Course Schedule with Descriptions - Fall 2008

FRIT F300/9598 Reading and Expression in French
Topic: France and its Others
MWF 1:25-2:15 BH 233
Bryson, Devin

This course introduces students to some of the important texts, movements, authors, and contexts of French literature from the Middle Ages to the 20th century through a thematic focus on France and its Others. While the literature of Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, and Quebec written in French has brought this symbiotic relationship to the fore of contemporary French studies, writers throughout the history of French literature have examined French society, identity, and culture by reflecting on or adopting the viewpoint of those people who are connected to France, but are not necessarily part of it. Our study of French literature through this conceptual framework will develop reading and writing skills that will allow us to consider the aesthetic, textual, historical, and cultural dimensions of these texts.

We begin with the epic lyric poem La Chanson de Roland from the Middle Ages, which explores issues of honor, loyalty, friendship, and love in a time of war, as marauding invaders attack France. Next, we read the epistolary novel Lettres d’une Péruvienne from the 18th century, in which the Other speaks for herself from a uniquely feminine perspective. Our following stop is in the 19th century where we read another female-gendered novel from the point-of-view of a foreigner on French soil, this time a woman from Africa: Ourika. We compare this text to the poems of Charles Baudelaire in which he exoticizes and eroticizes the foreign woman. We end the course by reading Aimé Césaire’s play Une tempête, which transposes Shakespeare’s The Tempest onto the era of 20th century colonialism and Caliban’s perspective.

The final grade will be calculated from two short papers, two presentations, a final exam, and class participation. Prerequisite is F250, F255, or F265. F300 fulfills A & H requirement.

FRIT F300/9597 Reading and Expression in French
TR 9:30-10:45 WH 114
MacPhail-Okamoto, Aiko

This course offers a general introduction to French literature and provides reading strategies in poetry, theater, and fiction. We will start the semester with lyric poems from the Middle Ages to the 20th century chosen from the Ansart Anthology, and each student will present a brief exposé and compose a short essay. Then we read the 17th-century play Phèdre by Jean Racine and study the classic verse of alexandrin.. During the last half of the semester, we concentrate
on the prose of the 19th century: Jules Verne. Paris au XXe siècle and Le dernier jour d’un condamné by Victor Hugo. The course grade will be based on two short oral presentations, short and long essays and active and continuous class participation. Prerequisite is F250, F255, or F265. F300 fulfills A & H requirement.

FRIT F300/9599 Reading and Expression in French
Topic: Religion and Literature
TR 11:15-12:30 WH 104
Semk, Chris

This course is designed as an introduction to the study of French literature. Through the examination of four genres (poetry, theater, short story, and novel), students will develop the tools of literary analysis while building upon their linguistic skills in French.

We will begin by reading a selection of lyric poems from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Our next text, Corneille’s 17th-century tragedy Polyeucte, traces the final day of an early Christian martyr who forsakes everything, including life, for his newfound faith and questions the distinction between heroism and fanaticism. We will then turn toward 19th-century prose by reading two short stories by Flaubert. “Un cœur simple” presents the image of selfless charity in the figure of Félicité, while “La Légende de Saint Julien l’Hospitalier” examines the relationship between sin and forgiveness by revisiting the legend of a saint who unknowingly kills his parents. Finally, we will read Cheikh Hamidou Kane’s novel L’aventure ambiguë and follow the protagonist’s spiritual and geographical itinerary from a Koranic school in Senegal to a French university, appreciating the many moments that force him to confront his traditional Islamic values with secular Western society.

Students will be graded on classroom participation, an explication de texte, a short essay paper, and two final exams. Prerequisite is F250, F255, or F265. F300 fulfills A & H requirement.

FRIT F300/9600 Reading and Expression in French
TR 1:00-2:15 BH 305
MacPhail, Eric

This course is designed to serve as an introduction to the study of French literature. We will read works representative of the four genres of poetry, theater, short story and novel. We will begin with a review of French versification and a survey of French lyric poetry from the Middle Ages to the present. Each student will choose one poem from the course reader on which to do a class presentation and then a 2 to 3 page paper. Students will rewrite their papers in accordance with the professor's corrections. Then we will read a short novel by Victor Hugo on which we will take an essay test in class. Then we will read a science fiction novel by Jules Verne and again each student will select a topic on which to do both a class presentation and a 2 or 3 page essay. Students will have the opportunity to rewrite this essay as they did for the poetry essay. We will conclude by reading Jean Anouilh's play Voyageur san bagage, which will be the subject of our final exam. The grade will be based on the four written assignments and on participation in class discussion. Prerequisite is F250, F255, or F265. F300 fulfills A & H requirement.

