• FRE 2220 Reading and Conversation
• FRE 3244 Intermediate Conversation
• FRE 3420 French Grammar & Composition I
• FRE 3421 French Grammar & Composition II
• FRE 3440 Commercial French
• FRE 4410 Advanced Conversation
• FRE 4500 Culture and Civilization
• FRT 3561 French Women Writers
• FRW 3100 Survey of French Literature: Origins Through 18th Century
• FRW 4480 20th Century French Literature
• FRE 4930-02 Immigration and National Identity in France

Graduate courses available to advanced undergraduates:

• FOW 5025 Critical Theory
• FRE 5060 Graduate Reading Knowledge
• FRW 5415 Readings in Old French Literature
• FRW 5591 Studies in 16th Century Literature
• FRW 5592 Studies in 17th Century Literature
• FOL 5934-04 Immigration and National Identity in France

Completes University language requirement for baccalaureate degree. May not be taken by native speakers. Rapid review of basic French structures and introduction of some of the finer points of French grammar. May not be taken concurrently with FRE 1120 and/or 1121.

Through readings about contemporary issues facing French society-such as the evolving role of women, unemployment, immigration, economic change in the new Europe and urban renewal-this course aims at developing oral communication skills in a broad cultural context.

Prerequisite FRE 2200 or its equivalent. An in-depth study of French grammar emphasizing some subtleties of written expression.

Prerequisite FRE 3420 or its equivalent. Further study of the subtleties of written expression in the French language.

Develops language and correspondence skills appropriate to business transactions in such areas as sales, finance, transportation, management, etc.

Based on contemporary materials, this course is intended to develop near-native fluency.

This course spans the two world wars. It concentrates on the institutions of the Fifth Republic, the evolution of ideas since May 1968, the development of sciences and technology and the artistic movements since the end of World War II. It also emphasizes the role of France in the European community.

This course will address issues of race, gender and class in a selection of works originally written in French by women writers of different historical periods and geographical areas (metropolitan France, French colonies, and territories like the Caribbean). All works will be read in translation. This course satisfies the multicultural requirement (category y), the Liberal Studies credit in humanities and the Gordon rule. Although this course may not be taken for major credit in French Literature, it does count toward the minor in French.

Students in this course will be made aware of women writers' place in the historically masculine institution of literature and will be able to identify the strategies (recurrent plots, motifs and narrative techniques) women writers adopt to express their difference.

This course will introduce you to a selection of well-known works of French Literature and their cultural contexts.  Most of the readings chosen exemplify the modern appeal of the exotic.  From the development of colonialism in the eighteenth-century to colonization in the mid-twentieth-century, modern French writers have explored their encounters with different cultures in their writings.

This course will be taught in French.  By reading, writing and participating in French, you will therefore increase your comprehension and oral proficiency in the language.  Although there will be a few key lectures in this class, most of the time we will discuss the readings in French.  It is essential that you do the assigned readings and come to class prepared to discuss them.

A survey of the major works (novels, theatre, poetry) and movements of 20th-century French literature.

Below are Graduate courses available to Advanced Undergraduates

Critical theory and its application to the reading of literature and, reciprocally, the refinement of theory from the reading of literature. The course is intended not only to introduce the students to major critical theories but also to guide them in the study of relationships between theory and the reading of literature in their respective language areas. The course is furthermore intended to provide information on how to proceed in the independent study of these relationships. Available to advanced undergraduates.

Designed to present structures of the French language and vocabulary to prepare graduate students majoring in other disciplines to read learned journals, books, and monographs written in French useful for the student's research in humanities, natural or social sciences. Available to advanced undergraduates.

The Wise Woman: Autobiography and Advice in Christine de Pizan

In this course we will examine how Christine de Pizan (ca. 1365-1430) established her authority as an advisor to royalty through her self-presentation as a woman remarkable for her wisdom, learning, and conduct. She uses her own personal "autobiography" to help communicate a message about the spiritual and moral health of the early fifteenth century French state. Since in the Middle Ages it was believed that a person who could not govern her own morals was not worthy of ruling the country or telling others how to do so, Christine's defense of her reputation was part of her concerted political strategies. For example, like a candidate for a modern political office, she felt compelled to defend herself against rumors that she had taken a lover after the death of her husband. In a similar way, Christine's credibility would be diminished if she were seen as belonging to a tainted gender. An important part of her strategies was thus to defend the entire female gender against antifeminism in literature and in life.

We will concentrate on three works written during the period 1403-1405:
The Path of Long Study (Le Chemin de long estude)
The City of Ladies (La Cité des dames)
Christine's Vision (L'Advision Cristine)

PLEASE NOTE: This course is open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates outside of French who have a reading knowledge of modern French and are capable of following the French used for class lecture and discussion. The professor will establish a weekly supplementary session for discussion in English and/or a web chat group for those who prefer to discuss the works in English. Non-French specialists may choose to do their papers and presentations in English.

Voice and Dialogue in Renaissance Literature

This course will focus on different individual "voices" and their "dialogues" in 16th century French literature. Since Renaissance authors took a special interest in language as an expression of individuality as well as in the revival of the classical genre of the dialogue, the notion of voice and of interacting voices in a dialogical setting will be crucial to understanding the literature of the period. We will study for instance how the Renaissance perceived the relation between the author's authentic voice and the divine logos (the word of God); the importance of orality and the spoken word; the role of rhetoric; the significance of dialogue in the Renaissance ideal of education; as well as the expression of the male/female poetic voice, the voice of the storyteller, etc. Authors will include Clément Marot, Marguerite de Navarre, some Pléiade poets, Rabelais, Montaigne, as well as Northern European humanist Erasmus (in French translation). We will study these authors paying specific attention to the role of the word in the period's religious context, in particular the early Reform movement in France.

Readings:

• Érasme, Colloques (selections)
• Marot, Épîtres, Épigrammes, Psaumes, Déploration de Florimond Robertet
• Marguerite de Navarre, Chansons spirituelles, Le Miroir de l'âme pécheresse
• Ronsard, Odes, Les Amours
• Rabelais, Gargantua
• Montaigne, Essais (selections)

Available to advanced undergraduates.

The Creation of Classicism and the Prose Writer

This course examines the technical and stylistic developments in the use of the French language which permitted prose writers to analyze with clarity and wit the political, philosophical and aesthetic issues that were part of the emergence of what is now termed French Classicism. Authors to be studied include, Descartes, Pascal, Mazarin, La Rochefoucauld, Bossuet, de Lafayette, and La Bruyère. Available to advanced undergraduates.

Immigration is one of the most hotly debated issues in contemporary France. The Islamic headscarf affair, the rise of the extreme-right National Front and the reform of nationality and citizenship laws are just some of the issues which have emerged in the last twenty years. In exploring these developments, this course examines the ways in which immigration and ethnicity have been helping to reshape the contours of French society. Working within an inter-disciplinary and comparative framework, students are invited to consider how far France can be said to display a distinctive profile in the field of ethnic relations compared with other countries such as the United States and Great Britain. After a theoretical and historical introduction, the course focuses on the post-war period, and in particular on the 1980s and 1990s, when minorities originating in Third World, especially Islamic, countries, have been at the center of key debates in French politics, society and culture. Among the topics covered are minority ethnic settlement, multiculturalism, nationality and citizenship, racism, extreme-right politics and anti-discrimination policy.

The course is taught in English and may be taken by students without a reading knowledge of French. The core reading list (in English) is complemented by a reading list in French which students with a reading knowledge of that language are encouraged to use.

Professor Alec G. Hargreaves
Director Institute for Contemporary French and Francophone Studies