French Department

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Language Program:

101 French I
102 French II
203 French III
204 Text, Film and Media

Advanced Courses:

305 Advanced Expression
306 Intro to Literary Analysis
407 Francophone Studies
408 French Cultural Studies
409 Cinema
410 Art and Ideas in French Culture
411 Challenges of Modernity and Literature
412 Text and Identity
413 Studies in Theory
414 Studies in Genre
415 Literary Periods and Movements

First-Year Courses

Literary Seductions
Culture and Identity: Children and Youth in Film

Topics Courses:

394 La civilisation française en évolution from Lascaux to 1789
494 De l'extrême-orient aux antipodes: représentations francophone de l'Asie et du Pacifique
494 The Animal and the Human in the French Enlightenment
494 Cartographic/Literary Paths
494 Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Contradiction and Modernity
494 Seduction and Betrayal: Theorizing Don Juan and Libertinage in the ancien régime
494 Drama Workshop
494 Cartographic and Literary Paths

Courses

ALL COURSES ARE TAUGHT IN FRENCH UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED.

Elementary and Intermediate Courses

101 FRENCH I

Emphasizing the active use of the language, this course is conducted entirely in French and develops the fundamental skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It includes an introduction to the cultural background of France and the Francophone world. Class sessions are supplemented by weekly small group meetings with a French graduate assistant. For students with no previous work in French. Every fall. (4 credits)

102 FRENCH II

Conducted entirely in French, this course continues the development of the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing, with increasing emphasis on the practice of reading and writing. It includes introduction to the cultural background of France and the Francophone world. Class sessions are supplemented by weekly small group meetings with a French graduate assistant. Prerequisite: French 101 with a grade of C– or better, placement test or permission of instructor. Every semester. (4 credits).

203 FRENCH III

Conducted entirely in French, the aim of this course is to bring students to a point where they can use French for communication, both oral and written. At the end of this course students should be able to read appropriate authentic materials, write short papers in French and communicate with a native speaker. It consolidates and builds competencies in listening, speaking, reading and writing and includes study of the cultural background of France and the Francophone world. Class sessions are supplemented by weekly small group meetings with a French graduate assistant. Prerequisite: French 102 or 111 with a grade of C– or better, placement test or permission of instructor. Every semester. (4 credits)

204 TEXT, FILM AND MEDIA

This course presents a study of the contemporary language and culture of France and the Francophone world through authentic materials including the French press, the internet, television, literature and film. It is conducted entirely in French. At the end of this course students should have attained a more sophisticated level of communication in French, the ability to use their skills in French for a variety of purposes including research in other disciplines, and a full appreciation of the intellectual challenge of learning a foreign language and its cultures. Prerequisite: French 203 with a grade of C– or better, placement test or permission of instructor. Every semester. (4 credits)

Third Year Courses

305 ADVANCED EXPRESSION: COMMUNICATION TOOLS

This course is an intensive training in oral expression and corrective phonetics. Materials include news broadcasts from French TV, films and articles from the French and Francophone press. Grammar patterns that enhance communication will be studied. Class sessions are supplemented by small group meetings with French assistants and small conversation groups with Francophone tutors. Prerequisite: French 204, placement test or permission of instructor. Every semester. (4 credits)

306 INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY ANALYSIS

This course is designed to develop the necessary skills for interpreting literature and for writing effectively in French. Students learn to do a close reading and analysis of a variety of literary works and to compose critical essays. The course also includes a study of selected grammatical patterns and stylistic techniques. Prerequisite: French 204 or placement test or permission of instructor. Every semester. (4 credits)

Fourth Year Courses

407 FRANCOPHONE STUDIES

This course category encompasses the study of cultures and literatures from the French-speaking regions and countries outside of France. It includes such courses as:

The French-speaking Caribbean islands: Haïti, Guadeloupe, and Martinique.

This course examines the cultural particularities of the region (music, religion, arts, society, economics, history) and studies the historical differences between the three islands as well as their specific relationship to France. Prerequisite: French 306 or permission of the instructor. This course counts towards a minor concentration in Latin American studies. Alternate years. (4 credits)

Voix du Nord.

