condensed panorama of the principal changes marking the history of France since the Age of Enlightenment. France will be studied from the perspectives of the metropolis and its external relationships and actions (colonies, migrations, exiles, etc.). Two topics receiving particular attention will be the creation of the nation-state confronted with the instability of political regimes, and social, religious, and cultural identities, from the search for unity to recognition of minorities.
Required texts: 1) Berstein S. et Winock M. (dir.), L’invention de la démocratie 1789-1914, Seuil, 2002 ISBN 9782757802267; 2) Berstein S. et Winock M. (dir.), La République recommencée, Seuil, 2004 ISBN 9782757802274
N.B. Students who choose section A can validate their credits in methodology (equivalent to 6525) or they can choose standard evaluation without validating the methodology unit.
Civ Cul & Soc PedagogySummer 2008, Summer 2009, Summer 2010, Summer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6642P - France thru Eyes of Poitiers ▲
Le visage de la France dans deux villes de province: Poitiers et Châtellerault / France seen through the eyes of 2 provincial cities: Poitiers & Chatellerault
THIS COURSE IS TAUGHT AT THE POITIERS SITE
Ce cours permettra de réfléchir et connaître la France au travers de ces deux villes de province de moyenne importance (Poitiers - chef-lieu de département et capitale de région et Châtellerault - sous-préfecture de département).
Trois grands thèmes seront abordés :L’urbanisme ;L’aspect social ;La politique de la ville et les quartiers en difficultés.
Les objectifs du cours sont :
Acquisition des connaissances de base sur la France contemporaine en partant de la réalité de villes de province ;Acquisition d’une meilleure compréhension des phénomènes actuels au regard de l’’histoire récente ;Suivi de l’actualité ;
Développement de la compétence interculturelle et linguistique.
Required texts: - « Les Nouveaux Principes de l’urbanisme » de François ASHER publié en 2001 - Editions de l’Aube
-« Un panorama de l’art urbain de 1975 à nos jours » de Stéphanie LEMOINE et Julien TERRAL publié en 2005 - Editions Alternatives
-« Un philosophe dans la ville » de Thierry PAQUOT publié en janvier 2012 - Editions InFolio
Livre:
La professeure fournira ses propres documents au fur et à mesure des sujets abordés.
Summer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6643 - Lit of the French Caribbean
Histoire de la littérature deas Caraïbes (Martinique, Guadeloupe et Haïti) / Historical Perspective on the LIterature of the French Caribbean (Martinitque, Guadeloupe and Haiti)
LiteratureSummer 2009
FREN 6644 - The History of Québec
L'histoire du québec / The History of Québec
Quebec is a unique society which was born and has evolved at the crossroads of two Occidental empires, France and Great-Britain. This course will cover the major periods in Quebec’s history from its origins as New France (1680-1760), to British North America (1763-1867), the Dominion of Canada (1867-1959), and modern Québec (1960-present). Since the French settlements along the banks of the Saint Lawrence River, Canadians of French origin had to defend their heritage in skirmishes and wars against various First Nation Peoples, British and English-Canadians. Because of this situation, they developed a unique culture, historically founded on the Catholic religion, the French language, and family values. It is interesting to note that Québec presently has health and educational systems unlike any other in North America as well as an unparalleled legal system for the protection of the French language. This course will also cover the critical moments in Québec’s quest for political independence which occurred during the past few decades (in the form of referendums). After nearly 400 years of existence in North America, Québec has become a modern society facing contemporary issues such as the environment, globalization, and a the transformation of social identity.
Required Text: John A. Dickinson et Brian Young, Brève histoire socio-économique du Québec, 4e édition, Québec, Éditions du Septentrion, 2009, 458 p. ISBN: 978-2-89448-602-3
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2011
FREN 6645 - Quebec's Cinema & Culture
Le Québec en images: cinéma québécois / Cinéma québécois
Quebec films offer a rich and diverse repertoire of works which delve primarily into the social identity of the largest French speaking culture in North America. Other predominate themes to be discussed focus more on the social and historical particularities of Quebec. These include: British colonization, Catholicism, winter, large families, the north, etc. This course will follow the evolution of film making in Quebec since its conception in the beginning of the 20th century and focus primarily on two defining decades. The first, known as the Quiet Revolution (1960-1980), is considered as the starting point of contemporary Quebecois cinema. From this period emerged the National Film Board of Canada, several of the Quebec’s most influential film producers: Jutra, Brault, Perreault, Carle, Arcand, etc., as well as various styles of cinematography, most notably, “cinema direct” or candid eye.
The second part, the New Generation (1990-2000) will show how a group of young filmmakers provided a second wind to an ailing industry. Through the use of more modern filming techniques, and a post-modern approach to script writing which focused less on social and political themes, they were instrumental in gaining international recognition for Quebecois cinema. For each period, we will discuss and analyze several film makers and their selected works.
Required Text : Marcel Jean, Le cinéma québécois, Montréal, Boréal, 2005, 128p.
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2008, Summer 2011
FREN 6646 - Youth in Contemp Caribbean Lit ▲
Childood and Youth in Contemporary Caribbean literature in French
In this course, we will study Caribbean area’s representations in the eyes of child and youth in Twentieth century Caribbean literature of French. Reading and analysing ""L’exil selon Julia"" by the Guadeloupean author Gisele Pineau as well as ""Chemin d’école"" and ""Ravines du devant-jour"" by the Martinican authors Patrick Chamoiseau and Raphaël Confiant, we will to explore the child’s memory, the youth’s ideology and the writers' significance. We will also analyse the thematics of history, truth and biography in literature.
