Spring 2022 French course descriptions

W 10:45-1:15

In person

Intensive conversation with organized discussions on subjects of special interest.

In person

Required for all 3 French major concentrations and LBC; elective for minor.

Prerequisite: FREN121 or placement test score of “Advanced.”

Not appropriate for native/heritage speakers of French. Contact Dr. Loysen for a substitution.

Literature provides rich insights into language and culture, even (and often particularly) for those who have had only a few years of language study. We will study excerpts from well-known French- language writers from the Middle Ages to the present day. Through close readings of short texts, participants will improve vocabulary and reading comprehension while learning to construct independent commentaries about such passages.

In person

Required for all 3 French major concentrations and French minor.

Does not count for LBC.

Prerequisite: FREN 203 or departmental approval.

This course provides an introduction to the study of the French language, its nature and structure, as well as the analysis of language variation in standard and familiar contexts. Students will be introduced to French linguistics in its broadest themes with a particular emphasis on phonetics, phonology (sound patterns), morphology (word patterns), syntax (sentence patterns), and semantics. The system of the French language will be examined from a structuralist point of view as opposed to traditional grammatical classifications. Special attention will also be paid to sociolinguistic aspects and issues of the French language, and the study of regional dialects and varieties of French in the French-speaking world. Each of these areas will be examined through concrete examples, and analysis of French data.

In-person every other Monday; asynchronous the remainder of the time.

Required for French Education concentration. Elective for French Translation and Civilizations concentrations and French minor.

Does not count for LBC.

Prerequisite: FREN205 or departmental approval.

Co-sat with FREN 510.

Virtual Exchange with Université Bordeaux Montaigne. Continuation of theory and practice of translation as begun in FREN 350 (French Translation I).

MR 8:15-9:30

Classes will meet throughout the semester either in-person or online according to a schedule determined with our French partner, the Université Bordeaux Montaigne.

Required for French Translation concentration. Elective for French Civilization and Education concentrations. Elective for LBC majors and French minor. Also satisfies the Graduation Writing Requirement.

Prerequisite: FREN350 or departmental approval.

The Amanda Gorman of his day, teenaged Victor Hugo rose to national prominence thanks to politicians who admired his work. From political, historical, symbolic, and comical poems of the nineteenth century to the lyrics of twenty-first-century Belgian singer-songwriter Stromae, this course encourages participants to think about poetry and its evolving forms and uses, in the nineteenth-century and today. Figures like Hugo, Chateaubriand, Lamartine, Desbordes-Valmore, Baudelaire, Verlaine and Rimbaud are considered “classics” today, but how were they read in their own day? What did their poems mean to audiences then and what do they mean to readers now? What poets were hugely popular in their own time, but no longer remembered today?

In addition to reading some of the most famous (and infamous) poems of the nineteenth century, individual units and projects will discuss working-class and women poets, French-language poets writing from the colonies, relationships among poets and artists, and strategies for the translation of poetry (including the controversy surrounding the translation of Gorman into French). A final portfolio project will encourage students to develop projects about lesser-known nineteenth-century poets and singer-songwriters that they can share with others.

In person

Literature elective for all 3 major concentrations. Elective for French minor.

Does not count for LBC.

Prerequisite: FREN203 or departmental approval. Co-Sat with FREN 540.

[CRN 24575]

Western democracy would not be what it is today without the French Revolution. This course will center on major scientific, sociopolitical, philosophical, class, and gender shifts that prepared and accompanied the French Revolution. It is impossible to separate the advancement of the revolutionary project from these diverse Enlightenment developments. Under consideration will be how scientific progress, notions of the citizen, changing ideas of patriarchy, the development of new media, debates around censorship, and the increased mobilization of the public sphere come to affect all types of power relations in French society. Special attention will be paid to how continuing tensions between the individual and the collective are explored in various textual genres, as well as in other media, including the fine arts and material objects ranging from passports and identity cards to paper currency and fashion magazines. Readings will include works by Montesquieu, Rousseau, Diderot, Voltaire, Laclos, Beaumarchais, and others.

