Department of French, University of Virginia

Graduate Open-House Weekend 2009

Thursday, February 19th - Saturday February 21st, 2009

Calendar of Events (subject to change):

Festival du film francophone, 19-22 February

organized by graduate students of the Department of French: http://www.student.virginia.edu/~fgsa/Film_Festival_09_Page.html

Please see list of on-going campus events and lodging information at end of schedule.

Thursday, February 19

9:30-10:45  FREN 232 Intermediate Intensive French (New Cabell 335)

Visit a 200-level course taught by current Graduate Teaching Assistant Isabelle Choquet.

11:00 – 12:00 Teaching French in our Department (New Cabell 329)

Learn what it’s like to be a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the French department by attending a teaching information session organized by Dr. Karen James, the Director of the Language Program.

12:00 – 1:30 Lunch on the Corner (Place TBA) with graduate students. rdv Cabell 329.

Attend a graduate class (or two!):

2:00 – 3:15  FREN 571 Francophone Caribbean Theater (Wilson 216)

Professor Stéphanie Bérard

Analysis of modern and contemporary drama written by Francophone Caribbean playwrights (Guadeloupe, Martinique,Haiti). This course examines issues of colonialism and postcolonialism, reappropriation of history, exile and immigration, tensions between race, gender and social classes through subversive theatrical works which challenge Western dramatic canons. As theater is a literary genre and a living art, close textual analysis will be combined with a theatrical-performance oriented approach of scenography, with screening of videos.  Readings include plays by Aimé Césaire, Ina Césaire, Maryse Condé, Simone Schwarz-Bart, José Pliya, Evelyne Trouillot.

3:30 – 6:00 FREN 511/810 Poetry in Motion: Collaboration, Reception, and Transmission of Medieval and Early 16th-Century Literature (Wilson 141B)

Professor Deborah McGrady

What happens to literature if we release it from the bound book? Founded on the notion that art is neither produced in a vacuum nor received by passive participants, this course will consider the ways in which fellow writers, patrons, bookmakers, sellers, and audiences transform literature. Some of the topics to be addressed include collaborative authorship, debate poetry, poetic competition, and textual appropriation through rewriting, (re)publishing, or repudiating past texts. We will move with poetry over time and space, considering the responses of later audiences, poetic exchanges among writers, and the passage of books across national boundaries. Our study will go beyond modern print editions to consider the evidence of digitized manuscripts of the Roman de la rose and early print works housed in the UVa Gordon Collection. Authors on the MA reading list to be included are Jean de Meun, Jean Froissart, Eustache Deschamps, Christine de Pizan, Charles d’Orléans, Alain Chartier, Molinet, and Clément Marot.  Taught in English due to range of student backgrounds.

Friday, February 20

10:00- 12:00 Open Doors/Open House  (French Department, 3rd floor New Cabell)

Meet individually with French Department faculty members and graduate students.

12:00-1:30 Lunch at the French House with faculty and graduate students

2:00 – 3:30 Library tour. Rdv. Inside main entrance of Alderman Library

Saturday, February 21

Free day to explore Charlottesville.

See http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/insider/intro.htm for tips on what to see and do.

11:00 : Tour of Grounds with current graduate students: rdv South end of the Rotunda (facing the Lawn)

2:00-4:00: Reception with faculty and graduate students, place TBA

Other Events During the Weekend:

Festival du film francophone, 19-22 February, organized by graduate students of the Department of French:

http://www.student.virginia.edu/~fgsa/Film_Festival_09_Page.html

UVA Art Museum (155 Rugby Road; 434.924.3592)

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

With the Line of Daumier,

"With the Line of Daumier" focuses on the work of Honore Daumier, quintessential social satirist & major influence on the work of Patrick Oliphant. The exhibition will present paintings, drawings, and lithographs by the great French painter and draftsman, including key works on load from The Phillips Collection and VMFA, as well as images by great British, French & American carticaturists of the 18th, 19th & 20th centuries.

Matisse, Picasso, and Modern Art in Paris: The T. Catesby Jones Collections

T. Catesby Jones accumulated paintings, drawings, prints & artists' books by such artists as Georges Braque, Jacques Lipchitz, Andre Masson & Pablo Picasso. The exhibition is co-organized by the two Virginia institutions that received the bulk of this art collection as separate bequests in 1947. The exhibition is our first opportunity to present a comprehensive assessment of Jones's legacy as a collector.

David Eng, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Pennsylvania

"Racial Reparation"

Fri Feb 20 4pm

Faculty Lounge, Bryan Hall

Symposium: Opera and Austerity

A day-long symposium, "Opera and Austerity" focuses on issues surrounding operatic staging and film, and takes place on Friday-Saturday, February 20th-21st. A public screening of scenes from three recent productions at 7pm on Friday, February 20th in the Kaleidoscope Center (Newcomb Hall, Third Floor) will be followed by a day of panel discussions on Saturday, February 21st, beginning at 9am in Old Cabell Hall Room 107. Speakers include major scholars of opera, including David Levin (Dept. of German Studies, University of Chicago) and Lydia Goehr (Dept. of Philosophy, Columbia Univ., and specialist in German aesthetic theory). Full details at: http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/music/performance/events/pressreleases/08-09/operaandausterity.html

 While in town, we also highly recommend a visit to Monticello.

Lodging during your stay:

The French Department receives a preferred rate of $74.99 (+ tax) per night from the Red Roof Inn, which is adjacent to the university (1309 Main Street West, Charlottesville). Please call them directly at (434) 295-4333, select option 4 ("guest service representative") and mention the French Department (UVA) rate and that Professor Amy Ogden at UVA referred you.

You will find a listing of other hotels in the area at  http://www.virginia.edu/placestostay.html

Several of our current students have also generously offered to host prospectives during the weekend.  If you would like to stay with a student, please contact Prof. Amy Ogden (avo2n@virginia.edu) as soon as possible.