Required texts : 1) Patrick Chamoiseau, Antan d’enfance, Gallimard/Folio 1996 ISBN 207040018 ; 2) Ravines du devant-jour, Raphaël Confiant, Gallimard/Folio 1995 ISBN 2070393054; 3) L’exil selon Julia, Gisèle Pineau, Paris LGF 2000, ISBN 2253147990
LiteratureSummer 2012
FREN 6647 - Oral Tradition in African Lit
Initiation à la tradition orale africaine / Introduction to African Traditional Oral Literature
This course is intended for students who wish to explore the fundamentals of the African oral tradition. Indeed it is impossible to understand the African Francophone literature if you ignore the traditional patrimony kept alive by the storytellers and the griots.
The course is divided in three parts:
1) The fundamental myths among the Dogons, the Fulanis, the Bambaras, the Bantus. Who has created the World, and what are the links which binds Mankind to Nature and the Gods?
2) The different forms of speech: the epics, the tales, the proverbs, and the riddles
3) The influence of the oral tradition on the novel and African Francophone cinema
Required Texts:
Les Contes initiatiques peuls, Ba, Stock
Maxi Proverbes Africains, Cabakulu, Marabou
Les Contes d’Amadou Koumba, Diop, 61
Soundjata or L’Epopee Mandingue, Niane, 60
La Belle Historie de Leuk-le-Lièvre, Senghor/ Sadji, FR Poc
Summer 2009, Summer 2010, Summer 2011
FREN 6648 - French Quebecois ▲
Le français québécois (linguistique culturelle) / French Quebecois (cultural linguistics)
The goal of this course is to demonstrate how the French of Quebec constitutes not only the language of art and literature but an integral part of Quebecers’ identity. By reading and discussing critical essays and diverse forms of literature such as folktales and legends, songs and novels, students will be exposed to the linguistic particularities of Quebec French, known as québécismes. They will also understand how the language evolved throughout its history in a North America environment. In the 1960’s, literature proved to be the perfect setting for this creative and original form of French language in both the cultural and political arenas of Quebec. Since this decade, several of these significant Quebecois texts, which will be discussed in this course, have transcended the borders of Quebec where they have enriched francophone literature globally.
Required text: Langue et politique au Canada et au Québec. Une synthèse historique, Marcel MARTEL et Martin PÂQUET, Montréal, Boréal Éditeur, 2010.
ISBN 978-7646-2040-3.
Summer 2008, Summer 2012
FREN 6649 - 20C Fr Caribbean Geog & Lit
Geography and Literature in the Twentieth Century French Caribbean
Since the birth of the Afro-Caribbean French literature (novel and poetry specifically), authors always considered geography and/or topography as a central issue. This might include the physical relationship with nature as well as the conditions of their lives.
Texts: 1) Texaco, Paris, Gallimard, 1992 [Folio, ISBN 9-782070-389520]; 2) Adèle et la pacotilleuse, Paris, Mercure de France, 2005 [Gallimard, Folio, ISBN 9-782070-342242]; 3) Pluie et vent sur Télumée-Miracle, Paris, Seuil, 1972 [Point, ISBN 9-782020-239256]; 4) Le discours antillais, Paris, Gallimard, 1981 [Folio, ISBN 9-782046-722224]
LiteratureSummer 2011
FREN 6650 - Mediterranean:Religion & Peace ▲
Religions, Peace and Security in the Mediterranean Region / Religion, paix, et sécurité dans la region méditerranéenne.
The longest non-resolved armed conflict of the XXth century, and probably of the XXIth century, is in the Mediterranean Region. It is not about a tension or about a dispute between two countries, but rather about a conflict among many countries of the region. The advent of the Arab Spring permits a new glance at the democratization of the Arab societies and their commitment (or not) to an inter-religious and inter-state long- term peace. In this context, we will first examine the various stages of the diverse conflicts and their evolution in the Middle East region. Secondly, by studying resolutions of the UN concerning these issues, we will analyse the experiences and the challenges and their implications for international relations, including the U.S.. Finally, we shall observe the complexities of connections between the religious and cultural minorities within these Mediterranean countries.
Besides regular credits this course may also count for one unit (i.e. 3 credits) in the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies program.
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2012
FREN 6651P - Poetry Rhythm Orality ▲
THIS COURSE IS TAUGHT AT THE POITIERS SITE
Poetry, Rhythm, Orality / Poésie, rythme, oralité et autres formes
S’il est vrai que tout texte développe une poétique qui lui est propre et peut faire l’objet d’études, il reste peu aisé de définir des critères pouvant décrire les productions proposées en elles-mêmes comme poétiques par leurs auteurs. Qu’et-ce qu’une poésie ? La question, sortie des usages socioculturels d’un état de société donné, reste ouverte. Il est vrai que les poètes n’ont cessé d’inventer de nouvelles formes et d’investir les domaines où on les attendait le moins, ce qui rend la catégorie « poésie » instable, c’est-à-dire toujours nouvelle. Le XXème siècle sera pour le poème celui d’une formidable mutation, à la conquête du son, de l’image, de la scène et des moyens de transmission modernes.Le propos de ce cours est un voyage au travers de cette transformation poétique.
Première partie : analyse (Les formes fixes : le sonnet; Poésie et contraintes : l’Oulipo; La poésie sonore : Texte, voix et sons; Chanson française : Morceaux choisis de la chanson française à texte des années 50, 60 et 70; Poésie-performance : La scène poétique et performative franco-québécoise des années 70 à nos jours; Poésie et art numérique : La nouvelle scène art numérique contemporaine). 2ième partie: Deuxième partie : Atelier. Écriture et pratique, réalisation d’objets sonores (enregistrement et mise en scène sonores de textes poétiques produits par les étudiants.
Summer 2012
FREN 6655P - Teaching French Grammar ▲
THIS COURSE IS TAUGHT AT THE POITIERS SITE
Teaching French Grammar in a FSL course / Didactique de la grammaire: comment enseigner la grammaire dans un cours de FLS.
