Undergraduate Course Offerings - Fall 2009

University of Virginia

Department of French Language & Literature

Descriptions of FREN 1010, 1020, 1050, 2010, 2020, 2320, and 1000 can be found HERE.

Departmental Writing Requirements :

The following writing requirements apply to courses in which the authorized enrollments do not exceed 20 (French 3031 and 3032) or 25 (literature and civilization courses numbered higher than French 3032):

• FREN 3031 and 3032: 10-15 pages, typically divided among 4 to 5 papers. Peer editing introduced during class and practiced outside.
• 3000-level literature and civilization courses: 10-15 pages, typically divided among 2 to 4 papers. Relatively less sophisticated content than at the 4000-level. Peer editing outside of class may be offered to students as an option (or requirement).
• 4000-level literature and civilization courses: 15-20 pages, typically divided among 2 to 4 papers. Relatively more sophisticated content than at the 3000-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 3000- to 4000- level courses they will be expected to show greater sophistication in sentence structure, grammar, and use of idioms.

FREN 3031 - Intensive Grammar and Composition

Prerequisite: Completion of FREN 2020 or 2320 or exemption from FREN 2020 by the Placement Test; 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 2933 and FREN 3030.

This course offers an introduction to narrative writing in French. Emphasis is placed on writing, revision, and an intensive review of grammar rules as they apply to oral and written communication. A variety of assessment formats include compositions, presentations, short quizzes, dictations, and a mid-term and/or final exam. Preparation and active participation are essential to improve reading, writing, and speaking skills. The course is conducted in French.

FREN 3032 - The Writing and Reading of Texts

Prerequisite: French 3031. This course is a prerequisite for all undergraduate courses on a higher level except French 2933 and French 3030.

This course will prepare students for upper-level French courses by introducing them to the skills necessary to analyze literature and to express ideas in a written and oral form. Specifically, students will read literary texts from a variety of periods; they will learn to identify the elements that authors use to construct these texts; and they will learn the technical terms used to analyze poetry, prose, and theater. Grading will largely depend on the student's development of an analytical perspective on literature and on the student's ability to compose well-structured papers in correct French. The minimum writing requirement is a total of 10-15 pages for the semester, with at least one paper assignment of 5 pages. In addition, students will be expected to participate actively in order to advance their speaking skills in French. All discussion, readings, and assignments will be in French.

FREN 3030  (formerly FREN 339) - Phonetics  

This course is designed to provide students with a foundation in French phonetic theory and to teach them techniques for improving their own pronunciation.  We shall study the physical characteristics of individual French (and English) sounds (vowels, consonants and semivowels), the relationship between sounds and their written representations, rules governing the pronunciation of "standard French" (including syllabification, liaison, mute e deletion), as well as the most salient phonological features of selected regional varieties (e.g. le français méridional).  Working independently and regularly with audio recordings outside of class, or as a group with the instructor in the classroom, students will have opportunities for oral practice in the production of French sounds (in isolation, in syllabic combinations, in rhythmic groups and in phrases). Course requires much memorization and attention to details.  Basis of evaluation: 3-4 quizzes, comprehensive final exam, 'travaux pratiques' (especially transcription exercises), and daily in-class performance.  Conducted in French; counts for major credit in French and in Linguistics. 

FREN 3034 - Advanced Oral and Written Expression in French

Prerequisite: Students must have completed French 3031 and French 3032 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 3042 - Literature of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

This course will present an overview of literature from the Ancien Régime period, 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 and Molière, poems by La Fontaine and Voltaire, and other writings by the marquise de La Fayette, Pascal, and Diderot.  Prerequisite: FREN 3032.

FREN 3051 - History and Civilization of France: Revolution to 1945

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. Prerequisite: FREN 3032.

FREN 3559 - Heroes and Villains in the Middle Ages

From King Arthur and Joan of Arc to giants, monstrous women and devils masquerading as men, the medieval  period gave birth to some of the best known and most (in)famous heroes and villains of world culture. We will study romances of “knights in shining armor” and their daring damsels,  contradictory accounts of the medieval crusades in French and Arabic texts, and the exploits of fairies, martyrs and wily part beast/part human creatures. What ideals and fears do these characters embody? What do they say about society and the individual, community and the outsider? What can they teach us about modern definitions of good and bad, constructions of the “Other,” and our own societal fears? Course conducted in French. Prerequisite: FREN 3032.

FREN 3585 - French Non-Fiction: French Social Thought and the “Human Condition”

One of the great treasures of literature in French is the repertory of non-fiction prose: essays, letters, discourses, treatises, travel narratives and numerous other forms.  This course proposes a sampling of such writings from the 16th century to today.  To provide a thematic thread through the centuries, we will read mainly texts concerning society and the “human condition” in authors such as Montaigne, Descartes, Pascal, Sévigné, Rousseau, Diderot, de Staël, Tocqueville, Baudelaire, Barthes, Cixous, and Quignard.  Four papers, one oral presentation, regular participation in class discussion. Prerequisite: FREN 3032.

FREN 3585 - Literature and Culture of North Africa

La situation géographique des pays d’Afrique du Nord fait de cet ensemble un carrefour de multiples influences 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. Prerequisite: FREN 3032.