This course studies the contemporary literature of Belgium and Quebec. It ties literary texts to their cultural and historical context, especially to the problematics of language and identity as they are expressed through various media. Alternate years. (4 credits)

408 FRENCH CULTURAL STUDIES

A survey of cultural issues in France. The themes studied in this course include definitions of nation, culture, tradition and modernity and change in social, cultural, aesthetic and intellectual structures as well as immigration and diversity in France. Prerequisite: a 300 level course, placement test, or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (4 credits)

It includes such courses as:

Literature and Cinema of Immigration

Literature and Cinema of Immigration explores the diversity of France through its immigrant population. After studying and discussing the history and composition of immigration in France, we will look at cultural productions, especially literature, films, music and art as well as documentation about contemporary issues in French society associated with immigration. We will look at various cities in France (Marseilles, Lyon, and Paris as well as their suburbs), and contextualize the current situation regarding French and European laws. We will take into account gender, class, and race issues as well as language issues.

409 CINEMA

This category introduces students to French or Francophone cinema, dealing with history, theory, and condition of production of this media. Prerequisite: a 300 level course or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (4 credits)

It includes such courses as:

West and Equatorial African Cinema.

Introduction to the history and socio-economic contexts of African cinema (colonial and post-colonial). The focus is on the rich corpus of films by African directors from Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Cameroon and Congo, and on theoretical and critical writings about films and authors. Prerequisite: a 300 level course or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (4 credits)

French cinema.

A survey of French cinema from the thirties to the present. The course examines the style and themes in French cinema from Realism to Nouvelle Vague to Post-Modernism. The course is conducted in English with the possibility of receiving credit for a concentration in French if the reading and writing is done in French. Prerequisite for French credit: a 300 level course or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (4 credits)

French and African Cinema in Dialogue.: This course has for objective to introduce students to French and African Cinema. Through the prism of colonial cinema and the intimate relationship between colonization and cinema as medium we will establish connections between various well-known French and African filmmakers such as Jean Rouch, René Vautier, Jean-Luc Godard (Swiss), Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, Ousmane Sembene, Djibril Diop Mambety, Safi Faye, Jean-Pierre Bekolo, Med Hondo, and Trinh-Minh-Ha. How were African cultures represented in French film before the new Wave and the Independences of the francophone African countries? How did French filmmakers of the New Wave respond to the emergence of African Cinema? And how do African filmmakers pioneer in film techniques and content while dialoguing and commenting on French (as well as US and world) cinema? Students should come out of this course with a good understanding of the French and African cinema industries, main trends in cinema since the 1890s up to now, and a good understanding of colonial/postcolonial cinema

410 ART AND IDEAS IN FRENCH CULTURE (Same as Humanities and Media and Cultural Studies 410)

The course studies the arts of France (art, architecture, music and literature) in their historical and intellectual settings. Topics and historical periods studied vary by semester. In Fall 2004 the emphasis is on the visual arts of contemporary France. Prerequisite: a 300 level course or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (4 credits)

It includes such courses as:

Female Artistic Expression and Feminism in France: This course will trace both women’s writing and artistic expression from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 21st century. What does it mean to be a female writer, artist, or filmmaker in different historical and cultural moments? What is the reception of these writers at the time when they are writing? How do the artists combat or affirm social expectations of gender? We will analyze how female artists have denied or affirmed a sexual specificity in their writing or art. Do they incorporate in their work a reflection on what it means to be both a woman and an artist or writer? The goal of this course is not to name an essential core in this body of women’s artistic expression, but to analyze how these female authors reflect their lived experience as women in their writing and through their art. How do these expressions of female subjectivity change over time? Students will deepen their literary analysis, gain a historical and cultural understanding surrounding major literary, political, artistic, and cinematic developments, and become familiar with major French authors and artists. We will also study the development of feminism in France and consider points of intersection between feminist theory and female artistic expression.

411 CHALLENGES OF MODERNITY AND LITERATURE (Same as Humanities and Media and Cultural Studies 411)

Introduction to the study and the context of French literary and artistic masterpieces from the 12th to the 21st century, with special focus on their ties with contemporary "mentalités" and events. The significance of specific works for audiences of their time will be extended to the study of their influence in subsequent centuries, including the 20th/21st. Particular attention will be paid also to our own representation and use of these past centuries in diverse contemporary media, such as films and advertisements. The thematic emphasis of the class, as well as the historical period, may vary by semester. Prerequisite: French 306 or permission of the instructor. Alternate years. (4 credits)

It includes such courses as:

Violence et Littérature: Based on literary texts from the Middle Ages through the twenty-first century, the course studies how French and Francophone literatures describe and reflect violence in a world constantly in evolution through social, cultural, economical and political upheavals. It also considers the many forms violence can take, involving class, gender, language, race, religion, colonization, immigration, etc. The readings include well known classics from different centuries, but also contemporary writers from different origins: Algeria, Belgium, France and Québec. The course will develop the historical and cultural backgrounds specific to each author. It will look also at violence through the critical lens of different philosophers from a range of periods including our own, i.e. Girard, Foucault, Arendt, Fanon, and Scarry. Films from different regions and historical periods will add to the diversity of perspectives and interpretations.