Ce cours permettra de réfléchir sur l'enseignement/apprentissage de la grammaire et de l'orthographe du français. Trois grands points seront abordés : l'orthographe, les verbes, les déterminants. A chaque fois, on s’efforcera de répondre aux questions suivantes :
1. Comment ça marche ?
Face aux descriptions de la grammaire traditionnelle, de nouvelles approches seront proposées.
2. A quoi ça sert ?
Plutôt que sur la "dictature des règles", l'accent sera mis sur la valeur communicative de la langue.
3. Quelles sont les erreurs les plus fréquentes et comment peut-on les expliquer et aider les apprenants à y remédier ?
Il s'agira de réfléchir sur différents types d'exercices et différentes stratégies d'enseignement/apprentissage.
Les objectifs du cours sont:
- Approfondir un savoir sur certains points de la langue française.
- Etre capable de comprendre et d’expliquer à quoi servent certaines règles pour communiquer, et réfléchir à leurs difficultés d'enseignement/apprentissage.
- Essayer de comprendre pourquoi certaines erreurs subsistent quel que soit le niveau des apprenants.
- Etre capable de comparer et d'analyser les présentations et les descriptions proposées par les manuels pour choisir les plus pertinentes.
- Si nécessaire, être capable de remettre en question certains clichés et certaines pratiques.
Summer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6657 - Voting in France and Europe
Le vote : usages et mutations des comportements politiques en France et en Europe / Voting in France and Europe: practices and mutations in political behaviours
N.B This course will meet two hours daily for three weeks (July 22 to August 11)
This course will study the act of voting within the general framework of a reflection on the broadening of various ways for citizens to participate politically in modern democracies. It will also look at the many uses of voting, together with the different meanings the act of voting vehicles within European democracies. This is an area which has undergone change recently both in France and in Europe. Today, one might wonder whether the vote continues to be a central means of achieving democracy for modern citizenry. One might also wonder whether the vote is still one of the fundamental procedures within the democratic system and what the historical, sociological and political bases of electoral behaviour are made up of.
Recommended Text
/La Politique en France et en Europe/, Rouban Perrineau, Sciences Po, Les Presses
Summer 2009, Summer 2010
FREN 6658 - From Virtual to Real World
Du virtuel au réel : l'apprentissage "authentique" grâce à la Technologie / From the Virtual World to the Real World: "Authentic" Learning Through Technology
How can we help learners who don’t live in a French-speaking country to have access to what are called "authentic" documents, and to make contact with "real" Francophones? This course will help answer that question, which leads to another… What, in fact, is "authenticity"? How should we choose pedagogical supports and learning situations so that they supply "authentic input"? In this course, we will use the internet as a source of authentic documents and situations that we will, together, adapt for use in the language classroom. We will use basic audio, video and text authoring and editing software, and explore online tools that can help teachers create lively and content-rich supports for lessons, projects and homework.
PedagogySummer 2008, Summer 2009
FREN 6660 - France on the World Stage
La vie politique en France / Political Life in France
This course’s aim is to define the institutional context of French political life (constitution, government, European institutions), and to examine how the different political parties from the extreme left to the extreme right appeared and interact. We will also study their program and their role in today’s society. This course will offer the students a large overview of the French political agenda. A large palette of themes will be presented: France and Europe, the economical reforms, the educational system, the foreign policy. No previous knowledge is required.
Recommended text: Les Institutions de la France Ve République, B. de Gunten, Fernand Nathan 2007
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2008
FREN 6661 - Cinema in its Making ▲
This course aims to introduce students to the technique of making a documentary or a fictional film and to writing a screenplay. By analyzing several films and their scenarios, students will learn the importance and value of the staging of a narrative, of character-driven dialogue and of appropriate settings. They will also learn how different camera angles can change, reinforce or undermine particular situations. Applying these writing and directing concepts, students will create and present a documentary scenario and a short film script with a story board.
Required text: 1) La nuit américaine réalisé par François Truffaut
édition Petite bibliothèque des Cahiers du Cinéma
Summer 2012
FREN 6665 - The Extreme Right:France & Eur
L'extrême droite en France et en Europe / The Extreme Right in France and Europe
N.B. This course meets from July 21 to August10, 2 hours per day
After defining the political movement of the Extreme Right, we will examine how it has appeared and developed historically in Europe, its diverse programs, its invariant qualities, its various organizational forms and the psychological, social, cultural and political foundations which propel it. Finally, we will analyze its relationship to power and its potential future.
Required Texts:
1) Pascal Perrineau, Luc Rouban, dir., La politique en France et en Europe, Presses de Sciences Po, 2007, ISBN 978-2-7246-1019-2;
2) Pascal Perrineau, dir., Les croisés de la société fermée, L'Europe des extrêmes droites, Editions de l'Aube, 2001, ISBN 9782876786240;
3) Pascal Perrineau, Le symptôme Le Pen, Radiographie des électeurs du Front national, Fayard, 1997, ISBN 9782213599847."
Summer 2008, Summer 2011
FREN 6668 - History of Europe:16-21C ▲
A history of Europe, from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century/ Une histoire de l’Europe du XVI au XXI siècle
In the late Middle Ages, the so-called "Christian West" knows a considerable change. Europe is constructed itself starting to conquer the world. Technical, artistic and religious revolutions participate this extraordinary expansion. For four centuries, a European model of “civilization” is taking place. But this creative power does not exist without tensions, without mutilation. The purpose of this course is to bring out the highlights of this adventure in order to understand the main mechanisms. The course is divided into four parts:
- The Renaissance: between civilization and violence
- The invention of Europe (seventeenth and eighteenth century)
- Europe, a universal power (eighteenth and early twentieth century)
- Europe between destruction and reinvention.