FRIT F300/9601 Reading and Expression in French
Topic: La condition humaine
TR 2:30-3:45 SW 103
Gray, Margaret

An introduction to four genres in French literature (poetry, theatre, novel and short story), this course also provides sustained exercise in literary analysis and techniques of close reading, as well as seeking to further fundamental skills in French. Our varied texts have in common the effort to communicate diverse aspects of the human condition, with its discoveries, its dilemmas, its raptures and disappointments.

We will begin with love poems from the Renaissance (16th century), Romantic (19th), Symbolist (late 19th) and modern (20th century) eras, appreciating the evolution of the love lyric as we proceed. Our play, Jean Anouilh’s Le bal des voleurs, opens the love theme to probing questions of social class in a delightful mix of bumbling thieves, a rich and canny dowager with eligible nieces, true love and personal honor across social and economic differences. The coming-of-age novel L’enfant noir by Camara Laye, inspired by his childhood and youth in the West African nation of Guinea, depicts such feelings as love for the mother, admiration for the father, first love, desire for independence and impatience with one’s own culture. We will follow the narrator’s experience of school days, family visits, rituals of growing up, departure from home, first exposure to death and loss, hard work and success. We will conclude with a selection of twentieth-century short stories exploring moral choice, vision and ambiguity: Albert Camus’s « L’hôte ,» Jean-Louis Curtis’s « Le coffret,» and Henri Thomas’s « Labarque. »

The final grade will be based on active class participation (10%), an « explication de texte » (15%), a midterm (20%), a 5-page paper (25%), and a final exam (30%). Prerequisite is F250, F255, or F265. F300 fulfills A & H requirement. Conducted in French.

FRIT F300/30616 Reading and Expression in French
TR 4:00-5:15 SY 210
Staff

No description at this time. Prerequisite is F250, F255, or F265. F300 fulfills A & H requirement.

FRIT S300/9656 Reading and Expression in French-Honors
TR 5:30-7:00 BH 208 - time changed 4-9-08
Merceron, Jacques

Qu’est-ce qui constitue ce que nous appelons de façon rapide « notre identité » ? Est-ce un donné ? Une construction ? Notre identité est-elle organisée autour d’un « noyau dur » ou / et d’une constellation de traits toujours en mouvement ? Comment s’établit le rapport entre identité personnelle et identité collective ? Le regard de l’Autre joue-t-il une part dans la composition de notre image identitaire ? Sommes-nous « condamnés » à rester toujours identiques à nous-mêmes ? Ou « condamnés » à toujours changer ? Peut-on parler d’une quête de l’identité ? Peut-on jouer avec son identité, ses identités (jeux de « masques », ruses, mensonges, etc.) ? Quel(s) rôle(s) la littérature et l’art en général peuvent-ils jouer face à ces interrogations ? Telles sont quelques-unes des questions que nous aborderons dans ce cours.

Pour ce faire, nous examinerons à la fois les questionnements et les réponses offertes par la littérature et par la réflexion critique en lisant et discutant des extraits de l’essai d’Amin Maalouf, Les Identités meurtrières, le roman d’Albert Camus, L’Étranger, des nouvelles (‘short stories’) tirées des Contes de la Bécasse de Guy de Maupassant, la pièce de théâtre de Molière, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme et un choix de poèmes de différentes périodes abordant de façon variée ce thème de l’identité.

Devoirs et notation : le travail oral comprendra : 1) votre préparation et participation active et continue aux discussions en classe (25%) ; 2) une présentation / discussion orale menée avec un ou deux autres étudiants (25%). Le travail écrit comprendra : 1) une composition en français de 6 pages (deux versions) (25%) ; 2) et un examen final (25%). This section is a version of F300 for honors students. Credit given for only on of F300 or S300. S300 fulfills A & H requirement.

FRIT F306/9603 Roman et poésie
MWF 1:25-2:15 WH 106
Ansart, Guillaume

Une moitié du cours sera consacrée à une lecture approfondie d'un grand roman réaliste du XIXe siècle, Le Rouge et le Noir de Stendhal. Parallèlement, nous lirons des poèmes sur le thème de la fonction du poète et de la nature de l’art poétique. Devoirs : une composition à la maison (deux versions), une composition en classe, et un examen final. Prerequisite is FRIT F 300 or equivalent; fulfills A & H requirement.

FRIT F313/9605 Advanced Grammar I
MWF 8:00-8:50 BH 209 - time changed 4-9-08
Bryson, Devin

In this course students will continue and expand their study of French grammar, and learn to employ their new found grammatical skills in writing, speaking, and reading. Using Grammaire française as our principle text, we will closely study and practice advanced grammar points, as well as common mistakes that often have become cemented in one’s use of French at this stage. We will undertake writing, speaking, and reading exercises that will draw our attention to the usage of the grammar that we will be studying, and permit us to incorporate these aspects into our linguistic and critical tools as students of French language, literature, and culture. Prerequisite is FRIT F 250 or equivalent.

