Charles Nunley
Office
Le Chateau 115
Tel
(802) 443-5240
Email
nunley@middlebury.edu
Office Hours
Spring 2022: Mon & Wed 1:30-2:30; Tues 8:30-10:30 & by appointment

Charles Nunley has his B.A. from Middlebury College and his doctorate from Princeton University. He teaches modern French literature.

He is the lead editor of Course Guide: AP French Language. College Board Press (2009), and his research is on Francis Ponge, prose poetry, and the wartime publications of French poets (1940-44). See below for some of his recent publications.

Courses Taught

Course Description

Senior Thesis
A senior thesis is normally completed over two semesters. During Fall and Winter terms, or Winter and Spring terms, students will write a 35-page (article length) comparative essay, firmly situated in literary analysis. Students are responsible for identifying and arranging to work with their primary language and secondary language readers, and consulting with the program director before completing the CMLT Thesis Declaration form. (Approval required.)

Terms Taught

Winter 2020, Spring 2020, Winter 2021, Winter 2022, Winter 2023, Winter 2024, Winter 2025

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Course Description

Intensive Beginning French
For students who have not previously studied French, an introduction to listening, speaking, reading, and writing in French, providing the syntactic and semantic foundation of the French language in a concentrated program of grammar presentation, drills, laboratory work, and discussion. Primary emphasis will be placed on the student's active use of the language, and weekly attendance at the French language table will be required. This course does not fulfill the foreign language distribution requirement. Students are expected to continue with FREN 0102 in the winter term after successfully completing FREN 0101, and with FREN 0201in the spring. 6 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Fall 2021

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Course Description

Beginning French
This course is a continuation of FREN 0101, dealing with more complex French. Oral skills are stressed and students participate in the French language table at lunch. This course does not fulfill the foreign language distribution requirement. (FREN 0101)

Terms Taught

Winter 2021

Requirements

WTR

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Course Description

Intermediate French I
Emphasis on increased control and proficiency in the language through audiovisual, conversational, and drill methods. Readings and film enlarge the student's view of French life and culture. (FREN 0102 or by placement) 5 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Spring 2021

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

Intermediate French II
An active and intensive review of French grammar for students having had good beginning-level training in French. We will work not only to perfect mastery of the structures of the language with practice of writing and reading, but also to develop oral comprehension and production skills. (FREN 0103 or FREN 0105 or placement) 5 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020

Requirements

LNG

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Course Description

Self and Society: Effective Writing in French
In this course, students will deepen their knowledge of the French language and French-speaking cultures while developing their reading and writing skills through examination of a variety of texts and media. This course facilitates the transition from language-oriented courses (FREN 0205) to content-oriented courses (such as FREN 0220 and FREN 0230) by introducing students to strategies for interpretation and discussion, with a focus on effective writing. Course materials may include essays/articles, theater, fiction, poetry, videos, and films. (FREN 0205 or by placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022

Requirements

EUR, LNG

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Course Description

Imagining Community in France and Beyond
In this course we will examine how notions of community have been imagined within French culture, drawing on a variety of sources including essays, short novels and film. Particular attention will be given to works in which difference (ethnic, regional, national, generational, class) plays an important role in initiating and sustaining innovative forms of partnership. The course provides an array of opportunities to hone oral expression, critical thinking and writing in French. Writers and directors studied may include Chamoiseau, Dai Sijie, Daudet, Duras, Gary, Glissant, Kassovitz, Malle, and Tournier. (FREN 0209, 0210 or placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc.

Terms Taught

Fall 2020

Requirements

CMP, EUR, LIT, LNG

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Course Description

The Culture of Everyday Life: A User's manual
In this course we will explore works produced in France that focus on the everyday and its growing impact on cultural expression. Beginning with key theories of the everyday (Debord, Barthes and Certeau), we will then focus on creative texts of the interwar period (reportage, le fait divers, surrealism), before turning to the postwar context and consumer society (Beauvoir, Perec and Ernaux). We will end with consideration of the everyday and its relation to postcolonialism in a recent novel by Leïla Slimani. Photography (Brassaï, Man Ray), film (Tati, Varda, Malle), and performance art (Sophie Calle) will also be considered. (FREN 0220-0229 or by waiver) 3 hrs. lect./disc

Terms Taught

Spring 2022

Requirements

EUR, LIT, LNG

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Course Description

Independent Project
Qualified students may be permitted to undertake a special project in reading and research under the direction of a member of the department. Students should seek an advisor and submit a proposal to the department well in advance of registration for the term in which the work is to be undertaken. (Approval required)

Terms Taught

Winter 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022

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Course Description

Senior Honors Essay
For this one-term course, qualified senior majors who wish to be considered for Honors in French must submit a proposal well in advance of registration for the term in which the work is to be undertaken. (Approval required; see requirements.)

Terms Taught

Winter 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022

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Course Description

Senior Honors Thesis
Qualified senior majors who wish to be considered for Honors in French must submit a proposal well in advance of registration for the term in which the work is to be undertaken. (Approval required; see requirements above.)

Terms Taught

Winter 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Winter 2022, Spring 2022

View in Course Catalog

Publications

“Sounding the Limits of Resistance Memory: Robert Desnos, Comics and Nursery Rhymes” (forthcoming, The French Review)

Présences partagées: Design and Implementation of an Advanced-Level Course in French Theater”, chapter forthcoming in MLA volume, Dramatic Interactions

“From West to East: Nancy Huston and the Poetics of (Af)filiation in Tombeau de Romain Gary” forthcoming in an edited volume.

“For the Record: Robert Desnos, Music and Wartime Memory” (SubStance, 2009).

“Surrealist Artist as Objet trouvé”, in Proceedings of Symposium held in honor of Suzanne Nash (forthcoming).