FRE1120 - Elementary French I – Multiple Sessions

Oral comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing are stressed. May not be taken by native speakers. May not be taken concurrently with FRE 1121 and/or 2200.

 

FRE1121 Elementary French I – Multiple Sessions

Oral comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing are stressed. May not be taken by native speakers. May not be taken concurrently with FRE 1121 and/or 2211.

 

FRE2211 - Intermediate French – Multiple Sessions

Prerequisite: FRE 1121 or equivalent. Completes 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.

 

FRE2220 - Reading and Conversation – Multiple Sessions

Prerequisite: FRE2211 or equivalent. May not be taken by native speakers. Expansion of French reading skills while introducing the student to oral expression through a discussion of the readings. May not be taken concurrently with FRE 1120 and/or 1121.

 

FRE 3244 - Intermediate French Conversation - Staff
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 2220.
 

FRE 3420 - French Grammar and Composition I – Staff
Prerequisite: FRE 2211 or its equivalent. An in-depth study of French grammar emphasizing some subtleties of written expression.

 

FRE 3421 - French Grammar and Composition II – Staff

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

 

FRW 3100 - Survey French Literature from Origins to the 18th Century – Dr. A. Boutin

This course is a survey of early-modern French literature, from the Middle Ages through the 18th century. Students will be introduced to a selection of major works of each period and their cultural/historical contexts. The course, which includes videos and recent movies, also aims at perfecting students’ command of written and spoken French.

 

FRT 3561 - French Women Writers – Dr. A. Boutin

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 such as the Caribbean, from the French Revolution to the present). Some of the topics we will examine include: What obstacles have women writers faced in different historical and national contexts? What strategies do these writers use to express their experience differently (recurrent plots, motifs and narrative techniques)? Do women share common experiences across social classes, races, historical and geographic contexts? All works will be read in translation. This course satisfies the multicultural requirement (category y), the Liberal Studies credit in humanities, Literature credit and the Gordon rule. The course counts toward the Minor in French. Not suitable for credit in the French majors. Taught in English.

 

FRT 3520 Francophone Cinema – Prof. Martin Munro

This course focuses on the cinematic traditions of the non-metropolitan Francophone world, chiefly from sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. Students will learn of the historical, cultural, and social contexts in which filmmakers have produced their work. The emphasis will be on analysis and discussion of key themes and questions of style. The selection of a diverse range of films from different countries and different periods will encourage students to think comparatively, and to consider how divergent histories and cultures have created particular cinematic traditions in each country. Key themes will include: colonialism and its legacies; social class; color and race; the role of education; gender; childhood; exile, memory, and language. The course will be taught in English. All films will have English subtitles.

 

FRE 4410 Advanced French Conversation – Staff

Based on contemporary materials, this course is intended to develop near-native fluency. Prerequisite FRE 3421 or equivalent. Can substitute for Phonetics course (FRE 3780) in French major requirements.

 

FRW 4480 The Absurd – Prof. Jamie Tarpley

French theatre from the middle of the 20th century is often referred to as the “Theatre of the Absurd.”  Playwrights such as Ionesco, Beckett, and Genet turned the world of theatre upside-down by bringing to the stage works that defied logic, categorization, and in some cases comprehension.  Camus’s philosophical musings on Sisyphus and his boulder, brought into relief by the horrors revealed in the aftermath of the Second World War, inspired what Ionesco called “anti-theatre,” in which characters’ abilities to communicate with other characters, or even with the audience, were severely compromised.  This course, after presenting the historical and theoretical underpinnings of what may or may not have been a “movement” in the eyes of the artists themselves, will examine a half-dozen of the most influential plays frequently characterized as “absurd.”  Over the course of the semester, each participant will be encouraged to formulate his or her own informed definition of the “Theatre of the Absurd.”  In addition to studying this topic through readings, short reaction papers, and a longer research paper, you will also gain first-hand experience with these compellingly strange plays through organizing and participating in a “mise en scène” with your classmates.  This course will be entirely in French. FRW 3100 and FRW 3101 are prerequisites for this class.

 

FRE 4930 Media and Minorities – Prof. Alec Hargreaves

The mass media play a major role in both reporting and shaping relations between majority and minority ethnic groups. In France, immigrant groups from former colonies, most notably the North African states of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, have attracted huge media coverage especially with the growing visibility of Islam. Drawing on first-hand sources such as television, newspapers, cinema and the internet, this course focuses on three key aspects of the relationship between these minorities and the media in France: representation, production and reception. In examining media representations, we consider how far the dominant media may be said to construct one-sided or misleading images of minority groups. It is often said that misrepresentations can only be corrected through the participation of minorities in the production of media outputs. We test these claims by looking at TV programs and other media outputs produced by professionals of minority ethnic origin. Finally, we look at the reception of media outputs by majority and minority audiences, asking how far these audiences are fragmented or united in their patterns of media consumption. The course is taught in French, giving students the opportunity to research at first hand current media outputs in genres such as hard news, documentaries, sit-coms and reality shows. Taught in French.

 

FOW 4540 Franco-American Culture Wars – Prof. William Cloonan.

Through the study of literary texts and examples selected from the visual arts this course will trace a shift in the cultural balance of power between the United States and France. The course begins with an examination of the nineteenth-century American sense of inferiority before the France's achievements in literature and painting, and then will trace how a variety of aesthetic developments and political events will precipitate the slow decline of French preeminence and the inexorable rise of twentieth-century American dominance in the cultural as well as political realms. Taught in English.