FRIT F313/9604 Advanced Grammar I
MWF 1:25-2:15 BH 209
Rottet, Kevin

French F313 is devoted to a comprehensive study of French grammar. This course emphasizes in-depth study of advanced points in French grammar and development of increasingly sophisticated writing skills in French in a variety of genres. The focus on grammar is supported by various writing and conversational activities. By the end of this course students should have improved their ability to communicate in relatively sophisticated and accurate French on complex topics, to converse about these same topics, and to read authentic texts written in French with increasing ease. The main textbook will be Grammaire française by Jacqueline Ollivier. The course will be conducted in French. Prerequisite is FRIT F250, or equivalent.

FRIT F313/9606 Advanced Grammar I
MWF 5:45-6:35 BH 142 - time changed 4-9-08
MacPhail-Okamoto, Aiko

This course has two aims: to summarize the grammar learned up to this level and to expand that knowledge to advanced French grammar. The textbook used in class is French for Oral and Written Review by Charles Carlut, Walter Meiden. The semester goal is to give students a grammatical instrument in preparation for the reading-intensive courses in the F300 and 400 levels. Prerequisite is FRIT F 250 or equivalent.

FRIT F315/9607 Phonetics and Pronunciation
MWF 11:15-12:05 BH 344
Sax, Kelly

Drills:
9608 - TR 11:15-12:05 - BU 427 - Staff
9609 - TR 10:10-11:00 - MU 204 - Staff

French F315 has three objectives: (1) to develop students' communicative skills by practice in listening comprehension and conversational practice; (2) to improve students' pronunciation accuracy and oral fluency and to train them to evaluate their own pronunciation; (3) to learn about the sound system and its role in the grammar vocabulary of the language, as well as a marker of social and geographical identity. The focus will be on the pronunciation of Standard French, that is, the speech of the educated Parisian that serves as model in the French speaking world. However, students will be introduced to salient features of other varieties of French.

The course meets five times weekly: two small practice sessions, two lectures, and one session of practice in the language lab under the supervision of the instructors or tutorial instruction. All components of the course are taught in French. Prerequisite is FRIT F 250 or equivalent. Choose one drill section to go with this lecture component

FRIT F361/17023 Introduction historique à la civilisation française I
TR 1:00-2:15 WH 104
Merceron, Jacques

Dans cette introduction historique à la civilisation française, nous étudierons la période qui s’étend de l’arrivée au pouvoir des dynasties mérovingienne et carolingienne des Ve-VIIIe siècles (Clovis ; Pépin le Bref, puis Charlemagne et ses fils) à la fin du XVe siècle. Le cours combinera la présentation des « événements historiques » et l’étude de l’évolution des institutions politiques, économiques et sociales (l’aspect artistique et culturel de cette période est traité dans un autre cours : F463/1).

Le cours sera un mélange de: 1) mini-exposés du professeur ; 2) présentations-discussions de documents historiques et iconographiques ; 3) discussions de groupe. Le cours sera fait en français. Notation : 1) contrôle continu (5 ‘quizzes’) : 25% ; 2) participation orale active et continue : 25% ; 3) composition écrite en français (5-7 pages) : 25% ; 4) examen final : 25%. Textes à lire: Stéphane Muzelle, 100 fiches d’histoire du Moyen Age, édition Bréal, 2004 ; Jean-Louis Biget et Patrick Boucheron, La France médiévale, vol. 1 (5e-13e siècles), et vol. 2 (13e-15e siècles), édition Hachette, 1999 et 2000.

FRIT F375/27248 Thèmes et perspectives littéraires
Topic: Du texte à l’écran: Interpretation, Adaptation, Trahison?
TR 11:15-12:30 BH 335
Gray, Margaret

Ce cours se propose de poursuivre une méditation sur l’interprétation : ses possibilités, ses défis, ses limites, ses pièges. Qu’est-ce qui fonde et justifie une interprétation légitime? Par contre, quand est-ce qu’une interprétation « trahit » son texte ? A partir de l’étude d’œuvres prises dans quatre genres différents—légende, théâtre, roman et conte--, nous nous pencherons surtout sur des problèmes d’interprétation textuelle. Puisque toute adaptation cinématique dramatise l’acte d’interprétation, nous testerons nos conclusions en étudiant des extraits des films inspirés par nos œuvres. Il y aura une variété d’exercices à l’oral et à l’écrit, dont un exposé, une dissertation, un examen partiel (« midterm ») et un exercice de fin de semestre. Au programme :

Légende : Le roman de Tristan et Iseut, édition de Joseph Bédier (1981)
Film : « L’Eternel retour », réalisé par Jean Delannoy sur le scènario de Jean Cocteau (1943)

Théâtre : Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand (1897)
Film : « Cyrano de Bergerac », Jean-Paul Rappeneau, (1990)

Roman : Jules et Jim, Henri-Pierre Roché (1953)
Film : « Jules et Jim », François Truffaut (1962)

Conte : Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont, « La belle et la bête » (1757)
Film : « La Belle et la Bête », Jean Cocteau (1946)

FRIT F399/9610 Reading for Honors
ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line authorization for above section from departmental honors advisor.

