| French and Italian, Spring 1997 | |
| Newsletter of the Department of French and Italian |
Supported in part by dues-paying members of the I.U. Alumni Association |
Alumna interviews octogenarian authors
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Leslee Poulton, PhD '88, a faculty member at University of Wisconsin at La Crosse, pictured here with Henri Troyat, was in Paris and Russia during the winter, spring, and summer of 1996. Having done her PhD dissertation on the topic of Tahiti in four French authors, she had the pleasant surprise of getting to meet the stepdaughter and cousins of Jean Dorsenne, one of her subjects. Plans for future publications on him are in the offing. In addition, she was able to be in contact with two Russian writers who have lived in France for decades and who write in French. They are Zoe Oldenbourg and Henri Troyat of the Académie Française. These octogenarians were gracious and spoke freely by telephone and in person with Poulton.
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Graduate student newsletter debuts
This past fall semester, linguistics graduate student Bruce Anderson edited the premier issue of fritgrad@indiana.edu, a newsletter written by graduate students for departmental graduate students and faculty. A collaborative effort drawing upon the talents of Debra Karr (layout editor), Colleen Ryan, Julia Davis, Dan Golembeski, and Kate Paesani Starrett, the newsletter's primary purpose is to foster communication among the three "branches" of the department, and between graduate students and faculty. Its pages feature staff and faculty biographies, teaching tips, arguments for and against a current controversial topic in French and Italian, want ads, a list of upcoming lectures and conferences, and horoscopes (which are "just for laughs," writes Anderson, who also says that "the content of each issue will vary according to whom I can bribe, cajole, or physically force into writing an article").
Study abroad moves from Strasbourg to Aix-en-Provence
Beginning in fall 1997, IUB is relocating its academic-year French study abroad program from Strasbourg to Aix-en-Provence, joining the long-established Michigan-Wisconsin program in Aix, which appoints a resident U.S. faculty director from each partner school in rotation and has a permanent French assistant director. Students select courses from the humanities and social sciences and are enrolled alongside French students at the Université de Provence. The program runs special orientation courses in the fall and optional language courses throughout the year. Students live in university dormitories or in apartments with other U.S. and French students.
Aix is a charming, lively, colorful city, with many splendid 17th- and 18th-century buildings; its most famous boulevard, the Cours Mirabeau, has been called "the most beautiful main street in the world." Lovely fountains grace many of the public squares throughout the city, which sits at the foot of Mont St. Victoire, made famous by native son Paul Cézanne. Aix has been a university town for almost 600 years, and its 40,000 students strongly influence the cultural life of the city. Aix and the region of Provence are blessed with more days of sunshine than any other part of France, with the Riviera, Italy, and Spain nearby.
Modern-day 'true vers' pen, publish poems
The French and Italian department poetry reading group, Le True Vers, founded in 1994 by Mylène Catel, PhD'96, Isabelle Cadieu, and Daria Roche and kindly encouraged and supported by Professor Charlotte Gerrard, continues to meet twice a semester to enjoy friendly afternoons of good food, words, and thoughts.
Undergraduate and graduate students, staff, and faculty are invited to write poems and short narratives in English, French, and Italian (and also Old French, Welsh, and Neapolitan) on a proposed theme (e.g. "Rivers," "Mardi Gras," "Lights," "Pastiches," "Flowers," "Invasions, Migrations, and Pilgrimages," and "Family") and then to read and discuss them during the group's meetings. Le True Vers regularly collects all contributions in a little journal financially sponsored by the department and also organizes a yearly public reading in the spring.
Among past and present contributors are Denis Augier, Heather Balesteri, Dan Golembeski, John Isbell, Joyce Janca-Aji, Geri L. Johnson, David Moore, Kira Moore, Corinne La Marle, Patrick Meadows and his students, Francesca Parmeggiani, Isabel Piedmont, Ted Seaman, Jason M. Thomas, Amelia Tundo, Jolene Vos (illustrator of Le True Vers's cover and pictures with T. Ramsby and Isabelle Cadieu), Mike Yetter, Judith Ware, and Valeria Wong. Everyone is welcome to participate in Le True Vers.
Gilbert wins award
Natalie Gilbert, undergraduate student of John Isbell in his F300 class, has been selected by the American Society of French Academic Palms as the winner of the Concours potique pour tudiants universitaires, au niveau intermdiaire, for her poem "Decolorant." This is her winning poem:
Il entre, et mon visage va rouge fonce.
Fonce, comme ma mmoire du coucher de soleil
quand l'horizon etait orange vif.
Vif, comme mes sentiments
quand il m'a embrassee dans le soir jaune doux.
Doux, comme les vents cascadant
au travers du frou-frou de vert decolorant.
Decolorant, comme ses mots d'amour pour toujours
quand le bleu, l'indigo, et le violet du matin
s'approchent,
et il est Disparu.
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Last updated: November 18, 1997
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