French and Francophone Studies

FREN UN1101 ELEMENTARY FRENCH I. 4.00 points.

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency

FREN UN1102 ELEMENTARY FRENCH II. 4.00 points.

The aim of the beginning French sequence (French 1101 and French 1102) is to help you to develop an active command of the language. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--within a cultural context, in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency

FREN UN1105 ACCELERATED ELEM FRENCH. 8.00 points.

Prerequisites: The instructor's permission
Prerequisites: The instructor's permission This course covers in one semester the material normally presented in Elementary French I and II. This course is especially recommended for students who already know another Romance language

FREN UN2101 INTERMEDIATE FRENCH I. 4.00 points.

This course will further your awareness and understanding of the French language, culture and literature, provide a comprehensive review of fundamental grammar points while introducing more advanced ones, as well as improve your mastery of oral, reading, and writing skills. By the end of the course, you will be able to read short to medium-length literary and non-literary texts, and analyze and comment on varied documents and topics, both orally and in writing

FREN UN2102 INTERMEDIATE FRENCH II. 4.00 points.

Enrollment limited to 20.

Prerequisites: FREN UN2121 Intermediate Conversation is a suggested, not required, corequisite
Prerequisites: FREN UN2121 Intermediate Conversation is a suggested, not required, corequisite Prepares students for advanced French language and culture. Develops skills in speaking, reading, and writing French. Emphasizes cross-cultural awareness through the study of short stories, films, and passages from novels. Fosters the ability to write about and discuss a variety of topics using relatively complex structures

FREN UN2121 INTERMED CONVERSATN FRENCH I. 2.00 points.

We will be working on pronunciation, vocabulary acquisition, listening comprehension, and oral expression. Activities will include listening comprehension exercises, skits, debates, and oral presentations, as well as discussions of films, songs, short films, plays, news, articles, short stories or other short written documents. Although grammar will not be the focus of the course, some exercises will occasionally aim at reviewing particular points. The themes and topics covered will be chosen according to students’ interests

FREN UN2122 INTERMED CONVERSATN FRENCH II. 2.00 points.

We will be working on pronunciation, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and oral expression. Activities will include listening comprehension exercises, skits, debates, and oral presentations, as well as discussions of films, songs, short films, news, articles, short stories or other short written documents. Although grammar will not be the focus of the course, some exercises will occasionally aim at reviewing particular points

FREN UN2106 RAPID READING AND TRANSLATION. 3.00 points.

The course focuses on reading comprehension and translation into English and includes a grammar and vocabulary overview. It also addresses the differences between English and French syntax and raises questions of idiomatic versus literal translations

FREN UN3131 THIRD-YEAR CONVERSATION FR I. 2.00 points.

Prerequisites: completion of the language requirement in French or the equivalent. Conversation on contemporary French subjects based on readings in current popular French periodicals

FREN UN3240 FREN LANG,SOC,CULTRE THRU FILM. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: FREN UN2102
Prerequisites: FREN UN2102 French socio-political issues and language through the prism of film. Especially designed for non-majors wishing to further develop their French language skills and learn about French culture. Each module includes assignments targeting the four language competencies: reading, writing, speaking and oral comprehension, as well as cultural understanding

FREN UN3241 FRENCH LANGUAGE THRU THEATER. 3.00 points.

The course is taught in French and focuses on learning the French language via the study of theatre (through plays, scenes, theories, lecture/workshops by guests, as well as performing a series of activities). The course offers students the opportunity to have a better grasp of the variety of French theatres within the culture; and to perform the language through the body and mind. Its goal is to both introduce students to theatre and to explore how it challenges us physically and emotionally, as well as in intellectual, moral, and aesthetic ways. No previous acting experience is necessary but a desire to “get up and move” and possibly even go see plays as a class project is encouraged

FREN UN3405 Read, Think, Write in French. 3.00 points.

Enrollment limited to 15.

Prerequisites: FREN UN3405 must be taken before FREN UN3333/4 unless the student has an AP score of 5 or the director of undergraduate studies' permission.
UN3405 enables students to hone and perfect their reading and writing skills while improving their ability to express and organize thoughts in French. In this engaging advanced language class, students are exposed to major texts in fields as diverse as journalism, sociology, anthropology, politics, literature, philosophy and history. Stimulating class discussions, targeted reviews of key grammatical points in context, and an array of diverse writing exercises all contribute to strengthen students’ mastery of the French language. This course also works as a bridge class between Intermediate French II and courses that focus on French and Francophone cultures, history and literature (such as 3409 and 3410). Students who take this class will be fully prepared to take advanced content classes or spend a semester in a Francophone country. This class is required for the French major and minor