In-person

Elective for all 3 major concentrations. Elective for French minor.

Does not count for LBC.

Prerequisite: departmental approval. Co-sat with FREN 529.

Structure of the French Language [24586]

Le cours présente une étude de la langue française et ses différentes représentations ainsi que ses diverses variétés (parlers, dialectes, patois, et créoles) et leurs critères culturels, historiques, géographiques et linguistiques. Il examine aussi le français dans le monde francophone (e.g., le Québec, les Caraïbes, la Louisiane, le Maghreb et l’Afrique sub-saharienne). Une attention particulière sera prêtée aux langues en contact dans ces pays francophones, au statut des langues nationales et au conflit entre le français et ces langues nationales, aux dimensions linguistiques de la société, et aux comportements et attitudes des natifs face à la langue française. En plus, le cours explore les différentes mesures d’aménagement et planification linguistiques, et les réactions des gouvernements francophones envers ces planifications. Les étudiants tireront leurs propres conclusions des lectures et de la discussion tout au long du cours.

In-person every other Monday; asynchronous the remainder of the time.

Category A for the MA in French Studies.

Elective for the MA in  French Translation.

Does not count for Post-BA Certificate in Translation. Co-sat with FREN 325.

Western democracy would not be what it is today without the French Revolution. This course will center on major scientific, sociopolitical, philosophical, class, and gender shifts that prepared and accompanied the French Revolution. It is impossible to separate the advancement of the revolutionary project from these diverse Enlightenment developments. Under consideration will be how scientific progress, notions of the citizen, changing ideas of patriarchy, the development of new media, debates around censorship, and the increased mobilization of the public sphere come to affect all types of power relations in French society. Special attention will be paid to how continuing tensions between the individual and the collective are explored in various textual genres, as well as in other media, including the fine arts and material objects ranging from passports and identity cards to paper currency and fashion magazines. Readings will include works by Montesquieu, Rousseau, Diderot, Voltaire, Laclos, Beaumarchais, and others.Students in the translation concentration may have the opportunity to translate authentic eighteenth-century materials.

In-person

Category B for the MA in French Studies.

Elective for the MA in French Translation.

Does not count for Post-BA Certificate in Translation. Co-sat with FREN 470.

The Amanda Gorman of his day, teenaged Victor Hugo rose to national prominence thanks to politicians who admired his work. From political, historical, symbolic, and comical poems of the nineteenth century to the lyrics of twenty-first-century Belgian singer-songwriter Stromae, this course encourages participants to think about poetry and its evolving forms and uses, in the nineteenth-century and today. Figures like Hugo, Chateaubriand, Lamartine, Desbordes-Valmore, Baudelaire, Verlaine and Rimbaud are considered “classics” today, but how were they read in their own day? What did their poems mean to audiences then and what do they mean to readers now? What poets were hugely popular in their own time, but no longer remembered today?

In addition to reading some of the most famous (and infamous) poems of the nineteenth century, individual units and projects will discuss working-class and women poets, French-language poets writing from the colonies, relationships among poets and artists, and strategies for the translation of poetry (including the controversy surrounding the translation of Gorman into French). A final portfolio project will encourage students to develop projects about lesser-known nineteenth-century poets and singer-songwriters that they can share with others.

In person

Category C for the MA in French Studies.

Elective for the MA in French Translation.

Does not count for Post-BA Certificate in Translation.

Co-sat with FREN 367.

For students who have completed at least 20 credits of the MA in Professional French Translation.

For MA in French Translation students only.

By permission only. Contact Dr. Emery.

0 credits

Open to those who have completed 18 credits toward the MA in French, Concentration in French Studies or Professional Translation. Contact Dr. Emery

Students whose schedules do not permit coursework in a given semester must enroll for this no-credit “continuous matriculation” course. See the Graduate School for more information.