ELEMENTARY FRENCH I

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.

• MWR 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• MTWR 10:10 a.m.-11:15 a.m.
• MTWR 11:40 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
• MTWR 1:10 p.m.-2:15 p.m.
• TRF 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• TRF 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• 4 points

ELEMENTARY FRENCH II

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.

• MTWR 8:50 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• MTWR 1:10 p.m.-2:15 p.m.
• TRF 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• MWR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• MWR 6:10 p.m.-7:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Pascale Crepon
  CULPA: 10 Info
• Instructor: Eric T Matheis
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH I

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.

• MTWR 11:10 a.m.-noon
• MTWR 12:10 p.m.-1 p.m.
• TRF 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• TRF 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Rachel Watson
  Info
• 4 points

INTERMEDIATE FRENCH II

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.

• TRF 8:40 a.m.-9:55 a.m.
• TRF 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• TRF 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• MTWR 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
• TRF 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• MWR 6:10 p.m.-7:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Alexandra Borer
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 4 points

RAPID READING AND TRANSLATION

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.

• TR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• 3 points

INTERMED CONVERSATN FRENCH I

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.

• MW 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Eleanor L Grabowski
  Info
• 2 points

INTERMED CONVERSATN FRENCH II

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.

• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Antoine Circuns
  Info
• 2 points

THIRD-YEAR CONVERSATION FR II

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

• MW 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Samuel Skippon
  CULPA: 13 Info
• 2 points

ADVANCED TRANSLATION WORKSHOP

• TR 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Sophie Queuniet
  CULPA: 7 Info
• 3 points

FRENCH THRU CURRENT EVENTS

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.

• MW 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Samuel Skippon
  CULPA: 13 Info
• 3 points

Read, Think, Write in French

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.

• MW 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Pascale Crepon
  CULPA: 10 Info
• Instructor: Alexandra Borer
  CULPA: 4 Info
• 3 points

INTRO TO FRENCH & FRANCOPHONE HISTORY

INTRO FREN FRANCOPHONE HI

Who were the Gauls and when was Paris the "capital of modernity"? What caused the French and Haitian Revolutions? Why do the French care so much about religion, nation, empire or, for that matter, food and fashion? This class surveys the history of France and the Francophone world from the Middle Ages to the present. It provides an introduction to major events and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions of people in France and across the world, in its former colonies. From feudalism and absolutism to imperialism, capitalism, and republicanism, we explore how questions of identity and difference play out in politics, culture and society. The class is based in lecture and discussion and relies on close readings of primary sources. The course is taught entirely in French and is one of two core courses for the major and minor in French. Students are encouraged to take FREN 3405 prior to this course.

• TR 4:10 p.m.-5:25 p.m.
• Instructor: Eleanor L Grabowski
  Info
• 3 points

Intro French & Francophone Literature

Intro French Francophone

This class offers students an introduction to major works that have marked the history of literature in French from the Middle Ages to the present. Our focus will be on close reading and discussion, but works will also be placed in historical context. We will look at a variety of literary genres (sonnet, short story, comedy, autobiography, narrative poetry, novel), and our readings will be complemented by visual materials such as paintings and films. The course is taught entirely in French and is one of two core courses for the major and minor in French. Students are encouraged to take FREN 3405 prior to this course.

• TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Aubrey A Gabel
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

Contemporary French and Francophone Lite

US Goncourt Prize Selecti

This contemporary French and Francophone literature course designed for undergraduate students is part of the “
Choix Goncourt USA
” (US Goncourt Prize Selection), an initiative led by the Goncourt Academy in France and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy (Villa Albertine) in the United States.

The course provides students with the unique opportunity to read the latest French contemporary fiction through the lens of critical literary tools, to experience being part of a selecting literary committee, to interview outstanding contemporary writers, and to practice writing book reviews, in addition to the more traditional essays and close readings. This course is entirely conducted in French (readings, discussions, and writing).

• TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
• Instructor: Laurence Marie
  CULPA: 3 Info
• 3 points

Writing Desire: Sex and Sexual Politics

This seminar examines how French and francophone writers have given form to desire in novels, memoirs, poetry, polemic, and film from the nineteenth century to the present. French writing has been uniquely preoccupied with sexuality, its representation, its regulation, and the scandal that erupts when private life becomes public text. Flaubert was prosecuted for
Madame Bovary
, Colette scandalized and seduced in equal measure, and Duras made the novel a repository of erotic memory. In the twenty-first century, writers such as Édouard Louis, Abdellah Taïa, and Vanessa Springora have turned to memoir and autofiction to reckon with questions of queer desire, sexual violence, and consent. Moving across two centuries, we will read works that explore the boundaries between confession and fiction, between liberation and exploitation, and between secrecy and exposure. Authors include Flaubert, Baudelaire, Colette, Gide, Leduc, Duras, Ernaux, Taïa, Louis, and Springora alongside films by Malle and Campillo. This course will be taught in French.

• TR 11:40 a.m.-12:55 p.m.
• Instructor: Rj McIntyre
  Info
• 3 points

SENIOR SEMINAR

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.

• W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Elisabeth A Ladenson
  CULPA: 13 Info
• 3 points

Francophone Romance Love, Sex, Intimacy

The forms of domination and violence that have characterized the phenomenon of empire have always been interwoven with desire and various forms of intimacy. Personal relationships have been vectors of colonial power as well as sites of resistance. In this course we consider various ways in which love, desire and intimacy have emerged as questions in the French colonial context. The course covers a broad historical and geographic span stretching from the age of plantation slavery to the era of decolonization and from the Caribbean and Louisiana to Vietnam and Africa. We consider both the transmission of categories and practices across colonial contexts and historical transitions and regional specificities. The course methodology is interdisciplinary, drawing on insights from history, sociology and law. The primary lens is, however, be that of literature, a medium in which the personal dimensions of empire have often found expression. We consider how recurrent themes and figures of colonial desire and intimacy have taken shape across different genres and registers of writing.

• M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Madeleine Dobie
  CULPA: 14 Info
• 3 points

Annie Ernaux: Writing as a Knife

This course offers a deep dive into French contemporary novelist Annie Ernaux’s auto-socio-biographical fiction. It does so through close readings of some of her major works, organized thematically and across Ernaux’s oeuvre. Close readings of texts will be paired with research notes and recent film adaptations, sociological and theoretical work that has inspired Ernaux, her growing critical reception (amplified by her recent Nobel prize), as well as other writers whom she has inspired. Themes covered include: writing impersonally in the first person; what is auto-socio-biography; exploring women’s desire and sexuality; Ernaux’s feminism and political militancy; ethnographies of contemporary France and the baby-boomer generation; history, time, and memory. Throughout, we will consider what kind of genre Ernaux’s writing is, and what writing as a knife can do. Class taught in French (if you are unsure about whether you have the required level please consult with instructor).

• T 10:10 a.m.-noon
• Instructor: Thomas Dodman
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points

IMAGES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Along with the American Revolution which immediately preceded it, the French Revolution was the most important political event in modern history. The bloody end of the 18th century ushered in modernity, retrospectively marking a definitive break between “early modern” and “modern” eras. The French Revolution has been endlessly and variously mythologized and analyzed, as well as depicted in polemical writings, novels, poetry, theater, film, and opera. This course is designed as an overview of responses to the ten-year event, concentrating on popular depictions in Francophone and Anglophone works. We will start with contemporary responses and move on through 19th- and 20th-century literary representations of the Revolution, including plays and films, both adaptations of literary responses and original treatments. Readings will include works by Wordsworth, Coleridge, Burke, Wollestonecraft, Sade, and Dickens, along with more recent responses.

• M 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
• Instructor: Caroline Weber
  CULPA: 8 Wikipedia Info
• 3 points

SOCIOLOGIES OF THE EVERYDAY

• W 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Instructor: Aubrey A Gabel
  CULPA: 2 Info
• 3 points