FREN - French

Development of the basic language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Special emphasis on aural-oral proficiency.

Prerequisite: FREN 101 or permission of the department chair. Credit by exam. Continuation of 101.

Prerequisite: FREN 102, exemption by exam or permission of department. A one-credit conversation course conducted in French designed to develop oral skills. Weekly discussions based on readings of cultural or current topics. Final grade based on attendance and participation and on one writing assignment in French. May be repeated.

Prerequisite: FREN 102 or satisfactory performance in placement examination or permission of the department chair. Credit by exam. Further development of language skills with emphasis on reading and oral participation.

Prerequisite: FREN 201 or permission of the department chair. Credit by exam. Continuation of FREN 201.

Prerequisite: FREN 202 or satisfactory performance in placement exam or permission of the department chair. Credit by exam. Concentration on writing, conversation and structural difficulties. Reading and discussion of cultural material of an interdisciplinary nature.

Prerequisite: FREN 203 or permission of the department chair. Introduction to French civilization: study of the cultural features of the French language and the social, cultural and intellectual life of the French-speaking people. Discussion and weekly written assignments.

Prerequisite: FREN 202 or permission of the department chair. An introductory course that analyzes literary genres and examines major French texts from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution. Illustrated lectures, films and selected documents of and on the period will provide the cultural background required to understand the texts and connect them to social, philosophical and aesthetic movements.

Prerequisite: FREN 203 or permission of the instructor. An introductory course that analyzes literature genres and examines major French texts from 1800 to the present. Illustrated lectures, films and selected documents of the period will provide the cultural background required to understand the texts and connect them to social, philosophical and aesthetic movements.

Prerequisite: FREN 202 or permission of the department chair. Study of the basic phonological structure of French. Transcription practice; corrective drill in pronunciation, rhythm, intonation; and practice in the oral interpretation of French prose, poetry and drama. Analysis of tape recordings: examples of regional accents and other aspects of the spoken language.

Prerequisite: FREN 207 or FREN 208 or permission of the department chair. How do women and men see each other? Is the literary gaze inevitably marked by gender? This course will analyze the implications of the gaze in modern French literature and cinema. Works studied will include French and Francophone novels, poetry, theater and film.

Prerequisite: FREN 207 or FREN 208 or permission of the department chair. We will define what makes refinement, politeness and the art of living one of the major stereotypes when speaking about French culture. Through the literature and the culture of seven centuries of French history, we will evaluate the importance of language from 1100 to 1800 in the creation of an ideal of social behavior.

Prerequisite: FREN 207 or FREN 208 or permission of the department chair. This course will define and evaluate the convention that has created the myth of romance within French culture. The French, during their history, stylized love; they believe in this mental creation and force themselves to live passion in this poetic way.

Prerequisites: FREN 204 and at least 6 additional credits of 200-level French or permission of the department chair. Development of proficiency in writing French, with emphasis on the contrastive aspects of English and French structure. Special attention is given to style and to the idiomatic use of language. Introduction to translation techniques. Weekly compositions or translations will enhance student skill in these areas.

Prerequisite: FREN 207 or FREN 208 or permission of the department chair. Students will examine works by contemporary women writers from the French-speaking world, including North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and North America, and consider how questions of gender and race are experienced and expressed by these women. Topics of discussion will include marriage and polygamy, slavery, and racial difference.

Prerequisite: FREN 207 or FREN 208 or permission of department chair. We will examine the concepts of illusion and the role of the mask in early modern France as an aesthetic of the ephemeral and diverse nature of humankind. Topics of discussion will include the definition of the "Baroque," political and religious propaganda, concepts of spectacle and the spectacular, the fairy tale and sexual ambiguity.

Prerequisites: FREN 207 or FREN 208 or satisfactory performance in placement examinations or permission of the instructor or department chair. Very early in the 20th century, a new form of expression fascinated writers: cinema. In this class the student will analyze and interpret the different relationships that exist between an author (Breton, Cocteau, Prévert, Duras, Robbe-Grillet) and the way he/she attempted to reproduce it in his/her film.

Prerequisites: FREN 207 or FREN 208 or permission of instructor The modern nuclear family may seem universal to us today, but in fact it is a fairly recent idea that sprang from the age of Enlightenment. Through the works of authors such as Rousseau and Balzac, and critical perspectives from sociology and art history, we will explore the origin of the modern family and its implications in modern France.

An opportunity for qualified seniors to conduct practice sessions, tutor students and/or administer examinations in specified 100- and 200-level courses. Students are selected by the department. Grading is on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor and the department chair. Study of a selected subject. Conferences and reports.

An upper-level special topics course offered at the discretion of the department. The content and methods vary with the interest of students and faculty members

Prerequisite: Open to junior and senior majors with permission of the department chair. Supervised work in a governmental or international agency, in industry or other appropriate settings involving French-speaking people. Grading is on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.

Prerequisites: 12 credits in French above the intermediate level. An in-depth study of a subject selected according to the special interests of the students and of the faculty.

Prerequisite: By invitation of the department. The departmental honors paper is a two-semester senior-year program designed for students who wish to pursue intensive research or special projects in close coordination with faculty advisers. Departmental honors students are known as the Christine P. Tischer Scholars and receive 6 credits for this work.