412 TEXT AND IDENTITY

This category of courses introduces students to texts (including films) that engage students to focus on questions of identity(national, sexual, racial, and class identity) through the study of literature and film. Prerequisite: a 300 level course or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (4 credits)

It includes such courses as:

Culture and Identity Through French, African, Caribbean, and North American Cinema

Identity, Difference, and Pluralism in Contemporary France

Women Writing in French

413 STUDIES IN THEORY

This category of courses includes courses that prepare students to read textual and/or visual materials through various theoretical lenses. Courses include Feminist French Theory (offered in 2001 as a topics course), French Intellectuals in/and the World (cross-listed with Humanities and Cultural Studies), or courses dealing with particular literary, cultural, or critical theories. Prerequisite: French 306 when courses are offered in French or permission of the instructor. Alternate years. (4 credits)

414 STUDIES IN GENRE

Courses on the novel, theatre, poetry, and short stories, are offered in this category. Courses may be surveys of the development of a genre across the centuries or they may focus on a particular period. A course on 17th-century French Theatre was last offered in Spring 2003. Prerequisite: French 306 or permission of the instructor. Offered occasionally. (4 credits)

415 LITERARY PERIODS AND MOVEMENTS

This course category encompasses the study of literature in various literary periods and/or movements. Such courses alternate every year and include:

The 17th Century Classicism: Forerunners, Devotees and Deviants

This course studies the literature of the 17th century in France. It focuses on the literary diversity of the so-called "classical period." Without neglecting the great works and authors of Classicism, it explores also the libertine and baroque currents of the time and the final questioning of the "classics" at the dawn of the 18th century. The reading list includes authors such as Descartes, Cyrano de Bergerac, Corneille, Pascal, Molière, Racine, Perrault, etc. In a traditionally all-male French literary culture, it explores also the unique and asserting movement of the "Précieuses" as well as the birth of the French novel through the artistic creativity of women. Prerequisite: French 306 or permission of the instructor. Alternate years. (4 credits)

Literature and Culture of the Enlightenment

This course traces the literary and philosophical works that move France from the age of Versailles to the Revolution and the Terror at the end of the eighteenth century. Topics include the relationship between the individual and society, the rise of print culture and the novel, the philosophes and the salonnières, tolerance, atheism, libertines, the epistolary novel, and the Revolution. Readings include works by Prévost, Rousseau, Laclos, Diderot, Riccoboni, Graffigny, Voltaire, and Marivaux. Prerequisite: French 306 or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (4 credits)

Nineteenth Century Literature

This course examines the prominent literary genres of the century, most importantly the novel, but also poetry and drama. These are studied in conjunction with the cultural and esthetic movements in which they were produced: romanticism, realism, naturalism, symbolism, and decadence. Novelists studied may include Chateaubriand, Stendhal, Balzac, Flaubert, Sand, Maupassant, Zola, and Huysmans. Poets may include Musset, Vigny, Lamartine, Hugo, Desbordes-Valmore, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Mallarmé, and Rimbaud. Playwrights may include Hugo, Musset, Feydeau, and Jarry. Prerequisite: French 306 or permission of instructor. Alternate years. (4 credits)

Twentieth Century Literature

Representative texts and cultural movements from the twentieth century are presented with their cultural background. Topics studied include Surrealism, Existentialism, the nouveau roman, the poetry of Négritude, and the works of major authors (Marcel Proust, André Gide, Jean Anouilh, Colette, Jean-Paul Sartre, Léopold Sedar Senghor, Nathalie Sarraute, Jean Genêt, Albert Camus, among others) and contemporary male and female authors from France and French-speaking cultures (Calixthe Beyala, Leïla Sebbar, Annie Ernaux, Michel Tournier, Nancy Huston). Prerequisite: French 306 or permission of the instructor. Alternate years. (4 credits)

FIRST YEAR COURSES

It includes such courses as:

Culture and Identity: Children and Youth in Film: The course focuses on comparative cinematographic representations of post-colonial, racial, religious, and sexual identities -- among others --through a variety of films. Most films are selected from a corpus of French and Francophone cinema. They often portray internal and external conflicts affecting children and youth. Theoretical concepts (post-colonialism, orientalism, secularity/secularism ) will be introduced in the course to help understand how cinema and representations in general are part of cultural and political debates and how they shape them.