Summer 2012
FREN 6671 - Lang & Literature in Quebec
Littérature québécoise / Québec Literature
The study of Quebec’s literature is an excellent introduction to a unique North American French context in which both French and English cultures converge. Since its beginnings, Quebec’s literature has participated in the important stages of North American development. The course will start with the first written productions of the Explorers, and continue by highlighting periods of the literary history to follow. The 19th century, which saw the birth of the French-Canadian novel, was primarily marked by the Catholic ideology of political resistance which had a notable impact on every form of literary genres. The 20th century ushered Quebec’s literature into a modernity similar to those in which other Occidental countries had already been experimenting. Finally, this course will analyze Quebec’s literature in the 21st century, and the impacts of globalization on the different literary stakes, on both the individual and collective levels. Throughout its history, Quebec’s literature has been the privileged witness to the evolution of a Francophone culture that succeeded in maintaining its oral and written identity in the predominately Anglophone context of North America.
LiteratureSummer 2010
FREN 6672 - Landscape in 19&20C French Lit ▲
Landscape in 19th and 20th Century French Literature / le paysage dans la literature des 19 et 20ième siècles
This course will explore in the poetry and the French novel aspects and the evolution of a major theme of the literary and artistic creation of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: the representation of landscape. We will look first at the romantic landscape, focusing on the contemplation of nature and the effects that this contemplation occurs on the spectator's soul: countryside (Lamartine), mountain (Senancour), sea (Hugo), exoticism (Chateaubriand ), etc.. Then we'll see how the interest of the observer moves from nature to the city, and how the birth of a city (Paris) supports the development of modernity (Balzac, Baudelaire, Zola, Apollinaris, etc..). This change is accompanied by the emergence of new landscapes: industrial landscape, landscape of ruins, war, etc.. We will study the links that the landscape has with psychological analysis (Proust), and we will show how the emergence of new forms of fiction (Céline, Giono, New Roman) causes a change in the representation of space. The thematic study of the landscape will be accompanied by the means of its literary representation in relation to painting: realism, impressionism, abstraction, etc. We will work on short extracts to be distributed to students in class.
Evaluation: each student will make a brief oral and written work of a dozen pages related to the topics covered during the course.
LiteratureSummer 2012
FREN 6675 - Literary Theory and Criticism
Théorie et critique littéraires / Literary Theory and Criticism
Numerous students enrolled in Master’s programs or preparing for the D.M.L. degree have recognized in the past the need to have courses teaching the critical methods for analyzing literary texts. This chiefly practical course attempts to address this need by presenting an overview of the existing major currents. Twenty years after the success of "new criticism," the partisan passions, excesses, intellectual terrorism, and exaggerated use of jargon seem to have subsided and it is now possible to study the different approaches from a more lucid and calmer perspective. Thanks to Antoine Compagnon, we now have an invaluable text to stimulate our reflection: his Démon de la Théorie (Le Seuil, 1998) will serve as our guide throughout the course. With this work, we will address the fundamental notions of literary theory: the specificity of literature; issues of author, reader, and style; the relationships of the text to the world; anchorage in history; the issue of literary value, etc.This approach will be completed with a general overview of the main French literary movements from the Renaissance to surrealism, existentialism and “nouveau roman”.
Conducted in a discussion and dialogue format, this presentation of critical methods will quickly reveal that knowledge and the love of literature are inseparable.
Texts:
Antoine Compagnon : Le Démon de la théorie- Littérature et sens commun (Le Seuil, col. Points, Essais 1998) ISBN: 2020490943
Yves Stalloni : Ecoles et courants littéraires (Armand Colin, 2009) ISBN :978-2-200-35499-2
Summer 2008, Summer 2010
FREN 6679 - Contemporary France ▲
La France contemporaine / Contemporary France
(Section A – Methodology ; Section B – Civilization)
France has gone through many changes, european integration, globalization, euro zone crisis. Despite all these changes, France has still the will to play a major role in the world. This role is based on its « soft power », that is to say its cultural and social model. The aim of this course is to give a general outlook of french culture and society in an era of globalization and crisis. We will focus mainly on demography, immigration, social stratification, educational system, religious beliefs, work and leisure, artistical trends, etc.
This course will be pluridisciplinary and we will always study these topics in their economical and historical context.
Required Text: L'Etat de la France 2011-2012; Editions la découverte, ISBN 978-2-7071-6890-0
N.B Students who choose section A can validate their credits in methodology (equivalent to 6525).
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6680 - From Baudelaire to Apollinaire
De Baudelaire à Apollinaire / From Baudelaire to Apollinaire
In the second half of the 19th century, poetry experienced transformations which were not unrelated to those of the world. New links between the world, language and poetry were thus created. This is the adventure we shall recount, starting with
Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire, the “master book” of French poetry, published in 1857, to end with Alcools by Guillaume Apollinaire, published in 1913. These two collections of poems will be the main focus of our attention, but, on the way, we shall make other stops, musing on the side of Verlaine, Rimbaud or Mallarmé. Modernity featured a rupture with the external signs of the genre with verses becoming less rigid and even dislocated. A revolution happened which gave rise to new forms such as prose poetry and free verse. Such transformations went hand in hand with a revolution in painting in the 19th century: impressionism, which became established in 1874, the date of the first exhibition of Impressionists. Our approach will strive to combine intellectual rigor and reverie, acquisition of knowledge and pleasure of reading. There will be exercises in the French academic tradition such as the “explication de texte”, the “commentaire composé” or the “dissertation”, this will allow us to further our understanding of the texts and enjoy their originality and beauty. We shall thus hopefully be better prepared to receive this fabulous gift from the poets, guiding our steps in life, language and literature.
Texts: Baudelaire : Les Fleurs du mal, Classiques Hachette, ISBN : 978-2-0101-9081-0
Apollinaire : Alcools, La Bibliothèque Gallimard, ISBN : 2-07-040632-6
There will be a handout available at the College bookstore with theoretical and pedagogical documents as well as a compilation of poems by Rimbaud, Verlaine and Mallarmé.
