FRW 5586 Gender and Genre in French Renaissance Literature - Prof. R. Leushuis

Departing from a socio-historical context, this course will examine how literary genre shapes representations of and attitudes toward gender in the French Renaissance. How do specific literary forms, such as love poetry, humanist and courtly dialogue, Renaissance novella, and Montaigne’s essay depict, criticize, idealize, parody, glorify, vilify, etc., the masculine and feminine gender as well the interaction between the sexes as it is variously defined by courtly love, sexuality, friendship, marriage, and religious practices? In our readings, we will focus not only on how the various genres treat these issues, but also on whether and how authors tried to influence society, e.g. through exemplarity. The class will be conducted in French and all course work will be written in French. Graduates: this class will cover a majority of works on the MA reading list and thus forms an excellent preparation for your MA exams.

 

 

FRW 5598 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.

 

 

FRE 5900-01 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.

 

FRE 5900-02 - 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.

 

 

FOW 5025 Introduction to Critical Theory – Prof. Irene Zanini-Cordi

What makes literature worth reading? Who decides what a great book is? What is an author? Does his/her gender, race or social origins matter? Does the social context influence our interpretation of a work? This course in the history of ideas introduces graduate students to major schools of critical theory and presents ways theory has been applied to the reading of world literatures in American academia. In addition to a survey of critical approaches from the 1960s to the present, the course provides an opportunity to examine the relationships between critical theory and literature. The seminar format will enable students to discuss these theories collectively in class discussion, as well as individually in an independent project. The course offers a variety of perspectives and includes a number of guest lectures by faculty in Modern Languages. With more knowledge about critical approaches to texts, students will be better equipped to write research papers and dissertations and to develop their own ideas about the meanings and practice of (interdisciplinary) literary studies. Taught in English, all readings in English.