FREN UN3242 FREN LANG,SOC,CULTRE THRU PARIS. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: 2 years of college French
Prerequisites: 2 years of college French Paris may be referred to as the capital of modernity, as the city of romance and pleasure, as the center of social and political powers, or as a privileged stage for crises and revolutions. Analyzing and researching the meanings of these diverse representations would expose students to key aspects of French and Francophone political, social, and cultural history. This is a proposal for a course intended for students who, having completed their language requirement in French, would like to better their knowledge of French language and society. It would offer students the opportunity to study representations of Paris over the centuries as a way to practice writing, reading, and conversation in French and as a way to deepen their understanding of French and Francophone cultures. Materials for the course would include major literary texts as well as paintings, movies and popular songs, but also museum websites, local newspapers and local ads, brochures from retail and food malls, restaurant menus, postcards... such variety can be utilitarian and intellectually compelling at the same time. It would allow students not only to study language registers and vocabulary contextualization but also work on finding patterns and making connections

FREN UN3244 FRENCH THRU CURRENT EVENTS. 3.00 points.

The course will offer students an understanding of fundamental underlying concepts that structure French society and that are necessary to grasp if one wants to follow current events in France. This course could be of interest not only to CC students but also to students enrolled at SIPA or Teacher’s College. Moreover, this course would allow for a comparative approach to how same events are covered in US, or other foreign media, and in France. Given that this course will deal with current events, the readings will depend entirely on how the news unfolds. Students will be given an introduction to the various media outlets available to them: the press, television and online sources. As the course unfolds, I will adapt the choice of sources that best follow events as they happen. 2022 for example, will be the year France assumes the presidency of the European Union. It will also be the year of the presidential elections. For such events, I will propose specific institutional sources. On the other hand, events that could not be anticipated will require some form of guidance in terms of sources. In spite of the obvious unpredictability of the specific content of this course, certain key concepts necessary to understand current events in France will be presented. These may vary slightly from one semester to another, but would include, without being limited to: the structure of government and public institutions, political parties, unions and “associations”, social benefits and “the welfare state”, public vs. private sector, “Paris is France”, universalism, secularism and “laïcité”, cultural exceptionalism, the figure of the intellectual, national identity, immigration, geography of France and demographics, relation to Europe, geopolitics, globalization and sovereignty. Of course, the choice of themes and concepts in a given semester would be influenced by dominant topics in the French news

FREN UN3243 Lang. Culture, Society: La culture pop. 3.00 points.

The host of the daily radio show ​Popopop​ on the public radio ​France Inter​ routinely introduces his guests by asking them “what is pop culture?”/“qu’est ce que la culture pop?” The answers are at least as diverse as the guests’ cultural, social, and generational backgrounds. Keeping the complexity and variety of the possible answers to this question in mind, students in this class will be introduced to French pop culture or ​La culture pop française​ both in its specificity and in contrast to ​American pop culture​. In this French language class, critical thinking applied to mass media such as music, movies, ads, and newspapers, as well as literature ranging from ​les BD (comics and graphic novels) to ​les polars (detective fiction),​ ​and as well as to Social Media (blogs, podcasts, influencers, etc.)​ w​ ill enable students to better grasp some of the forces shaping culture in French society, equipping them with knowledge and concepts that are helpful to understanding dominant cultural trends and their impact on contemporary French Society. Exposing students to such a wide variety of materials will be ​intellectually compelling and will also expose them to a variety of language registers

FREN UN3503 Enlightenment/Counter-Enlightenment. 3 points.

Prerequisites: completion of FREN UN3333 or UN3334 and UN3405, or the director of undergraduate studies' permission.

Taking modern definitions and critiques of Enlightenment as its starting point, this course will look at how the Enlightenment defined itself as a philosophical, cultural and literary movement, practiced self-criticism from within, and responded to dissension and critique from without. Authors will include Adorno, Horkheimer, Foucault and Israel for the modern critical context, and Voltaire, Diderot, Buffon, Rousseau, Sade and Kant for the eighteenth century material. The course will be given in French, but non-majors may write papers in English. This course fulfills the French Major requirement for a course on literature before 1800.

FREN W3515 Writing the Self Workshop. 3 points.

Corequisites: FREN W3333-FREN W3334 or equivalent, or the director of undergraduate studies' permission.

In this course, we will read works spanning the history of French literature from the Renaissance to the present in which the problem of writing the self is posed. We will also engage in various writing exercises (pastiche, translation, personal narrative) and discuss the works on the syllabus in conjunction with our own attempts to write the self. Authors will include Montaigne, Rousseau, Roland, Sand, Colette, Barthes, Modiano, and NDiaye. This course fulfills the pre-1800 requirement.

FREN UN3517 Montaigne, Descartes, Pascal. 3 points.

Prerequisites: FREN UN3333-UN3334 or the director of undergraduate studies' or the instructor's permission.

A study of Montaigne’s Essais and their rewriting by Descartes and Pascal, with a focus on the nature of intellectual and aesthetic innovation in a humanist context.

