Course Schedule with Descriptions - Spring 2009

FRIT F300 / 7438 Reading & Expression in French
1:25- 2:15 MWF - BH 214
MacPhail, Eric

In this course we will read an anthology of French lyric poetry from the Middle Ages to the present, a 17th-century comedy by Corneille entitled l’Illusion comique, a collection of short stories from the 20th century, and the early 19th-century novel Adolphe by Benjamin Constant. For the poetry and again for the short stories, students will do a class presentation and write and rewrite a short composition. For the play and the novel, there will be in-class essay tests. The course grade will depend on the four written assignments and on class participation. Prerequisite is F250, F255, or F265. F300 fulfills A & H requirement.

FRIT F300 / 7440 Reading & Expression in French
Topic: France and its Others
1:00 - 2:15 TR - SY 0008
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, a presentation, a final exam, and class participation.

FRIT F300 /7439 Reading & Expression in French
Topic: La condition humaine
2:30 - 3:45 TR - KH 203
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 F305 / 7441 Theatre et essai
10:10 - 11:00 MWF - BH 205
Mickel, Emanuel

Class may be taken for honors credit by arrangement with the instructor. In F 305 we shall read an anthology of 16th and 17th century poems. We shall read a play by Molière, and two novels, the Princesse de Clèves and the Liaisons dangereuses. Students will be asked to write a paper or two and there will be two exams plus a final that will be comprehensive. In this class we shall explore the ways of reading texts from centuries other than our own.

FRIT F306 / 7442 Roman et poésie
Topic: Roman et poésie à déguster
11:15 - 12:30 TR - SY 108 - location changed 12-03-08
Merceron, Jacques

Dans ce cours, nous aborderons des oeuvres romanesques et poétiques ayant pour thème principal la nourriture, les repas, les manières de table, la convivialité, etc. Nous lirons la totalité du roman de Muriel Barbery intitulé Une gourmandise (2000), de larges extraits du roman d’Emile Zola, Le Ventre de Paris (1873), ainsi que des extraits plus courts de romans et d’oeuvres en prose, tels que Gargantua et Pantagruel de Fr. Rabelais, Madame Bovary de G. Flaubert, A l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs de M. Proust, Moderato cantabile de M. Duras, etc. (en anthologie photocopiée). Nous visionnerons le film Le Festin de Babette (d’après une nouvelle de Karen Blixen). Puis nous lirons, sur cette même thématique alimentaire et culinaire, un choix de poèmes d’A. Rimbaud, Ch. Baudelaire, P. Valéry, F. Ponge, J. Prévert, B. Vian et d’autres encore (en anthologie photocopiée). A travers ces oeuvres, nous nous interrogerons sur la centralité de l’alimentation et de la boisson comme expérience commune, mais aussi comme expérience singulière. Ce sera l’occasion d’explorer notamment la question des rapports entre nourriture et société, nourriture et famille, nourriture et symbolique alimentaire, nourriture et écriture. Notation: Participation active et continue en classe (25%); 2 compositions écrites (25%); exposé oral (25%); examen final (25%). Le cours sera fait en français.

FRIT F311 / 13227 Contemporary France: Film & Culture
Topic: Bodies in Film
11:15 - 12:30 TR - SY 210
Films: M 7:15-10:00 - BH 310
Bryson, Devin

In the darkness of the movie theater, cinema conjures up a fantastical illusion that envelops its audience. Yet, as we lose ourselves in cinema’s reveries, we often forget the physicality of the medium. What would narrative cinema be if not for the actors who embody the stories on screen, the technical artists who wrangle with the equipment, and the viewers who sensually experience those visual stories? Perhaps due to the hidden physicality of cinema, many films consider various bodies, their social construction, and their erotic, violent, or quotidian encounters with other bodies.

Contemporary French cinema has shown a particular fascination with the body. In this course we will form a portrait of contemporary France and its cinematic history, movements, practices, and theory by examining representations of the body in French films since 1950. We will consider social issues in which corporeality plays a crucial role – such as immigration, gender relations, sexual identity, colonialism, war, and social protest. We will also look at critical concerns in cinematic analysis that focus on the body – such as the gendered viewer and object, systems of visual pleasure, and minority cinema. Along with viewing the films, we will also read key theoretical texts in order to become familiar with the rich history of French film criticism, as well as documents that provide us with the historical and cultural contexts in France in which the films are created. Class discussion will be in English, the films will be shown with English subtitles, and students may write their papers in either English or French. Joint-offered with CMCL C398 National Cinemas.