N.B. The course includes a methodological perspective. Students can validate their credits in methodology (equivalent to 6525) by electing specific exercises (French type) for their evaluation or they can choose standard evaluation without validating the methodology unit.
Civ Cul & Soc LiteratureSummer 2009
FREN 6681 - Comedy & Society ▲
Comedy & Society, Comedy and the Human Condition
Section A: Methodology - Section B: Literature
Through analysis of five significant comedies (Molière through Ionesco : Dom Juan – Le Mariage de Figaro – La guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu – Caligula – Rhinocéros-), the course will examine this literary genre in relation to its audiences, to the society which it mirrors, as well as to the different dramatic esthetics which it embodies. We will look at how the social dimension and the vision of man are associated, in as much as {or given that}they are expressed according to different representations in classical theatre or in more contemporary theatre.
Students can choose to take either a methodological section or a literary section of this course.
The first option, section A, offers literary and social science students an opportunity to master analytical methods and textual commentaries that will allow them to read and understand a variety of theatrical texts, all while enhancing their analytical writing skills through various methodological exercises. These include summaries, literary comparisons, technical explanations, textual commentaries, argumentative dialectical essays, reading analyses and oral presentations.
The second option, section B, offers students the opportunity to study the historic, literary, dramatic, cultural, philosophical and social evolution of French comedy from the 17th to the 20th century in great depth.
In both sections, students will read the texts and watch different film productions of each work as well.
N.B Students who choose section A can validate their credits in methodology (equivalent 6525).
Required texts:
1) Giraudoux, La Guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu, éd., Grasset, le livre de poche, ISBN 2 – 253 – 00489 – 8
2) Camus, Caligula, éd., Folio/Gallimard, ISBN 978 – 2 – 07 – 036064 – 2
3) Ionesco, Rhinocéros, éd., Folioplus/Gallimard, ISBN 978 – 2 – 07 – 033880 - 1
4) Beaumarchais, Le Mariage de Figaro, Paris, Pocket classique, 2010, ISBN-10: 2266210432, ISBN-13: 978-2266210430.
5) Molière, Dom Juan, Paris, Garnier Flammarion, 1998, ISBN-10: 2080709038, ISBN-13: 978-2080709035
"
Literature PedagogySummer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6683 - Classical Fr Lit through Film
From Text to Screen: Classical French Literature Experienced through Film
Classical French literature is often considered old fashioned, sclerotic and much too invaluable to be studied yet again. Nevertheless, numerous directors and producers continue to accept the challenge—at the same time aesthetic and political—of adapting and conceptualizing literature though images. This course proposes studying the complexities of the novel, comedy and dramatic 17th century poetry, by way of seminal works: How do we envisage Madame de La Fayette today, from La Princesse de Clèves to La belle Personne (C. Honoré) through the eponymous film by J. Delannoy, La Lettre (M. de Oliveira) or even La Fidelité (A. Zulawski)? Or what do we make of the recent adaptation of La Princesse de Montpensier by B. Tavernier? How do comedy stars such as Smaïn, after R. Coggio or P. Fox, in Les Fourberies de Scapin, or Michel Serrault and Jean-Marie Bigard, before B. Lazar in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, succeed in making us laugh with Molière? Furthermore, what do we continue to make of ancient tragedy after its Racinian production, as P. Chéreau, P. Jordan or B de Coster did for Phèdre? The ambitious goal of this course involves rethinking classicism to arrive at a better understanding of the present.
Students can choose to take either a methodological section (A) or a literary section (B) of this course. The first option, section A, offers literary and social science students an opportunity to master analytical methods and textual commentaries that will allow them to read and understand a variety of theatrical texts, all while enhancing their analytical writing skills through various methodological exercises. These include summaries, literary comparisons, technical explanations, textual commentaries, argumentative dialectical essays, reading analyses and oral presentations.
The second option, section B, offers students the opportunity to study the historic, literary, dramatic, cultural, philosophical and social evolution of screen adaptations of French literature of the 17th century in great depth.
In both sections, students will read the texts and watch different film productions of each work as well.
Required Texts:
1. Le Bourgeois gentilhomme and Les Fourberies de Scapin by Molière
2. La Princesse de Clèves and La Princesse de Montpensier by Madame de La Fayette
3. Phèdre by Racine
Summer 2011
FREN 6688 - Teaching with Technology ▲
Teaching Language and Culture with Technology / Enseigner la langue et culture avec la technologie
"N.B. This course meets from July 5 to July 26 , 2 hours per day*.
This course is for current or future teachers who are interested in integrating technology into their language classes.
Participants will:
- read a variety of articles and get an overview of current research on technology and language pedagogy.
- explore various technological tools and see what pedagogical objectives they can best support.
- examine different models (websites and projects developed with specific pedagogical objectives in mind), and analyze their approach and methodology.
- reflect on the specific role of the teacher, and see how technology can be used to increase student interaction in the classroom.
There will be a mix of presentations, discussions, and hands-on projects. Work will be done individually and in group, and will take into account the particular teaching context of participants.
PedagogySummer 2012
FREN 6689 - Religions Mediterranean World
Les Religions dans le monde méditerranéen / Religions of the Mediterranean World
Lined by three continents (Asia, Africa and Europe) and geostrategic space, the Mediterranean Sea was during several millenniums the centre of the world. Besides, being cradle of three monotheist religions and art of living, zone of conflict, crossroads of exchanges and migration, the Mediterranean Sea saw asserting itself, more than in quite other region of the planet, the numerous and glorious civilizations.
In this course, we are going to see that the Mediterranean Sea is the history of a tension between two modes of knowledge (the reason and the faith) on one hand, and the collection of their possible retrievable, between a shore and other one of the Mediterranean Sea on the other hand. In this trail, we are going to examine how the religious thoughts of both shores tend to approach the interactions of civilizations and to question these multiple interferences, which not only made all the history of the Mediterranean Sea, but which direct still widely its future.