FRIT F402/27251 Introduction to French Linguistics
TR 2:30-3:45 BH 331
Vance, Barbara

This course introduces students to the field of Linguistics – the scientific study of language – through the analysis of the structure of French. We will look at three main areas:

1. Sentence structure: how sentences are constructed in hierarchical as well as linear form; how French sentence structure is like and unlike that of other languages (with special comparison to English), how individual sentences are hooked together in discourse, and how French sentence and discourse structure has changed over time and continues to change ...
2. Word structure: how words are built up out of the basic building blocks – morphemes like aim- (a root) and –iez (an inflectional suffix which designates the word’s function) or –able (a derivational suffix which adds to the root’s meaning); how form and meaning are matched up (why is an ambassadrice NOT necessarily a female ambassadeur – and could this ever change?); how compounds are constructed differently in French and English (ouvre-boîtes vs. can opener), and how children and adults invent new words (in different ways) ...
3. Sound structure: the basic inventory of French sounds and how it is organized; differences in pronunciation among different varieties of French in France and around the world; how to write French (and English) in the International Phonetic Alphabet, thus overcoming the limitations of a complex but not completely illogical spelling system ...

The course takes a problem-solving approach: students are presented with specially constructed data sets and learn to make their own linguistically-informed generalizations about how French works. Although it will be assumed that students are meeting linguistic concepts for the first time, students who have already had an introduction to general linguistics are welcome. All students must have taken French through at least the F313 level (or have special permission from the instructor). Prerequisite is F313 or F314 or consent of instructor.

FRIT F423/27252 Seventeenth-Century French Literature
TR 9:30-10:45 SE 009
Brillaud, Jerome

Discovering the true colors of human nature hidden behind the mask of conventions has occupied many 17th century thinkers. Who are we as individuals? Who are we as social beings? are two questions asked and answered by Moliere, Pascal and La Fontaine. Our readings and discussions will focus on early modern forms of "psychological" queries. Texts include Pascal's Pensees, Moliere's Tartuffe, La Rochefoucauld's Maximes, La Bruyere's Caracteres, La Fontaine's Fables and Bossuet's Sermons.

FRIT F450/28870 Colloquium in French Studies—Tradition and Ideas
Topic: The Second World War in French Literature and Film
TR 1:00-2:15 BH 141
Professor Colin Davis
(Visiting from the University of London, Royal Holloway)

The German invasion of France in 1940 provoked a national trauma which is reflected and explored in the work of writers and filmmakers. Despite the moral ambiguities of the period, in the years immediately following the liberation little was done to challenge the depiction of the Occupation as a time of united resistance against the Nazi invaders. If collaboration was discussed at all, it tended to be shown as the aberration of a tiny number of unscrupulous individuals. The social upheavals of 1968 helped create a climate for the thorough re-examination of France’s wartime past. A generation of filmmakers and writers who were either not born at the time of the war or too young to have been actively involved in it began to unearth a much more ambiguous history. Collaboration was revealed to be more widespread than official histories had cared to acknowledge, and the moral dichotomy between evil collaborators and noble resisters was shown to be a comforting simplification of actual dilemmas. This course will examine some of the key films and novels through which France’s wartime past was depicted and re-evaluated. It will also look at how French writers and filmmakers have dealt with the ethical and aesthetic problems of representing the Holocaust.

Primary texts

Vercors, Le Silence de la mer
Modiano, La Ronde de nuit
Tournier, Le Roi des aulnes
Duras, La Douleur
Wiesel, La Nuit

Films

Le Chagrin et la pitié (dir. Marcel Ophuls)
Lacombe Lucien (dir. Louis Malle)
Un héros très discret (dir. Jacques Audiard)
Nuit et brouillard (dir. Alain Resnais)
Shoah (dir. Claude Lanzmann)

FRIT F495/9613 Individual Readings in French
ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line authorization for above section from department.

FRIT F499/9614 Reading for Honors
ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line authorization for above section from departmental honors advisor.