Literary Seductions: In this course we will trace the evolution and meanderings of literary Don Juans. We will begin with the eighteenth–century libertines, whose seductions were strategic, ritualistic, and decidedly aristocratic. In particular, we will discuss the debates that emerged with the publication of libertine novels: did they serve as immoral instruction manuals for world–be seducers or, on the other hand, were they cautionary tales, unveiling the libertine’s strategies so women could be armed against their advances?

TOPICS COURSES (394/494)

394: La civilisation française en évolution from Lascaux to 1789: This course La civilisation française en évolution from Lascaux to 1789 offers non-French students the possibility to acquaint the fundamental notions that form the basis of the bagage culturel that their French counterparts would have. The goal makes explicit those everyday aspects of life that are truly second nature to the individual and to which he or she rarely gives much thought.
: The class will open with a Panorama de la France. This preliminary section provides a brief and schematic overview of France, including descriptions of basic geographical features and socioplitical structures, a listing of significant historical milestones and maps of France and the Francophone world. The body of the class consists of six dossiers, each treating a particular aspect of French culture: Dossier un: la présence du passé describes examples of the physical manifestations of French History that provide constant reminders to the French of their rich and varied civilization. Dossier deux: quelques personnages clés is composed of a series of portraits of personalities that the French learn, from the early age, to identify as key figures who played pivotal roles in the creation of their culture. Dossier trois: de la monarchie à la République traces the evolution of political institutions in France from the beginnings of the monarchy and the establishment of the Ancien Régime through the death of that system and the progressive maturation of republican ideals. Dossier quatre: La société describes the development of social structures, including the changing role of women in France, from the simplistic and hierarchical society of the Midlle Ages to the complex and shifting social situation of the modern world. Dossier cinq: les mouvements et les idées provides a scketch of key philosophical movements and intellectual concepts as they evolved. Dossier six; les mouvements littéraires et arttstiques offers an overview of French cultural life in all its diversity, focusing on pivotal authors, artist and works.

394: La Culture française contemporaine: This course addresses issues in modern and contemporary France. It will include some review of important historical events and their consequences for French society, in particular WWII and the French-Algerian war. Contemporary issues will include French multiculturalism, major current cultural events and trends, the relationship between France and the European community, and its current relationships with the United States. Materials include the use of various media (newspapers, films, video, TVnews, radio).

494: De l'extrême-orient aux antipodes: représentations francophone de l'Asie et du Pacifique: This course is an introduction to colonial and postcolonial representations of the French territories in the South Pacific, including French Polynesia and New Caledonia, as well as the former French colonies of 'Indochine.' We will examine the process by which the colonized territories of the Pacific islands and South-east Asia are constructed as objects of desire and difference for a metropolitan French public, and link the formation of these colonialist ideologies to their political and economic underpinnings. We will also explore the interrogation, subversion and displacement of colonial ideology in contemporary postcolonial francophone literature and film by intellectuals in the Pacific and in the Indochinese diaspora. The course will begin with a introduction to the theory of ideology and an overview of the French colonial presence in the Asia-Pacific region. We will then move to examine the conceptualization of the Pacific as an 'antipodes' of Europe beginning in French thought in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, i.e. as an uncanny opposite or other characterized by its inversion of often corrupt metropolitan social, political and religious values and norms. This section of the course will conclude with a survey of recent work by Kanak and Polynesian writers that confront the realities of the troubled legacy of French colonialism in the Pacific. The last part of the course will begin with an examination of exoticized representations of French Indochina that draw on a long history of European stereotypes concerning the 'Orient.' The course will end with the study of recent work that thematizes the conflicts experienced by the descendants of those former Indochinese colonial subjects who immigrated to metropolitan France. The course bibliography will include texts and images by Rétif de la Bretonne, Pierre Loti, Paul Gauguin, Victor Segalen, Déwé Gorodé, Marguerite Duras, André Malraux, Linda Lê, and Régis Wargnierdiverse array of contemporary thinkers from Jacques Derrida to Peter Singer has sought to reevaluate the animal/human distinction and related