No previous knowledge required.
Required Text: an electronic support will be provided.
(Besides regular credits this course may also count for one unit (i.e. 3 credits) in the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies program)"
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2009, Summer 2010, Summer 2011
FREN 6690 - Educ Tech & Second Lang Teach
Technologie éducative et didactique des langues secondes / Educational Technology and Second Language Teaching
This course aims at providing future and practicing L2 instructors with a pedagogical foundation for the theory and practice of technology integration in second language learning and teaching. As such, this course will enable students to develop their skills to effectively use a variety of technological tools. Course topics include trends and issues of instructional technology use, and instructional techniques, standards and strategies for integrating technology into a variety of language learning settings. Based on an experiential project development approach, the course will offer students opportunities to critically assess existing tools and to design course materials to enhance second language learning and teaching.
PedagogySummer 2010
FREN 6692 - Mod Periods Mediterranean Civ ▲
La méditerranée dans le monde actuel / Modern Periods of Mediterranean Civilization
"The Mediterranean occupies an important place in the 20th century as it has been involved in the two world wars and it is still the centre of the major conflicts of the second part of the 20th century. Today the major powers are aware that world peace cannot be reached if the Mediterranean conflicts are not settled. This is why France and Europe have the aim of stabilizing a region through “l’Union pour la méditerranée” which was launched in 2008. The course will give a large overview of the geopolitical problems of the region since 1945. We will study all the countries around the Mediterranean and we will examine the major conflicts of the Near East. And we will see how Europe and France can become major actors in the region. No previous knowledge required.
Required text:Histoire de la Méditerranée,Jean Carpentier, Francois Lebrun, editions Seuil 2006. ISBN 978-2-02-051913-7
N.B Students who choose section A can validate their credits in methodology (equivalent to 6525).
Besides regular credits this course may also count for one unit (i.e. 3 credits) in the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies program
Summer 2009, Summer 2010, Summer 2012
FREN 6694 - Second Language Acquisition ▲
Second Language Acquisition
This course aims at deepening the knowledge in the field of second language acquisition. It will focus on theories and models proposed to explain the different factors that come into play in the acquisition process of a second language in natural and formal learning environments. We will examine topics such as: L1 and L2 acquisition, bilingualism, behaviorism, contrastive analysis, the theory of interlanguage, the innateness of universal grammar in second language acquisition, the cognitive psychology of languages, constructivism and socio-constructivism, the theory of acculturation, learning strategies and individual differences.
PedagogySummer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6696 - Basic Concepts Lang Pedagogy
Concepts de base en didactique des langues : l’apprenant, la langue, l’enseignant / Basic Concepts in Language Pedagogy: the Learner, the Language, the Teacher
This course is targeted at professors or future professors of FSL who wish to integrate an analytical reflection into their classroom practices. An exploration of FSL theories will alternate with a reflection on methods and methodologies, class practices and pedagogical strategies, all aimed at developing students’ autonomy. Key linguistic, communicative, and cultural concepts applied to language, as well as specific suggestions to organize a course centered on learning contracts, will provide a basis for discussion and development of pedagogical practices specific to teaching French as a foreign language.
Texts: M.Pendanx, Les activités d’apprentissages en classe de langue (Hachette FLE, 1998); Your class textbook or the one you would like to use in class.
PedagogySummer 2008
FREN 6705 - Paris from Lutetia to Present
L’Histoire de Paris, de Lutèce à nos jours. / The History of Paris from Lutetia to the Present
In this course we shall study the main stages in the development of Paris, from the Gallo-Roman city of Lutetia to our days. The resources used will be: archeological finds, engravings, city maps, paintings and photographs (19th C.). Methodology will be based on urban sociology, history of urban development, history and art history.
The first part will be devoted to Lutetia, the Gallo-Roman city (52-253AD) and we shall study the archeological finds, the temples, the baths and the theaters. We shall also stress the importance of the progress of Christianity after the Edict of Milan by Emperor Constantine.
The next part will be about Paris in the Middle-Ages: the problem of the fortifications, Philippe-Auguste, Charles V, the king’s Palace, the Ile de la Cité and the Notre-Dame cathedral. In the third part we shall deal with the introduction of Italian architectural models in the 16th C. and their adaptation to the situation in Paris, and with royal urban development in the 17th C. We shall then concentrate on the history of the Louvre, from the original Castle in 1210 to the Greater Louvre by Pei in 1997. The following part will take us to a fundamental shift in the development of Paris: the urban restructuring imposed by Napoleon III and carried out by the Seine prefect Haussmann (1853-1870). The World Fairs will be studied, specifically that of 1889 with the Eiffel tower. The final chapter will be about the Orsay railway station (1900) and its transformation into a museum in 1986. The Défense business quarter will be the final object of our study.
Text: Students will have at their disposal a 70-page document including a list of all the slides used and the introductions for each part as well as a bibliography.
Summer 2008
FREN 6712 - Theory of the Novel
La théorie du roman / Theory of the Novel
N.B. This course meets from June 30 to July 20, 2 hours per day
This course will examine (thru theoretical texts such as forewords, correspondences, essays, etc.), how the French novelists of the 19th and 20th centuries considered the genre and their own craft. Balzac’s, Flaubert’s, Zola’s, Proust’s works will be studied to show how the realistic novel was born and how it evolved. Then a few attempts at renewal will be looked into : Gide’s Faux Monnayeurs, Sartre’s ‘existentialist’ novel, Robbe-Grillet’s ‘Nouveau Roman’. This course will provide a general survey of the evolution of the French novel between 1830 and 1960, with a final opening onto the next period.
The course material will be short excerpts given as handouts to students.
