Undergraduate Course Offerings - Fall 2008

University of Virginia

Department of French Language & Literature

Descriptions of FREN 101, 102, 105, 201, 202, 232, and 101G can be found HERE.

Departmental Writing Requirements :

The following writing requirements apply to courses in which the authorized enrollments do not exceed 20 (French 331 and 332) or 25 (literature and civilization courses numbered higher than French 332):

• FREN 331 and 332: 10-15 pages, typically divided among 4 to 5 papers. Peer editing introduced during class and practiced outside.
• 300-level literature and civilization courses: 10-15 pages, typically divided among 2 to 4 papers. Relatively less sophisticated content than at the 400-level. Peer editing outside of class may be offered to students as an option (or requirement).
• 400-level literature and civilization courses: 15-20 pages, typically divided among 2 to 4 papers. Relatively more sophisticated content than at the 300-level. Peer editing outside of class may be offered to students as an option (or requirement).
• In all courses the quality of written French (that is, accurate use of grammar and vocabulary) is an important factor in grading. Command of the language affects how understandable, persuasive, and impressive writing is. As students move from 300- to 400- level courses they will be expected to show greater sophistication in sentence structure, grammar, and use of idioms.

FREN 331 - Intensive Grammar

Prerequisite: Exemption from FREN 201 & 202; or a score of 3 on the AP French language exam; or a score of at least 660 on the SAT. Required as preparation for all subsequent courses except FREN 333 and FREN 339.

This course offers an intensive review of grammar rules and their application to oral and written communication. Short readings in French will provide a context for discussion, writing, and grammar practice. Students will be graded on short quizzes, dictations, compositions, a mid-term, and a final exam. The course is conducted in French.

FREN 332 - The Writing and Reading of Texts

Prerequisite: French 331. This course is a prerequisite for all undergraduate courses on a higher level except French 333 and French 339.

Ce cours est une introduction à la lecture critique et à l'analyse de textes. Il est à la fois un atelier d'écriture intensive, car le travail de lecture attentive sera accompagné de courts essais de deux à trois pages visant à interpréter les textes. Pour cela, on devra acquérir un minimum de vocabulaire technique spécifique à chaque genre littéraire (qu'il s'agisse de textes de prose, de poésie ou de théâtre) et un lexique analytique générique. Bien entendu, la qualité du français écrit et parlé sera une composante importante de l'évaluation du travail : il convient donc de continuer de prendre la grammaire très au sérieux.

FREN 334 - Advanced Oral and Written Expression in French

Prerequisite: Students must have completed French 331 and French 332 or their equivalent. Counts for major/minor credit.

An intensive course designed to improve more advanced students' oral and written language skills. Assignments include discussion on topics of current interest, presentations, translations, and compositions. All materials are French- or Francophone-related. The course focuses on language development in a Francophone cultural context, so students can get familiar with French and Francophone cultures and comfortable in expressing their viewpoints in French. Of course, consistent attendance and active participation are essential.

FREN 341 - Medieval and Renaissance Literature

Prerequisite: French 332

The French Middle Ages and Renaissance, a period covering over 500 years, may seem like a faraway world of knights and crusaders, castles and intrigues.   Yet, books from those centuries between 1050 and 1600 shaped ideals, tastes and cultural icons that still prevail today. From video games to science fiction, Nostradamus to “Shakespeare in Love,” modern culture betrays its fascination with that distant past.   In this course you will go beyond anachronism and get to know the real thing.   We will read in modern French La Chanson de Roland, the founding epic of la douce France ; Yvain ou le chevalier au lion, an Arthurian romance; some lais of Marie de France, the first woman storyteller in France; excerpts from Christine de Pizan’s utopian vision, La Cite des Dames and from Rabelais’s Gargantua, a fantastic tale of giants in Utopia.  We will close with selections from Montaigne’s Essais, where the author reflects on the New World of America and the equally novel territory of the self.   Three short papers totaling 10-12 pages, a mid-term and a final.

FREN 342 - Literature of the 17th & 18th Century

Prerequisite: French 332

This course will present an overview of literature from the period of the Ancien Régime, most commonly associated with the reigns of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette. Sometimes rebelling against church and state, sometimes flattering these institutions, the writers of this period sought above all to show the workings of human nature. In elegant and witty language, they explored the many possible outcomes that arose from conflicts between love, hypocrisy, family, vanity, and religion, among other factors. Readings for this course will include plays by Corneille, Molière, and Marivaux, poems by La Fontaine and Voltaire, and other writings by the marquise de La Fayette, Pascal, and Diderot. 

FREN 343 - Literature of the 19th & 20th Centuries: « Passion disorders »

Prerequisite: French 332

A survey of major literary works from the 19th and 20th centuries, this course will explore multiple representations of passion disorders, and more specifically of jealousy, in modern works of prose, poetry, theater, and film. What are the causes and effects of jealousy on a love relationship? From the suffering of a desperate lover to a the ridiculous behavior of a hysterical jealous husband, from desire to hatred, this course will examine the various psychological and physiological manifestations of jealousy on men and women, while focusing on the stylistic features of passion disorders.

Required work to include : active participation in class, regular response paper (1-2 pages), an oral presentation, 2 longer papers (4-5 pages) and a final project.