FREN 3652 - The History of Paris

This course will explore the history of Paris from the French Revolution to the present. The principal theater of the Revolution, Paris became over the course of the nineteenth century not only the central focus of French intellectual, political, and artistic life, but also the model of a nineteenth-century European city. Through a broad variety of written and visual texts, we will study the topography, architecture, politics and daily life of nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first century Paris as well as the development of the imagined city in art and literature. We will also consider how the traces of the past are inscribed on the modern urban landscape.Prerequisite: FREN 3032.

FREN 3655 - Victor Hugo:  poète, dramaturge, romancier, critique social, artiste

A literary and political giant of nineteenth-century France, Victor Hugo was by age 25 a much-admired poet whose play Hernani ushered in the Romantic revolution in theater.  A tireless social critic, Hugo argued for many causes, including educational reform and abolition of the death penalty.  When not writing novels such as  Notre-Dame de Paris and Les Misérables, he was carving out an important political career and creating drawings and paintings that influenced some Surrealist artists. 

In plunging into Hugo’s works, we will ask some big questions: What difference can a poet engagé make in society?  How do literature and art inspire us?  What is the impact of their beauty, of the emotions and new ideas they bring us, of the author’s vision?  In reading an abridged Les Misérables, Hugo’s poetry, speeches, and his play Ruy Blas—and in considering his art work and political exile—we will talk about the universality of his themes (for instance, passionate love, familial love, justice and injustice, liberty, God).  Our goals:  Appreciate his genius and literary style; Find perspectives and themes that speak to us individually; Reflect on our personal roles in society.  Course work includes discussion, essays, group work, oral presentation, and a personal research project completed over the course of the semester.  Taught in French. To sign up on the permissions list, please read the information and complete the form you will find on this web page: http://faculty.virginia.edu/marva/Hugo/permission.htm. IMPORTANT: For the log-in AND the password, type the same word: hugolien. Prerequisite: FREN 3032.

FREN 4020  (formerly FREN 428) - History of the French Language

In this course we examine some of the ways in which the French language has changed over time – from its Indo-European origins to the present day -- with respect to pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary, grammar, meaning, discourse, and the like.  Social, cultural, political, environmental, as well as purely linguistic, factors that have played some part in language change will also be considered.  

Our approach will be non-traditional and somewhat novel.  We begin with an inventory of penetrating questions, for example:   Why did “nos ancêtres les Gaulois” ‘bequeath’ so few of their words to the French lexicon?  Why do we call French a Romance language?  Why do the French use the vigesimal “quatre-vingts-dix” instead of the decimal “nonante”?  Why is the plural of ‘cheval’  ‘chevaux  (and cf. ‘animal ~ animaux,  bail ~ baux’; but  ‘vache ~ vaches’, 'pied ~pieds', 'femmes' ~ 'femmes', etc.)?  What can ‘non-standard’ utterances like “t’as pas dix balles?” tell us about language change —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.  Required text: Michèle Perret, Introduction à l' histoire de la langue française (2008) .  Assignments will include:  daily active class participation; two exams; and a linguistics project.   Course conducted in French; counts for major credit in French and in Linguistics.

Prerequisites: FREN 3030 + good reading, writing and speaking ability in French.

FREN 4031 - Grammaire et style

Prerequesite: B+ average in Fren 3031 and Fren 3032.

In this grammar review course, students are expected to learn how best to structure the French language and how to express themselves with concision and clarity.  Taught in French. 

Fren 4582: Advanced Topics in French Poetry: Baudelaire et la modernité

Nous lirons Les fleurs du mal et d'autres écrits en prose de Baudelaire.  Nous explorerons ce qui est "moderne" dans la modernité de Baudelaire, et, d'une façon plus générale, nous nous intéresserons à la nature et au pouvoir du langage poétique ainsi qu'à la relation entre la poésie et la réalité/ la vie.  Prérequisite: One 400-level French literature, culture, or film course.

FREN 4743 - 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, A. Sissako on a variety of subjects relative to the image of Africa in cinema. The final grade will be based on one mid-semester paper (select a film by an African filmmaker and provide a sequential reconstruction of the story based on the methods of P. S. Vieyra and of F. Boughédir (30%), a final paper (7-10 pages, 50%), an oral presentation and contributions to discussions (20%). Each oral presentation should contribute to the mid-semester paper and to the final research paper. The final paper should be analytical, well documented and written in clear, grammatical French using correct film terminology supplied with this description. Prerequisite: FREN 3032 and FREN 3584 or another 3000-level literature, culture, or film course in French.

FREN 4813 - Introduction to the Francophone Caribbean (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti)

This course focuses on the literature, culture and arts of the Francophone Caribbean (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti). Issues of colonialism and postcolonialism, slavery and freedom, exile and immigration, race and gender will be examined through poetry, novels, storytelling, theater, music and film analysis. Prerequisite: FREN 3032 and another 3000-level literature, culture, or film course in French.

Students who have completed two 4000-level FREN courses with a final grade of B+ or better may register for 5000-level FREN courses with instructor permission.

Graduate courses can be found HERE.