LiteratureSummer 2011
FREN 6713 - Camus
FREN 6714 - Passion in 19 & 20C French Lit ▲
Passion in the French Novel of the 19th & 20th centuries / La passion dans les romans des 19 et 20ième siècles
""Passion," Balzac said, "is all humanity." This course will explore different representations of the human passions in the French novel of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will first study in Stendhal's Le Rouge et le noir the conflict of love and ambition; then in La Curée by Emile Zola the portrait of speculators associated with that of the ""imperial party"" in the corrupt society of the Second Empire; in Un Amour de Swann by Marcel Proust the fine analysis of the evolution of passion and jealousy, and finally in a Un Roi sans divertissement by Jean Giono the quest for the absolute and its tragic outcome. These texts should be read in full.
Each student will make at least one oral presentation and a written work of a dozen pages related to the theme of the course.
Required texts:
1) Stendhal, Le Rouge et le noir, Hachette, Le Livre de poche classiques, ISBN 978 225 300 6206
2) Émile Zola, La Curée, Gallimard, Folio classique, nº 3302, ISBN 978 207 041 1412
3) Marcel Proust, Un amour de Swann, Gallimard, Folio, nº 780, ISBN 207 036 7800
4) Jean Giono, Un roi sans divertissement, Gallimard, Folio, nº 220, ISBN 978 207 036 2202
Summer 2012
FREN 6725 - Image of Souths in French Lit
L’image des Suds dans la littérature française (XIXe-XXe siècles) / The Image of the Souths in French Literature (19th & 20th Centuries)
This course, addressed to advanced students, aims to examine the image of the Mediterranean world in French literature from the Romantic period to the present. Multiple but convergent points of view will be taken in order to develop a global perspective. We will first concentrate on the origins of the theme by studying the idea of exoticism, particularly oriental exoticism beginning with the late 18th C. We will consider the genre of the "Voyage in the Orient" with brief insights from several major authors (Chateaubriand, Nerval). We will analyze in greater detail the Voyage en Espagne of Théophile Gautier, a narrative representative of the genre. The Lettres de mon Moulin of Alphonse Daudet, will demonstrate how in the 19th C., both in the fable and the realist novel, a picturesque image of the South in France (Languedoc and Provence) developed. We will also examine the influence of Classical Mediterranean civilizations on Giono, Valéry, Gide, Camus, and how this influence, important in the first part of the 20th C., helped form a very different image of the South. Literature from the Maghreb, particularly the novel of Mouloud Mammeri, La Colline oubliée will broaden our perspective on the French literature of the Mediterranean world.
Texts: Théophile Gautier, Voyage en Espagne (Gallimard, Folio classique, nº 1295); Alphonse Daudet, Lettres de mon moulin (Gallimard, Folio classique, nº 3239); Jean Giono, Regain, Hachette, Le Livre de poche, nº 382; Mouloud Mammeri, La Colline oubliée, Gallimard, Folio, nº 2353.
In addition, a collection of short texts will be provided.
Summer 2008
FREN 6742 - Cinema of Minorities ▲
Cultures and documents on the Screen. The Cinema of Minorities in the postcolonial Era / Cultures et documents à l’écran. Le cinéma des minorités dans l’ère postcoloniale
In the postcolonial world of images, the cinema of minorities stemming from immigration and displacement or people coming from the French West Indies or Caribbean. This course will explore particularities and generalities of dynamic minorities movements. Through a large selection of films coming from Black South Africa, France’s Caribbean overseas, the analysis will study esthetic forms and thematic, political and cultural discourses
Required Texts: A list of films will be provided
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2008, Summer 2009, Summer 2012
FREN 6744 - Food in Contemp Fr W Indes Lit
Nourriture terrestre antillaise / Terrestrial Food in Contemporary French West Indes Literature
Food and Kitchen are always represented in contemporary West Indies literature. This course proposes to analyse forms and places, discourses and narrations, significations and ideologies in Patrick Chamoiseau’s Chronique des sept misères, Maryse Conde’s, Victoire, la saveur et les mots, André & Simone Schwarzt-Bart’s Un plat de porc aux bananes vertes and Gisèle Pineau’s Chair Piment.
Texts : Patrick Chamoiseau, Chronique des sept misères (Paris, Gallimard) ; Maryse Condé, Victoire, la saveur et les mots (Paris, Mercure de France) ; André et Simone Schwartz-Bart, Un plat de porc aux bananes vertes (Paris, Seuil, Points) ; Gisèle Pineau, Chair Piment (Paris, Gallimard, Folio).
LiteratureSummer 2010
FREN 6760 - French & US Presidential Elect ▲
Presidential elections in France and the United States: comparative analysis / Analyse comparée des élections présidentielles en France et aux USA
N.B. This course meets from July 26 to August 15, 2 hours per day.
2012 is the year of both american and french presidential elections. The course will
start from a systematic analysis of the French presidential elections:
the electoral campaign, the main issues, the candidates, the
electorates... On all these points we will see the similarities and the
differences between the two countries and political systems.
Required text: Pascal Perrineau, Le choix de Marianne, Pourquoi et pour qui votons-nous?, Paris, Fayard, 2012 (ISBN 978-2-213-65419-5)
Civ Cul & SocSummer 2012
FREN 6764 - French Literature 1900-1960
La crise des idées dans la literature française (1900-1960) / Ideas Challenged : French Literature 1900-1960
N.B. This course will meet two hours daily for three weeks (July 1 to July 21).
This course will examine how literature reflected the evolution of ideas and cultural and aesthetic forms amid the major crises of the first half of the century. Specifically : the emergence of a new type of writer-thinker (Zola, Barrès, Gide, Romain Rolland) and the role of the major reviews like the Mercure de France and the Nouvelle Revue française ; the crisis in aesthetic values and attempts to renew poetry (Apollinaire) and the novel (Proust, Gide) ; the impact of World War I on literature and its legacy in the 1920’s with surrealism and in the novel (Céline, Malraux, Giono). The question of meaning and the absurd in response to the rise of totalitarianism and exacerbated by World War II will be examined in the novel and essay (Sartre, Camus), and theater (Ionesco, Beckett). Finally, we will look at the development of the social sciences after the war in some of its typical texts (Lévi-Strauss, Barthes).
