Intermediate Courses - Course Descriptions
The following course descriptions are from current college catalogue.
II. Intermediate
205a. Intermediate French I (1)
Basic grammar and vocabulary acquisition. Oral and written practice using short texts, audiovisual and on-line resources. Enrollment limited by class. The department.
Prerequisite: Two years of French in high school. French 105-106 by permission of the instructor. Not open to students who have taken a course at or above the 206 level.
Three 50-minute or two 75-minute periods; one hour of scheduled oral practice.
206a and b. Intermediate French II (1)
Emphasis on more complex linguistic structures. Reading, writing, and speaking skills are developed through discussion of cultural and literary texts and use of audiovisual material. The course prepares students linguistically for cultural and literary study at the intermediate level. The department.
Enrollments limited by class.
Prerequisite: French 106, French 205 or three years of French in high school. Not open to students who have taken a course at or above the 212/213 level.
Three 50-minute or two 75-minute periods; one hour of scheduled oral practice.
212a and b. Reading French Literature and Film (1)
Introduction to the analysis of literature and film and to basic modes of interpretation through the study and discussion of short texts (poems, short stories, films, plays, essays). The department.
Prerequisite: French 206 or four years of French in high school.
213a and b. Media and Society (1)
An introductory study of France through current newspapers, magazines, television programs, films and the web. The department.
Prerequisite: French 206 or four years of French in high school.
228a. Tellers and Tales (1)
Study of narrative fiction using short stories taken from several periods of French literature.
Prerequisite: another 200-level course above French 206 or equivalent.
230a. Medieval and Early Modern Times (1)
Studies in French literature, history, and culture from the Medieval to the Classical period.
Topic for 2009/10: The Politics of Seduction. Introduction to the literature and culture of France, with a special focus on woman as subject and object of desire. Readings include Tristan et Iseut, the love poetry of Pierre de Ronsard and Louise Labé, La Princesse de Clèves, a story of illicit passion by France's first prominent female novelist, and classical theater's greatest masterpieces of love and deception authored by Corneille, Racine, and Molière. The course concludes with Denis Diderot's daring and celebrated narrative, La Religieuse, about a young woman's struggle for emancipation in pre-Revolutionary France. Ms. Kerr.
231b. Revolutionary France and Its Legacies (1)
Studies in French literature, history, and culture in relation to the French Revolution during the Enlightenment and the Romantic period.
Topic for 2009/10: Philosophical Fictions. Ever since Plato banished the poets from the Republic for creating fallacious representations of truth, there has been tension between philosophy and literature. This, however, does not mean that the two practices go forever their separate ways. Focusing on the period from the Enlightenment to 1848, this course examines how the French literary imagination provides a litmus test for abstract realities and disconnected "truths," developing philosophical concepts in a fictional context. The ideas we explore include Materialism, Stoicism, Utopianism, Libertinage and the transformations of aesthetic theory in fictional works of authors ranging from Voltaire, Diderot, Laclos and Beaumarchais to Chateaubriand and Stendhal. Analyzing the search for the perfect society, the mechanical force of passions, the beauty of imperfection, the lust of unfaithful lovers, and the unquenchable thirst for glory, we trace in the years immediately leading up to and following the French Revolution how authors explore truths through the optic of fiction. Mr. Parker.
Prerequisite: another 200-level course above French 206 or the equivalent.
[ 232b. The Modern Age ] (1)
The course explores literary, artistic, social, or political manifestations of modern French society and its relation to the French-speaking world from the Napoleonic Empire to the present.
Prerequisite: another 200-level course above French 206 or equivalent.
Not offered in 2009/10.
235a. Contemporary France (1)
This course offers a study of French society as it has been shaped by the major historical and cultural events since WWII. The main themes include Vichy France, de Gaulle's regime, the wars of French decolonization, the Mitterrand years, immigration, and the religious issues facing France today. The course draws on a variety of texts and documents including articles from the press and movies. Mr. Swamy.
Prerequisite: another 200-level course above French 206 or equivalent.
240a. Study of French Grammar (1)
In-depth study of major aspects of French grammar. Grammar exercises, compositions, and oral practice. Ms. Cardonne-Arlyck.
Prerequisite: another 200-level course above French 206 or equivalent.
241b. Composition and Conversation (1)
A course designed to improve written and oral expression, through the study and practice of various forms of writing, and the discussion of readings on contemporary issues. Enrollment limited by class. Mr. Andrews.
Prerequisite: another 200-level course above French 206 or equivalent.
242b. Studies in Genre I (1)
Study of narrative and prose forms including the novel, autobiography, and the essay.
Topic for 2009/10: Le Merveilleux. This course examines the fantastic tradition in French short fiction from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century fairy tales to twentieth-century surrealist and magical realist short fiction. From its origins in folklore and fairy tales, the fantastic flourished after the terror of the guillotine, which ushered in a new fascination for the macabre and took on deepening psychological dimensions over the course of the nineteenth century. We investigate further instances of the uncanny in early twentieth-century Surrealist fiction. Finally, in more contemporary literature we contemplate to what extent different cultural contexts and historical moments present unique practices of the literary supernatural. Authors may include: Perrault, Villeneuve, D'Aulnoy, Nodier, Gautier, Dumas, Mérimée, Verne, Villiers, Maupassant, Breton, Depestre. Ms. Hiner.
Prerequisite: another 200-level course above French 206 or equivalent.
[ 243a. Studies in Genre II ] (1)
Study of dramatic and lyric forms including theater, poetry, and song.
Prerequisite: another 200-level course above French 206 or equivalent.
Not offered in 2009/10.
[ 244a. French Cinema ] (1)
Since WWI, French cinema has defined itself as national: not only as an industry requiring protection, but as a cultural institution bearing French identity. Through the study of individual films ranging from the silent era to the present, we examine the interaction between the French and their cinema in terms of historical circumstances, economic constraints, aesthetic ambitions, and self-representation.
Prerequisite: another 200-level course above French 206 or equivalent.
Two 75-minute periods plus evening film screenings.
Not offered in 2009/10.
[ 246b. French-Speaking Cultures and Literatures of Africa and the Caribbean ] (1)
Prerequisite: another 200-level course above French 206 or equivalent.
Not offered in 2009/10.
287b. Crime Stories in French Cinema (1)
From Louis Feuillade's Les Vampires (1917) to Guillaume Canet's Ne le dis à personne (2008) crime has thrived in French cinema. It governs several overlapping genres, particularly "film policier" and film noir. Both genres are rooted in the French tradition (Feuillade's heroes were masters of crime, "Poetic Realism" in the thirties had many "noir" characteristics), even though they have since been indebted to American crime novels and films. In this course, we focus on the historical development of the French "film policier", with an eye to its connections with Hollywood cinema and an emphasis on contemporary films. We observe how recurrent moral or philosophical dichotomies, such as solidarity and betrayal, control and chance, move the story. We also consider transformations in stock characters (criminal, "flic", femme fatale), as well as in urban or suburban settings, and discuss their connections to political contexts and social changes. Readings in film history, criticism, and aesthetics. No prior knowledge of film is necessary. Ms. Cardonne-Arlyck.
Prerequisite: Another 200-level course above French 206 or equivalent.
298a or b. Independent Work (1/2 or 1)
One unit of credit given only in exceptional cases and by permission of the chair. The department.