494: The Animal and the Human in the French Enlightenment: A diverse array of contemporary thinkers from Jacques Derrida to Peter Singer has sought to reevaluate the animal/human distinction and related topics including animal rights, but the relation between the animal and the human also gave rise to crucial and controversial debates during the French Enlightenment. This course will consider the ethical, political, and aesthetic significance attributed to the relation in literary and philosophical texts by authors including Descartes, Rousseau, Diderot, and Sade. Themes to be discussed include nature and "sauvagerie," language, reason and the passions, sex and bestiality, cruelty and vivisection, and vegetarianism.

494: Voies cartographiques et littéraires/Cartographic and Literary Paths: Through the study of maps, charts and the cross examination of diaries, journals and novels we will explore, discuss and examine the influence of cartographers on French and English writings from the 12th century to the present time.

We will examine maps and illustrations, literature (Rabelais, Ronsard, Montaigne, Moliere, Madame de Scudéry, Rousseau,Victor Hugo, Andrée Chedid, Dominique Edde, Sophie Calle and some contemporary movies: Amélie), discuss the necessity of viewing maps in the context of their typographic layout, graphic reproduction and literary import, study diaries of explorers and how they influenced the writings of their contemporaries. The shock of cultures, amplified by the way religious controversialists compared one another to inhabitants of the New World, shook Europeans’ faith in themselves – both as devout Christians and as civilized exemplars of humanity. Perhaps more fundamentally, the idea of considering one’s native culture as foreign provided a fulcrum for the foundational modern conviction that human beings can detach themselves from their contexts. These concepts and ideas will be debated through the study of journals, maps and literary texts of the time. We will visit the Ford library at the University of MN and the Walker Art Center to explore and discuss maps

494: Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Contradiction and Modernity: From the moment he published his First Discourse, Rousseau has inspired both hostility and adulation, as his writings attempt nothing less than a comprehensive project to theorize a new modern vision of self and society. His questions and problematics still matter (though we tend to come up with different answers): How does society corrupt the individual? Are citizens tyrannized by a “general will”? Is inequality a component of the human condition? How is the self constructed and inscribed in language? Is there such a thing as a unified self to freely participate in the public sphere? How do we educate children to become citizens? How are we products of sentiment and memory?

In this course we will read political, autobiographical, educational, and sentimental works by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, along with critiques by his admirers and detractors. Guiding all our readings will be the question of Rousseau and modernity: Was he instrumental in the evolution of modernity? Is he more appropriately claimed today by the cultural left or the cultural right?

494: Drama Workshop: Through a selection of classical and contemporary plays, this course will analyze the themes of language, social classes, the absurd, agency, and an individual’s relationship to the world and others. Students will participate in a variety of activities in this drama workshop, including acting warm-up exercises, close reading of texts, in-class scene performances, and set, costume, and prop design. No previous theatre experience necessary—just a willingness to participate! Readings will include: Le bourgeois gentilhomme (Molière, 1670), Le jeu de l’amour et du hasard (Marivaux, 1730), Knock, ou, le triomphe de la médecine (Jules Romains, 1923), Les bonnes (Jean Genet, 1947), Fin de partie (Samuel Beckett, 1957), and Le dîner de cons (Francis Veber, 1994).

494: Seduction and Betrayal: Theorizing Don Juan and Libertinage in the ancien régime: This course focuses on plots of seduction in the theater and novels of seventeenth and eighteenth–century France. We will trace the evolution and meanderings of literary Don Juans, looking in particular at how these texts respond to or ask some of the following questions: which shifting societal assumptions about sexual difference and gender roles fueled seduction myths? Did scandalous literary works serve as instruction manuals for would–be seducers? Or were they cautionary tales enacting the ultimate punishment and demise of libertines? Is seduction inevitably accompanied by betrayal? Do seduction narratives depend on the ideal of female chastity? How do knowledge and instruction serve as seduction strategies? Primary texts will include works by Molière, Racine, Prévost, Crébillon fils, Diderot, and Sade. Readings of ancien régime literature will be considered alongside twentieth–century theories of seduction including Freud’s seduction theory, Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality, and Jean Baudrillard’s notion of “cold seduction.”

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