May include literary works by Stendhal, Proust, Cohen, Robbe-Grillet, Annie Ernaux, Claudel, Marie Chauvet, film by Carné and theoretical texts by Freud, René Girard, and Barthes.

FREN 344 - Topics in French Cinema

Prerequisite: French 332

This course explores the development of French cinema from the silent era to the present, including early experimental film, the Golden Age and the Occupation, the New Wave, colonial cinema, and recent French cinema. Students will be expected to acquire a working knowledge of film vocabulary in French and to include film clips in their analytical papers, which will be displayed on the web.

FREN 339 - Phonetics

Prerequisite: French 332

FREN 348 – Literature & Culture of North Africa                                                                        

Prerequisite: French 332

La situation géographique des pays d’Afrique du Nord fait de cet ensemble un carrefour d’influences diverses depuis l’antiquité. Bordé au sud par le Sahara, à l’ouest par l’océan atlantique, au nord par la mer méditerranée, il est rattaché  à l’Asie à son extrémité nord-est par l’isthme de Suez.

Les cultures et populations nord-africaines reflètent cette diversité d’influences qui n’ont jamais cessé de les irriguer depuis les premières invasions à la colonisation et jusqu’aux effets récents de la mondialisation.

Nous aborderons les cultures de l’Afrique du Nord à travers des œuvres littéraires francophones qui nous mèneront de l’Egypte au Maroc, de l’histoire coloniale aux données actuelles, des religions à l’art.

Books TBA

FREN 351 – History & Civilization: Revolution to 1945                                                                          

Prerequisite: French 332

Beginning with a study of the French Revolution, this course focuses on
the cultural and historical influences which have shaped Modern France.
We will explore the relationship between culture and political power,
the changing role of government, and how ordinary men and women experienced
social change. Readings will be drawn from primary documents, memoirs
and secondary historical texts. Visual elements will be incorporated in this
course through the use of electronic classroom, the World Wide Web and
selected films. Readings in this course will be done in both French and
English. All lectures, discussions and writing will be done exclusively
in French.

FREN 357 – French Comedy

An examination of the comic in French literature from the Middle Ages to the present. We will analyze universals of the comic tradition, the role of laughter, stock characters, and recurrent techniques in texts drawn primarily but not exclusively from dramatic literature, all studied within the historical and social context. Readings will include works by Rabelais, Moliere, Voltaire, Beaumarchais, Jarry, Beckett and Ionesco.
Two papers, a mid-term and final exam.

FREN 404 - Topics in 18th Century Literature: The Enlightenment / Les Lumières

Prerequisite: FREN 332, and at least one other course in the 340-level sequence

One of the most important movements in Western intellectual history, the Enlightenment, laid the foundations for our current conceptions of democratic government, religious toleration, freedom of speech, and the scientific method, among other things. Its proponents defied the king and the church in order to bring their countries into a new era and, inadvertently, to spark the French and American Revolutions. The readings for this course will focus largely on works by French authors, but they will also feature texts from the British and American Enlightenment. The authors in question will include Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, John Locke, and Thomas Jefferson. We will particularly focus on strategies, such as humor and fiction, used by the authors in order to hide their provocative ideas from government censors.

FREN 411 - Francophone Literature of Africa        

Introduction to the Francophone literature of Africa; survey, with special emphasis on post- World War II poets, novelists, and playwrights of Africa. The role of cultural and literary reviews (Légitime Défense, L'Etudiant noir, and Présence Africaine) in the historical and ideological development of this literature will be examined. Special reference will be made to Caribbean writers of the Negritude movement. Documentary videos on African history and cultures will be shown and important audio-tapes will also be played regularly. Supplementary texts will be assigned occasionally.

In addition to the required reading material, 2 essays (60%), regular class attendance, and contribution to discussions (10%), and a final exam (30%) constitute the course requirements. Papers are due on the dates indicated on the syllabus.
 
Required reading
Diop, Birago. Les Contes d’Amadou Koumba .
Chevrier, J.  Anthologie Africaine: Poésie.

Fatou Diome. La Préférence nationale
Assia Djebar. Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement ( See Toolkit).
Boudjédra, Rachid. L'Escargot entêté.

FREN 430 – Grammaire et Style

FREN 443– Africa in Cinema

This course is a study of the representation of Africa in American, Western European and African films. It deals with the representations of African cultures by filmmakers from different cultural backgrounds and studies the ways in which their perspectives on Africa are often informed by their own social and ideological positions as well as the demands of exoticism. It also examines the constructions of the African as the other and the kinds of responses such constructions have elicited from Africa’s filmmakers. These filmic inventions are analyzed through a selection of French, British, American, and African films by such directors as John Huston, S. Pollack, J-J Annaud, M. Radford, Ngangura Mweze, Jean-Pierre Bekolo, Souleymane Cisse, Gaston Kabore, Amadou Seck, Dani Kouyate, Brian Tilley, Jean-Marie Teno on a variety of subjects relative to the image of Africa in cinema.

FREN 445 - Advanced Cultural Studies

Students who have completed two 400-level FREN courses with a final grade of B+ or better may register for 500-level FREN courses with instructor permission.

Graduate courses can be found HERE.