Films

Robert Bresson – Un condamné à mort s’est échappé (1956)
Alain Resnais – Hiroshima mon amour (1959)
François Truffaut – Jules et Jim (1962)
Jean-Luc Godard – Pierrot le fou (1965)
Jacques Tati – Playtime (1967)
Luis Buñuel – Cet objet obscur du désir (1977)
Agnès Varda – Sans toit ni loi (1985)
Claire Denis – Beau travail (1999)
Marina de Van – Dans ma peau (2002)
Bernardo Bertolucci – The Dreamers/Les Innocents (2003)
Catherine Breillat – Anatomie de l’enfer (2004)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet – Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004)
Ousmane Sembène – Moolaadé (2004)
Michael Haneke – Caché (2005)

FRIT F313 / 7444 Advanced Grammar
10:10 - 11:00 MWF - BH 231
Dekydtspotter, Laurent

French F313 is devoted to a comprehensive study of French grammar. This course emphasizes in-depth study of advanced points in French grammar. The focus on grammar is supported by various listening and speaking activities. By the end of this course students should be able to communicate in more 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 text will be Grammaire Francaise, Olliver et al. The course will be conducted in French. Prerequisite is FRIT F250, F255, or F269.

FRIT F313 / 7443 Advanced Grammar
12:20 - 1:10 MWF - JH 440
MacPhail, Eric

This course has two aims: to summarize the grammar learned up to this level and to expand that knowledge to written and literary French grammar. In order to do so, we use Harper’s Grammar of French by Samuel N. Rosenberg et al. and the exercise book. The semester goal is to give students a grammatical instrument in preparation for the reading-intensive courses at the F300 and 400 levels. The class will be graded by various types of small and big tests.

FRIT F313 / 7445 Advanced Grammar
1:25 - 2:15 MWF - WH 002 - effective 2-13-09
MacPhail, 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 at the F300 and 400 levels.

FRIT F314 / 7446 Advanced Composition
9:30 - 10:45 TR - BH 137 - location changed 1-14-09
Cervone, Diana - effective 1-8-09

Feuilles mobiles: Atelier d’écriture. P: F250 or equivalent. Designed to improve command of written French and build vocabulary through an intensive writing workshop with practice consisting in varied short written exercises and activities to improve expression in French. Students gain familiarity with a variety of creative, literary, expository, and communicative writing styles and develop their ability to form arguments in French by developing strategies relating to the writing process, and by acquiring tools (e.g. building vocabulary and acquiring an enhanced awareness of structures and styles) useful in written and oral communication.

FRIT F316 / 7450 Conversational Practice
10:10 - 11:00 MWF - BH 016
Dobrenn, Audrey

See description below.

FRIT F316 / 7448 Conversational Practice
11:15 - 12:05 MWF - BH 016
Donaldson, Bryan

See description below.

FRIT F316 / 7449 Conversational Practice
1:25 - 2:15 MWF - WH 114 - effective 2-13-09
Brunet, Marie-Line

See description below.

FRIT F316 / 7447 Conversational Practice
7:15 - 8:30 TR - BH 315
Sohier, Benedicte

This course focuses on the development of speaking and listening skills in French. Students will learn to carry out a number of communicative tasks, such as asking for information, expressing opinions, giving advice, etc., while discussing a variety of topics, such as personal history, every day activities, personal interests, and current events. Other goals include helping students recognize and use appropriate registers and styles of spoken French. The course also aims to foster an understanding of France and French society and some awareness of issues in other French-speaking countries and regions. Materials will include film excerpts and news broadcasts, audio samples of radio programs, and songs, some of which students may access through the course web site. Since this is a course in oral communication, participation and preparation are a very important part of the final grade. The course grade is based on the following: class participation, homework preparation, oral presentations and debates, a midterm oral presentation project, gradually graded listening comprehension exercises, and a final examination in an interview format. There will also be non-graded exercises in listening comprehension to be done during an unsupervised weekly laboratory hour. Prerequisite is FRIT F250 or equivalent.

FRIT F317 / 7451 French in the Business World
1:00 - 2:15 TR - BH 105
Ansart, Guillaume

Introduction to the language of business activities in France and to the structure and functioning of various aspects of contemporary French economic life. Awareness of the general cultural context within which business activities take place in France will also be an important dimension of the course. Weekly exercises will include oral activities (class discussions and debates, role playing, etc...) as well as reading and writing (translation, letter writing, reading of articles from French newspapers and magazines on current economic issues, etc...). Course taught in French. No previous knowledge of the world of French business is required. Useful for students preparing for the proficiency examinations of the Chambre de Commerce de Paris. Prerequisite is FRIT F250 or equivalent; fulfills S & H requirement.

FRIT F362 / 26289 Introduction historique à la civilisation française II
First 8 weeks class
Tu 1:00 - 3:20 & Th 1:00 - 3:30 - BH 236 - new time effective 11-10-08
Méchoulan, Eric

Nous verrons, dans ce cours, comment entre 16e et 18e siècle se mettent en place les formes modernes de l’État, de la religion, des savoirs, des beaux-arts et des lettres. Allant de la civilité prônée au 16e siècle à l’idée même de civilisation proposée au 18e siècle, nous examinerons les rapports à la communauté et à la mémoire, aux nouveaux processus de subjectivation et aux sociabilités dans lesquelles ils trouvent leur cohérence. Nous passerons par des analyses spécifiques d’extraits d’œuvres de Castiglione, Mirabeau, Montaigne, Descartes, Pascal, Molière, Mlle de Scudéry, Mlle de Lespinasse, Rousseau, Sade et Saint-Just, ainsi que des tableaux de Champaigne et Le Sueur.