FRIT F572/9615 Practicum in College French Teaching
F 1:25-2:15 WH 108
Sax, Kelly

This one-hour course is required for all new Associate Instructors in French and is open to all interested students; it addresses practical issues such as student/instructor relations, classroom teaching and testing techniques. Students will carry out a series of focused classroom observations designed to allow them to

1. identify teaching procedures and techniques used by experienced instructors and
2. to evaluate the effectiveness of observed techniques. Each observation will be structured as follows:
   a) a preview provides the focus for an upcoming observation;
   b) students complete a questionnaire during or following the classroom visit;
   c) a follow-up meeting allows students to discuss their findings and explore the topic in more depth;
   d) completed questionnaires are submitted to the instructor for review.

There are no required readings; students must attend all scheduled class meetings, complete the observations and turn in the corresponding questionnaires. The course is graded on S/F basis only.

FRIT F574/28871 Thème et version: cours avancé
R 4:00-6:00 SY 006
Stephens, Sonya

This advanced course in translation (from and into French) will extend your command of both languages and examine principles and procedures that underlie the process of translation. It will introduce theoretical approaches to translation, and explain and apply a variety of translation techniques. Through a wide range of exercises, including different types of translation (literal, gist, free, literary etc.) and translation commentaries, and using a similarly wide range of difference source texts/media, we will examine and compare the expressive structures characteristic of French and English. The course will lead you to analyze critically both source and target texts, especially features such as lexis, syntax, style and register, and to appraise and engage with features such as appropriateness, authenticity, coherence, equivalent effect, and of course accuracy. The course will be conducted in both French and English.

FRIT F577/27257 Introduction to French Syntax
TR 11:15-12:30 BH 316
Vance, Barbara

F577 introduces students to the sentence structure of French. We will use a problem-solving approach emphasizing the analysis of primary data, the comparison of French and English, and the tools of the Principles and Parameters (Chomskyan) theoretical framework. No prior knowledge of syntactic theory is presumed, but students should have a solid command of written and spoken French.

FRIT F580/9616 Applied French Linguistics
MW 4:00-5:15 BH 321
Rottet, Kevin

The general objective of this course is to impart to students with little or no previous introduction to linguistics a knowledge of the main linguistic features of French and to acquaint them with various sociolinguistic and language planning issues relevant to the teaching of French as a foreign language in the United States. The perspective of the course is descriptive rather than theoretical in the sense that, although various theories of language and its relation to society will be discussed, facts presented in the course will not be intended to support a particular theory.

The course will open with a discussion of the main applied linguistic products in our societies--dictionaries. Next there will be a sociolinguistically-oriented survey of the linguistic situation in France and in various Francophone regions, including a discussion of such relevant constructs as multilingualism and diglossia. The main part of the course will deal with various aspects of the structure of French: phonology, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics of French will be presented with emphasis on the spoken language and a coverage of social, stylistic, and geographical variation.

FRIT F620/28842 Studies in Sixteenth-Century French Literature
Topic: The Renaissance Miscellany from Erasmus to Montaigne
M 4:00-6:00 BH 105
MacPhail, Eric

This course joint-listed with REN R502 and CMLT C525. This course will explore the heterogeneous and composite tradition of the miscellany, sometimes known as the unsystematic alternative to the encyclopedia. In sixteenth-century Europe, the miscellany is not a discrete genre but rather a confluence of genres including not only reference manuals, philological notes, and bibliographical compilations, but also travel narratives, epistolary collections, symposia, and every conceivable compendium of sayings, anecdotes, examples, and curiosities, natural, cultural, and verbal. From this turbid confluence issue two of the principal literary forms of modernity: the essay and the novel.

We will begin our study by examining the aesthetic of the miscellany as expressed in the preface to Aulus Gellius’ Attic Nights and reappropriated for Renaissance humanism by Angelo Poliziano in the preface to his Miscellaneorum Centuria Prima. Then we will study in chronological order three of the most popular and important books of the European Renaissance: the Adages of Desiderius Erasmus, the Silva de varia lección of Pedro Mexía, and the Essays of Michel de Montaigne. Each of these works will be read for its own sake, but taken together they constitute a genealogy of the essay and allow us to appreciate Les Essais in a context rarely explored by Montaigne studies. As epilogue, we will look at the prologue to the first part of Don Quijote, in order to try to gauge how the miscellany helps to inform Cervantes’ foundation of the novel.

Since the three main readings are in Latin, Spanish, and French, students are required to have a competent reading knowledge of at least one of those languages. The course bibliography, as opposed to the succinct reading list, should encourage a variety of research projects spanning such diverse fields as classics, patristic studies, philosophy, ethnography, Romance and English literature, and the history of the book. Throughout the semester, we will take advantage of the prodigious resources of the Lilly Library both through class sessions and individual research. At the end of the semester, each student will write a fifteen to twenty page term paper on a topic chosen in consultation with the professor.