LiteratureSummer 2010
FREN 6766 - Literature and Journalism
Littérature et journalisme (XIXe-XXe siècles) / Literature and Journalism (XIXe-XXe centuries)
In this course we will explore the complex and often difficult relations that have developed between literature and written journalism in France from the en of the 19th century to the present. We will first examine Balzac’s pejorative image, growing out of his own experience in this milieu, of the press and journalists in his novel Illusions perdues. It is this image that dominated literary representations of the press and that is evident again in Goncourt’s Charles Demailly, as well as in the second great 19th C. novel, Bel-Ami by Maupassant, that we will study in more depth. However this deprecatory image dramatically changes after 1880 under the influence of more modern writers, such as Zola, conscious of the possibilities that journalism offers to literature. Literature borrows new genres: the chronicle, the reporting. We will also study examples of great chroniclers : Proust, Barbusse, Vialatte, Giono, and then, in the 20th C., famous writer-reporters : Albert Londres, Simenon, Kessel, Roger Vailland. Finally we will analyse, using the work of two major authors, Camus and Mauriac, how the 20th C. writer uses the press as a forum to promulgate views on political and social issues, thereby achieving intellectual and moral authority. We will finish by considering the contemporary period examining whether the union of writer and journalist still exists in a period of general decline of the traditional written press (and literature itself?).
Texts : Mauriac, Bloc-Notes, t. V, 1968-1970, éd. du Seuil, Points-Essais, nº 270, EAN 13 : 9782020128186; A collection of texts will also be provided.
LiteratureSummer 2008, Summer 2009
FREN 6769 - Poetry of Modernity ▲
Poertry of Modernity, the Modernity of Poetry
The practice of poetry, common in France since its beginnings, experienced important renovation, first in the seventeenth century and then in the nineteenth, proving its capacity for metaphamorphosis, from Barocco to Classicisme, then from Classicisme to Modernity, and the intelligence of its play with styles, genres, and ideas. Our emphasis in this course will be on demonstrating these developments and explaining them. To accomplish this we will use five major anthologies, touchstones of these transformations: Art poétique by Boileau, Fables et Contes of La Fontaine, Alcools, by Guillaume Apollinaire, Charmes, by Paul Valéry, and Le Roman inachevé, by Louis Aragon.
Students can choose to take either a methodological section (A) or a literary section (B) of this course.
The first option, section A, offers literary and social science students an opportunity to master analytical methods and textual commentaries that will allow them to read and understand a variety of theatrical texts, all while enhancing their analytical writing skills through various methodological exercises. These include summaries, literary comparisons, technical explanations, textual commentaries, argumentative dialectical essays, reading analyses and oral presentations.
The second option, section B, offers students the opportunity to study the historic, literary, cultural, philosophical and social evolution of French poetry from the 17th to the 20th century in great depth.
Required texts:
1) Apollinaire, Alcools, coll. Poésie/Gallimard
2) Valéry, Charmes, in Poésies, coll. Poésie/Gallimard, ISBN 2 – 07 – 030282 – 2
3) Aragon, Le Roman inachevé, coll.Poésie/Gallimard, ISBN 978 – 2 – 07 – 030011 - 2
4) Boileau, Art poétique, t. 2, Sylvain Menant éd., Paris, Fammarion, 1998, GF 206, ISBN 2080702068
5) La Fontaine, Fables, Jean-Charles Darmon éd., Paris, Le Livre de Poche, 2002, ISBN-10: 2253010049, ISBN-13: 978-2253010043
6) La Fontaine, Contes libertins, Paris, Librio, 2004, n°622, ISBN 2290332275
Summer 2011, Summer 2012
FREN 6780 - Today's French Novels
At a time when grouchy and pessimistic critics lament the decline of the novel, it may be useful to note that the novel as a genre has never fared better than in this early 21st century. In September 2008 the specialized press announced the publication of 466 new novels in French. Even if quantity does not necessarily mean quality, such figures are a testimony to the vitality of the genre. If readers may at times find it difficult to find their bearings in such a profusion of books, the reason is that today’s novel, mirroring French society as a whole, has experienced profound changes in the past twenty-five years. Our six-week journey into the contemporary novel will focus on six novelists who, according to some, illustrate the main trends in contemporary fiction (a difficult choice, though!).
The return of the character and history revisited: Jean Rouaud, Les Champs d’honneur (Prix Goncourt 1990)
The fiction of origins : Annie Ernaux, La Place (1983) et Une Femme (1988)
The mark of the social sphere: François Bon, Daewoo( 2004)
Questions about commitment to a cause. An uncompromising account of May 1968: Olivier Rolin, Tigre en papier (2002)
The postmodern and ironic novel.: Jean Echenoz, Je m’en vais(Prix Goncourt 1999)
The novel of culture: Pascal Quignard: Terrasse à Rome (2000)
A summer of fascinating discoveries which should enable you to better understand France and the French today!
Texts : Jean Rouaud : Les champs d’honneur, Les Editions de Minuit, col. « double » - ISBN 2-7073-1565-6 ; Annie Ernaux : La Place, Folio- ISBN 2-07-037722-9 ; Une Femme, Folio-ISBN 2-07-038211-7 ; François Bon : Daewoo, Le livre de poche-2-253-11431-6 ; Olivier Rolin : Tigre en papier, Le Seuil, col. Points- ISBN 2-02-037506-0.
Jean Echenoz : Je m’en vais, Les Editions de Minuit, col , « double »- ISBN 2-7073-1771-3 ; Pascal Quignard : Terrasse à Rome, Folio-ISBN 2-07-041716-6.
LiteratureSummer 2009
