Graduate Course Offerings - Spring 2008

University of Virginia

Department of French Language & Literature

FREN 428/711 – History of The French Language

This course will look at some of the ways in which the French language has changed through time, with respect to vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, orthography, meaning, discourse, and the like. Social, cultural, political, environmental, as well as purely linguistic, factors that have played some part in language change will be considered. Our approach will be non-traditional and somewhat novel. We begin with an inventory of penetrating questions, for example: why does one say ‘cheval’ in the singular but ‘chevaux’ in the plural (and cf. ‘animal ~ animaux, bail ~ baux’; but ‘vache ~ vaches’, 'pied ~pieds', 'femmes' ~ 'femmes', etc.); or why did ”nos ancêtres les Gaulois” ‘bequeath’ so few of their words to the French lexicon; or what type of French is spoken in Belgium, Canada, and Africa and why; or why does the utterance “t’as pas dix balles?” immediately strike you as being ‘non-standard’-- and when was the language conventionalized anyway ...?. Answers to such questions will provide the impetus for a more in-depth study and discussion of some of the major (underlying) diachronic changes and currents in the language.

Prerequisites: good reading, writing and speaking ability in French. Previous course work in phonetics, historical linguistics, Latin and other Romance languages helpful. Course conducted in French.

FREN 511/810 – Art and War: The State of Literature during the Hundred Years War

 From 1337 to 1453, Europe was shaped by a political and military feud that initially divided the kingdoms of England and France, before resulting in the fracturing of the French kingdom into competing territories. During this period, Francophone societies looked on as their kings and princes became prisoners or died in battle, as royal relations plotted the assassinations of one another or the exiling of the rightful heir to the French throne. In spite of such upheaval and the financial repercussions that came along with paying exorbitant ransoms and funding wars, francophone literature continued to thrive, although in a radically different form from earlier medieval models.

This class will explore the impact of war on shaping literature as much as the power of literature to shape war and society. We will read a diverse selection of writings, ranging from escapist courtly literature to political manifestoes, debate poetry to the writings of the first recognized “war correspondent,” poetry by and for prisoners, and legal trials of booksellers charged with treason as well as the most famous case of Joan of Arc. These primary texts will be read in conjunction with theoretical writings, especially those of Bataille (on violence), Kristeva (on the abject), Bourdieu and Foucault (on social constructions), and Robert Darnton (on the circulation of literary materials).

FREN 530/830 – Literature of 17th-Century: Tragedy

This course will concentrate on the tragedies of Pierre Corneille (principally Médée, Le Cid, Horace),  and Jean Racine (Phèdre,  Andromaque, Iphigénie).  Initially, however, we will sample some earlier works by Alexandre Hardy, Jean Rotrou, and Tristan L’Hermite.  Two oral presentations, a mid-term paper, and a final paper in the form of an article prepared for submission to a scholarly journal.

FREN 544/844 – Topics in French Cinema: French Documentary Film

Documentary film is the opposite of fiction film. Or is it? If it is, does that mean that the stories told in documentary film are more “real” or “true” than fictional stories? Do documentary films establish a different relationship with their audiences than fiction films?   From the very beginnings of cinema, France has made significant contributions to the development of the documentary genre. Through an exploration of important directors, moments, and sub-genres in this story, this course will examine theoretical questions fundamental to the genre, such as those raised above, which lead us to question the very definition of documentary film as a genre distinct from fiction film. In addition to these theoretical and formal questions, we will consider each documentary film as a product of a particular socio-historical context. We will view a selection of films from 1895 to the present as well as reading widely in French history, film history, and film theory.

FREN 548/845 –  Things to Do with the Body in 19th-century France

Modernity has practiced many forms of body art: it has, for example, intoxicated the body, spectralized it, reified it, embodied/abstracted it, configured/disfigured it, dressed/undressed it.  Through an examination of various treatments and experiments of the body, we will trace modernity’s shifting perspective on corporeality.  Authors may include Gautier, Zola, Nerval, Hugo, Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Poe, Balzac, Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, Flaubert.

Open to graduate students only.

FREN 570/870 -  Francophone Literature of Africa

Survey of 20th century Francophone literature of Africa. Colonial literature and Assimilation; Negritude, Nationalism and Identity; Postcolonial literature; Feminism; Literature and Censorship; Language and Literature; Theatre and ritual performance; and Oral literature as a major intertext will all be examined through novels, poems, and plays by contemporary African writers in French. Authors will include Senghor, B. Diop, C. Beyala, M. Beti, A. Laabi, Djebar, Mimouni, Utamsi, Werewere Liking, Rabemanjara, and Ken Bugul. Weekly response papers, brief mid-semester oral presentations and bibliographies of the selected research subjects and a research paper (F570: 12-15 pages; F870: 20-25 pages) are required. 

REQUIRED READING

Mongo Beti – Le Pauvre Christ de Bomba

Bernard Dadié- Béatrice du Congo

Sony Labou Tansi- La Parenthèse de sang suivi de Je soussigné cardiaque

Assia Djebar- Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement

Driss Chraibi- L’Homme du livre

Alain Mabanckou- Memoire de porc-epic

Calixte Beyala- Comment cuisiner son mari à l’Africaine

Fatou Diome – Le Ventre de l’Atlantique

Ousmane Sembène- Guelwaar

Michel Hauser- Littératures francophones: III. Afrique noire, Océan indien.

Jacques Noiray- Littératures francophones: I. Le Maghreb.

FREN 580/880 – Literature and Society: Lingua Franca: Language and Nation in Modern France

This course proposes to examine the historical roots of the tight articulation between language and national identity in France. From at least the late 18th century, political debate focused on the question of the French language as a tool for national cohesion. Within the context of 19th century French imperial expansion, the dissemination of the French language and the institutions and cultural values associated with it played a pivotal role in attempts to achieve colonial dominion. Today, within the context of the European Union and the changes wrought by globalization, issues of citizenship, immigration, language, and French national identity have once again risen to the fore of public preoccupation and debate.

Students should expect a general course on the cultural, social, and political history of modern France with a particular focus on the construction of nationhood and the role of the French language in that process.