FRIT F635/27258 Studies in Eighteenth-Century French Literature
W 3:35-5:30 BH 137
Ansart, Guillaume

This seminar will explore representations of non-European cultures in 18th-century French literature. Why is the reflection on cultural difference, cultural “otherness”, so central to the Enlightenment project? Is the figure of the cultural “other” a mere propaganda tool for 18th-century French writers, or is their interest in such a figure a sign of genuine perception of different cultures and their specificity? How did Enlightenment thinkers see the relationship between the diversity of peoples and cultures on one hand, and the unity or universality of human nature on the other? Such questions as these will be raised during the course of the semester. Readings will focus mainly on the Enlightenment proper, but we will begin the course with texts from the 16th and 17th centuries and end with works from the 19th and 20th centuries. A research paper, an oral presentation, and a final exam will be required.

FRIT F650/28356 Etudes de littérature contemporaine
Topic: The Films of Jean Renoir: History, Politics and Philosophy
T 3:35-5:30 WH 108
Professor Colin Davis
(Visiting Professor from the University of London, Royal Holloway)

In the 1930s Jean Renoir established himself as one of the greatest film directors of world cinema. In an extraordinary period of productivity he wrote and directed some of the finest films ever made, including Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (1935), La Grande Illusion (1937), La Bête humaine (1938) and La Règle du jeu (1939). These films extended the range of what was possible in filmmaking, whilst also being intensely bound up with the political struggles of France in the decade leading up to the Second World War and involving a profound meditation on the nature of violence, the limits of knowledge and the conditions of human value. Yet the film which is now widely regarded as his masterpiece, La Règle du jeu, was an utter failure on its release, rejected by audiences, subsequently banned by the occupying German authorities as well as the collaborationist Vichy régime and thought to have been destroyed in an air raid before its reconstruction in the 1950s. After the disastrous reception of La Règle du jeu and the French defeat in 1940, Renoir moved to the United States and made a number of films in English, including Swamp Water (1941), This Land is Mine (1943), The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946) and The River (1950). He lived in the US for the rest of his life, though in the 1950s he returned to making films in French. This course examines the engagement of Renoir’s films with the history and politics of France, considers the extent to which the work of his American period was constrained by the requirements of the US film industry, and assesses the relation of his post-war French films to his pre-war productions. The course aims to combine a focussed and detailed analysis of Renoir’s films with a more general reflection on the entanglement of film with issues in history and philosophy.

Films

La Chienne (1931)
Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (1935)
Une partie de compagne (1936)
La Grande Illusion (1937)
La Bête humaine (1938)
La Règle du jeu (1939)
Swamp Water (1941)
This Land is Mine (1943)
The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946)
The River (1950)
Eléna et les hommes (1956)
Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1959)
Le Caporal épinglé (1962)

FRIT F672/27259 French Dialectology
F 9:30-12:00 SE 009
Auger, Julie

Ce cours s’intéresse à la variation géographique et sociale en français. Après un bref rappel de l’histoire de cette langue et une description de la situation linguistique en France contemporaine, le cours sera divisé en deux grandes parties: dialectologie et sociolinguistique. On y discute les méthodes de la dialectologie traditionnelle et l’élaboration des atlas linguistiques, on compare ces méthodes avec celles de la dialectologie moderne et on y présente les principaux dialectes d’oïl. Nous traversons ensuite l’Atlantique pour voir comment le français hexagonal et les langues d’oïl se sont à la fois conservés et transformés. Finalement, nous verrons comment le besoin d’étudier la variation en milieu urbain a donné naissance à la sociolinguistique. Les questions de norme, de variation sociale, de types de français y sont abordées et exemplifiées à l’aide d’études variationnistes sur des phénomènes linguistiques précis.

FRIT F673/27260 Topics in the Learning and Teaching of French
TR 2:30-3:45 WH 205
Dekydtspotter, Laurent

No description at this time.

FRIT F815/9617 Individual Readings in French Literature and Linguistics
ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line AUTH for above section from department

FRIT F875/9618 Research in French Literature and Language
ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

This section for on-campus students.

FRIT F875/17042 Research in French Literature and Language
ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

This section for off-campus students.

FRIT G901/9619 Advanced Research
ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line AUTH for above section from department; above section for French PhD candidates

Italian Language and Literature Courses

FRIT M222/15329 Topics in Italian Culture
TR 1:00-2:15 BH 340
Storey, H. Wayne

This class investigates the role of identity in the cultural, political, and artistic formation of medieval Italy from Rome’s third-century revision of the definition of citizenship (225 A.C.E.) to Boccaccio’s and the early humanists’ stories about corruption, sexual betrayal, and the nature of royalty and of humankind. Do medieval Italians identify themselves according to their family ties, the State, their political party, the Church? (and at what level? allegiance to the bishop or to the local priest who protects their land claims against papal interests?) And how do financial interests, class, language, education, and gender alter these traditional identities that are anything other than monolithic? We will examine the formation of identity across the peninsula, from Milan and Venice to Arabic and Norman Sicily, to understand also the foundations of modern Italian identity.