FREN UN3600 INTRO TO FRENCH CIVILIZATION. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: FREN UN3333 or UN3334 and UN3405, or the director of undergraduate studies' permission.
Prerequisites: FREN UN3333 or UN3334 and UN3405, or the director of undergraduate studies permission. Based on readings of short historical sources, the course will provide an overview of French political and cultural history since 1700

FREN W3666 Moliere. 3 points.

Prerequisites: completion of FREN W3333 or W3334 and W3405, or the director of undergraduate studies' permission.

Study of Molière's major plays, including Tartuffe, Dom Juan, and Le Misanthrope, focusing on key concepts such as naturalness and convention, value and exchange, and the relationship between ethics and comedy. Special attention will be paid to the connections between critical approaches of the text and the various ways in which the plays can be staged.

FREN W3714 1914-2014 : un siecle de litteratures en francais. 3 points.

Not offered during 2023-2024 academic year.

Prerequisites: completion of FREN W3333 or W3334 and W3405, or the director of undergraduate studies' permission.

This class is intended as a survey course on French literatures in the past 100 years. It will consider all major moments and movements of literature in French in the 20th century (surrealism, existentialism, negritude, Nouveau Roman...) until and including some of the most remarkable literary creations of the early 21st century. The course is taught in French and the readings will be in French.

FREN W3766 Transcribing/Writing Tales in Africa. 3 points.

Not offered during 2023-2024 academic year.

Prerequisites: FREN W3333-FREN W3334 or the director of undergraduate studies' or the instructor's permission. The students are required to be able to read and discuss tales in French.

Transcribing, adapting, rewriting, reinventing in the French language African oral tales is an important literary genre in African francophone literature. The works of authors such as Amadou Hampâté Bâ from Mali, Bernard Dadié from Côte d'Ivoire and Birago Diop from Senegal are among the classics of that genre. The course is a study of a certain number of "tales" written with talent and humor by Bâ, Dadié and Diop; they are from the following books: Il n' y a pas de petite querelle (Bâ), Le pagne noir (Dadié), Les contes d'Amadou Koumba, and Les nouveaux contes d'Amadou Koumba (Diop). This course is intended primarily for undergraduate students interested in French and in Francophone Studies majors, concentrators, and those who speak French and want to study an important aspect of literature in French.

FREN W3726 Sex, Class and Shame in 20th-21th Century French Literature. 3 points.

Prerequisites: Prerequisites: completion of FREN W3333 or W3334 and W3405, or the director of undergraduate studies' permission.

The second half of the twentieth century in France saw a sudden explosion of literary works examining, with unprecedented explicitness, sexuality and social class and the relations between them. This course will provide an introduction to the literature of sexual and social abjection, beginning with Genet and Violette Leduc and including works by Annie Ernaux, Christine Angot, Virginie Despentes, and Edouard Louis. We will also consider relevant sociological writings by Bourdieu, Eribon, and Goffman. Readings and discussion will be in French.

CLFR UN3830 French Film. 3 points.

A study of landmarks of French cinema from its origins to the 1970s. We will pay particular attention to the relation between cinema and social and political events in France. We will study films by Jean Vigo, Jean Renoir, Rene Clair, Alain Resnais, Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. In English.

FREN UN3409 INTRO TO FRENCH ＆ FRANCOPHONE HISTORY. 3.00 points.

This class provides an introduction to the history of France and of the francophone world since the Middle Ages. It initiates students to the major events and themes that have shaped politics, society, and culture in France and its former colonies, paying special attention to questions of identity and diversity in a national and imperial context. Modules include a combination of lecture and seminar-style discussion of documents (in French). This course is part of a two-course sequence and is a core requirement the French and Francophone Studies major

FREN UN3410 Intro French ＆ Francophone Literature. 3.00 points.

This class offers a survey of major works of French and francophone literature from the Middle Ages to the present. Emphasis will be placed on formal and stylistic elements of the works read and on developing the critical skills necessary for literary analysis. Works will be placed in their historical context

FREN UN3995 SENIOR SEMINAR. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: completion of either FREN UN3333-FREN UN3334 or FREN UN3420-FREN UN3421, and FREN UN3405, or the director of undergraduate studies' or the instructor's permission.
Prerequisites: completion of either FREN UN3333-FREN UN3334 or FREN UN3420-FREN UN3421, and FREN UN3405, or the director of undergraduate studies' or the instructor's permission. Required of all French and French ＆ Francophone Studies majors. Usually taken by majors during the fall term of their senior year. Critical discussion of a few major literary works along with some classic commentaries on those works. Students critically assess and practice diverse methods of literary analysis

FREN UN3996 SENIOR TUTORIAL IN LITERATURE. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: the director of undergraduate studies permission. Required for majors wishing to be considered for departmental honors. This course may also be taken at Reid Hall. Recommended for seniors majoring or concentrating in French and open to other qualified students. Preparation of a senior essay. In consultation with a staff member designated by the director of undergraduate studies, the student develops a topic withing the areas of French language, literature, or intellectual history