Readings will include selections from Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy, Polybius’s History of Rome, Boccaccio’s Decameron, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Paul the Deacon’s History of the Lombards, as well as Christian and Arabic chronicles from Florence, Sicily, and Venice, crusade songs, inquisition narratives, personal letters, and the art and philosophies that marked the development of Italian medieval cultures. Joint-offered with MEST-M 200. Fulfills A & H requirement.

FRIT M300/13428 Italian Conversation and Diction
D 10:10-11:00 BH 333
Staff

No description at this time.

FRIT M307/9649 Masterpieces of Italian Literature I
TR 4:00-5:15 BH 236
Scalabrini, Massimo

The focus of this course is the literature of Medieval and Renaissance Italy. Its goal is to read some of Italy’s most representative works, to understand them in their specific contexts, and to develop a historical and critical approach to literary texts. Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Machiavelli and Guicciardini will be among the authors considered. Students will write three short essays during the term, participate in an oral presentation, take five quizzes and a final exam. The class will be conducted in Italian. A reader will be available.

FRIT M450/17044 Seminar in Italian Literature
Topic: Barocco e Illuminismo
TR 9:30-10:45 WH 204
Arnaudo, Marco

Questo corso analizza lo sviluppo della cultura e della letteratura italiana del '600 e del '700 attraverso due fondamentali movimenti culturali quali il Barocco e l'Illuminismo.

Nell'arco di questi movimenti la cultura italiana ha discusso questioni fondamentali come:

• il rapporto tra novità e tradizione in poesia, soprattutto a causa dello "sperimentalismo" dei poeti del Seicento
• scienza e religione, soprattutto in rapporto alla nascita della scienza moderna (Galileo Galilei) e allo sviluppo di una "epoca della ragione" nel Settecento
• la nascita di nuove forme spettacolari, come il melodramma, la commedia dell'arte, il teatro borghese
• arte pura vs. arte al servizio della società

Per descrivere la complessità di questo periodo, il corso comprenderà scritti di poeti, scienziati e religiosi. Gli studenti avranno l'opportunità di studiare selezioni di opere di Marino, Preti, Galilei, Bartoli, Goldoni, Beccaria, Parini, e altri. Il corso includerà anche delle parti sul teatro, la pittura, la scultura e l'architettura del periodo.

Infine verrà discussa una nota affermazione di Omar Calabrese, che ha descritto i tempi in cui viviamo come una "età neo-barocca". In questo modo, la cultura del Seicento ci potrà forse permettere di capire meglio anche il mondo di oggi. Fulfills A & H requirement. Fulfills A & H requirement.

FRIT M495/9652 Individual Readings in Italian Literature
ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line AUTH for above section from department

FRIT M499/9653 Reading for Honors
ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line AUTH for above section from departmental honors advisor.

FRIT M572/28259 Practicum in College Italian Teaching
M 3:35-4:25 BH 340
Ryan-Scheutz, Colleen

This section for M200 instructors. Instructors of Italian develop, practice, and evaluate the effectiveness of pedagogical approaches and materials. They create and discuss a variety of assessments for evaluating language skills and cultural knowledge for intermediate-level courses. May be repeated once for credit. May be repeated once for credit.

FRIT M572/28260 Practicum in College Italian Teaching
M 4:40-5:30 BH 340
Ryan-Scheutz, Colleen

This section for M250 Instructors. Instructors of Italian develop, practice, and evaluate the effectiveness of pedagogical approaches and materials. They create and discuss a variety of assessments for evaluating language skills and cultural knowledge for intermediate-level courses. May be repeated once for credit.

FRIT M572/28261 Practicum in College Italian Teaching
R 3:35-4:25 BH 018
Ryan-Scheutz, Colleen

This section for M100 Instructors. Instructors of Italian develop, practice, and evaluate the effectiveness of pedagogical approaches and materials for beginning-level courses. They create and discuss a variety of assessments for evaluating language skills and cultural knowledge. May be repeated once for credit.

FRIT M572/28262 Practicum in College Italian Teaching
R 4:40-5:30 BH 018
Ryan-Scheutz, Colleen

This section for M150 instructors. Instructors of Italian develop, practice, and evaluate the effectiveness of pedagogical approaches and materials for beginning-level courses. They create and discuss a variety of assessments for evaluating language skills and cultural knowledge. May be repeated once for credit.

FRIT M603/27262 Seminar in Medieval Italian Literature
Topic: Literary Politics in Medieval Italian Literature
T 4:00-6:00 BH 011
Storey, H. Wayne

What are “literary politics”? how do they affect the nature of our reading and interpretation of medieval Italian literature? These two questions form the basis of this seminar, which considers the critical filters of the study of medieval Italian literature, from the image of Federico II in the Tuscan Novellino, Dante’s suppression of Guittone d’Arezzo, and the pivotal role of Boccaccio’s redefinitions of Dante and Petrarch, to the controversies that surround the 1921 and current editions of the Divine Comedy and the schools of critical thought in Petrarchan studies. In addition the class will investigate the application of critical and theoretical trends in the study of medieval Italian literature and its historical documentation.

FRIT M605/15330 Seminar in Modern Italian Literature
Topic: La tradizione poetica moderna
W 4:00-6:00 BH 018 - time changed 3-31-08
Ciccarelli, Andrea

In this course we will analyze the major developments of the modern Italian lyric trends with an eye to both their relationship to the Medieval and Renaissance Italian tradition as well as to the novel trends that developed in the early twentieth-century and reach well into the current times. We will read poets such as Foscolo, Leopardi, Gozzano, Saba, Ungaretti, Montale, Luzi and focus on movements such as Futurism and the Avant-guarde.

FRIT M815/9654 Individual Readings in Italian Literature
ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line AUTH for above section from department

FRIT M875/9655 Research in Italian Literature
ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

This section for on-campus students.

FRIT M875/17047 Research in Italian Literature
ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

This section for off-campus students.

FRIT G901/9620 Advanced Research
ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line AUTH for above section from department; above section for Italian PhD candidates

Cross Listed and Topics Courses

COLL E103/14256 Cloak and Dagger
Lectures: TR 11:15-12:05 BH 244
Film showings: T 7:00-10:00 BH 228
Arnaudo, Marco

Discussion sections:
14257 - F 9:05-9:55 BH 149 - Staff
14258 - F 10:10-11:00 BH 247 - Staff
14259 - F 1:25-2:15 BH 315 - Staff

A MAXIMUM OF FIVE FILMS ARE REQUIRED AND WILL BE SHOWN ON TUESDAY EVENINGS DURING THE SEMESTER

Introduces students to one of the most basic concepts of literary criticism - literary genres - with specific reference to a specific popular genre, the so-called “thriller.” “Thriller” is a term that came into use in the late nineteenth century and was applied not only to the detective story, the most famous examples of which were A. Conan Doyle’s tales about Sherlock Holmes, but also to a closely- related literary genre, the spy novel, that also attained great popularity during the period. The term “thriller” is often unfortunately employed to denigrate books relegated to this generic category.

The primary focus of this course will be to teach students how to understand the “rules of the game,” the conventions and traditions that govern any literary genre, with specific reference to the “thriller” as exemplified by selected detective and spy stories in both literature and the cinema. It is my hope that students will apply the lessons they learn about genre in this class to any literary genre, not only genres typical of popular culture but also those associated primarily with “serious” literature (the epic, tragedy, the sonnet, etc.).

Students will read the detective fiction of Poe, Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, and Friedrich Dürrenmatt. We will also examine several detective films in the film noir tradition, including The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. For the spy genre, we will read a pre-Cold War novel, at least one James Bond novel by Ian Fleming and a Cold War spy novel by John Le Carré. In addition, we will screen two very different James Bond films: one made during the height of the Cold War, and Martin Campbell’s Casino Royale (2006).

Students will be given several written exams, and several critical essays on the primary texts and films studied will be assigned. They will be expected to take an active part in discussion sections.

COLL E103/16994 A Question of Love
Lectures: MW 9:05-9:55 BH 347
Mickel, Emanuel

Discussion sections:
16995 - M 12:20-1:10 ED 1250 - Staff
16996 - W 12:20-1:10 SY 103 - Staff
16997 - F 12:20-1:10 SB 138 - Staff

In the topics course "A Question of Love" we shall explore our understanding of the various emotions and relationships we cover by the word love. As a basis for understanding the different aspects of love in human relationships as represented in western tradition, we shall read and analyze an anthology of fundamental passages from several classical and medieval works, ranging from Plato and the Bible to Ovid and the Romance of the Rose. We shall use our discussion of these texts to analyze the representations of love in two medieval romances, Chretien's Erec and Enide and Gottfried's Tristan; one seventeenth and one eighteenth century French novel, The Princess of Cleves and Dangerous Liaisons; and an English novel of Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility.

There will be three examinations during the semester including the final. Students will be asked to write four papers: two of two pages and two not more than three pages. In these papers students will learn to approach literary texts in a critical manner. In this course we shall discuss the psychology of love, the close relationship between love and philosophy, the question of love and chivalry in the Middle Ages, the importance of rhetoric and authorial use of persona. Analyzing these issues will add to the student's ability to understand the novel we shall read, to appreciate the many faceted aspects of the experiences we cover by the single word love, and to see the ways in which writers have represented these human emotions.

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