FRIT F399 / 7452 Reading for Honors
ARR - ARR ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line permission from department.

FRIT F401 / 7453 Structure & Development of French
11:15 - 12:30 TR - JH 440 - location changed 01-05-09
Rottet, Kevin

This course provides an overview of the structure of present day French, a perspective on its historical development, and an analysis of some of the current language-related issues in the French-speaking world. We will first consider the history of Modern French from an external perspective, by examining some important historical events in the history of the language, and from an internal perspective, by looking at some of the specific ways the language has changed over time. Then we will talk about variation in French, or how French differs geographically (i.e. dialects and regional varieties in France and in the French-speaking world), how it differs socially (i.e. how social categories such as socioeconomic class or sex are reflected in language use), and how it differs situationally (i.e. how people change the ways they speak depending on who they’re talking to, the formality of the situation, etc.). Along the way we will look at spoken versus written French, slang, and français populaire. Next we will discuss directions for the future: how French creates new words (neologisms), copes with English influence (Anglicisms), and issues concerning the feminization of the names of occupations traditionally practiced by males.

FRIT F435 / 26290 Enlightenment Narrative
Topic: Love, Family, & Social Order: the Novel from Enlightenment to Romanticism
4:00 - 5:15 TR - BH 221
Ansart, Guillaume

This course will be devoted to close readings of six short novels written between the early eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries - four of them by men and two by women - which explore conflicts of love and passion with the institutions representing social order: the family, religion, patriarchy, class divisions, etc...

We will read the following works:

Prévost, Manon Lescaut
Mme de Tencin, Mémoires du comte de Comminges
Mme de Charrière, Lettres de Lausanne
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Paul et Virginie
Chateaubriand, Atala
Constant, Adolphe

Students will be asked to write two papers (6-8 pages each) and take a final exam.

FRIT F463 / 26291 Civilisation Francaise 1
Topic: La France médiévale: Arts et Idées (jusqu’à 1500)
9:30 - 10:45 TR - SY 006 - location changed 1-14-09
Merceron, Jacques

Dans ce cours, nous étudierons le développement artistique et culturel de la France médiévale jusqu’à 1500 environ. Nous mettrons particulièrement l’accent, dans un premier temps, sur l’histoire des idées, les structures féodales et la spécificité du christianisme médiéval. Puis, ce contexte posé, nous aborderons l’architecture et la sculpture (églises et abbayes romanes et gothiques, l’évolution des châteaux), la peinture (fresques, manuscrits, enluminures, autres supports picturaux) et la musique (monophonie et polyphonie, musique religieuse et chansons des troubadours et trouvères, instruments médiévaux). Nous effectuerons ce parcours artistique en essayant de dégager les lignes de force, les tendances, les évolutions et les moments de rupture propres à chaque grande période médiévale. En fonction de la disponibilité des documents, nous utiliserons des images numériques, vidéos, CDs et textes. Notation : participation active aux discussions, contrôle continu (5 «quizzes») (25%), 4 mini dossiers - texte et iconographie (25%), une composition écrite de 6/7 pages (25%), un examen final (25%). Le cours sera fait en français.

FRIT F495 / 7456 Individual Readings in French
Time and location arranged with professor
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line permission from department.

FRIT F499 / 7457 Reading for Honors
Time and location arranged with professor
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line permission from department.

FRIT F556 / 26293 Le Roman au 20e siècle II
3:35 - 5:30 M - BH 321
Gray, Margaret

Respectant les priorités d’un cours dit « survol », nous nous lancerons—ceintures de sécurité bien attachées—dans un parcours terrifiant à souhait avec Combray de Marcel Proust, et l’angoisse du seul souvenir qui reste au narrateur d’un passé perdu : angoisse partagée par son héros, Swann, dans Un Amour de Swann (publiés tous les deux en 1913 dans Du côté de chez Swann, premier volume d’A la recherche du temps perdu). Avec La Vagabonde de Colette (1910), nous étudierons la recherche d’une indépendance littéraire, sentimentale, et financière chez une jeune actrice de music-hall. Passant à l’époque de la Deuxième Guerre Mondiale, nous verrons que La Nausée (1938) de Jean-Paul Sartre reflète le malaise de l’époque à travers une aliénation progressive du corps, ainsi qu’une perte de tout point de repère chez le protagoniste. Dans Le Mythe de Sisyphe: essai sur l’absurde d’Albert Camus (1942), nous quitterons momentanément le roman pour aborder une méditation sur des possibilités—ou créées, ou trouvées—de signification humaine dans un monde pervers ou menaçant. Sur le plan colonial, un tel monde est détaillé dans Une vie de boy de Ferdinand Oyono, publié en 1956 avant l’indépendance du Cameroun : roman qui documente la désillusion d’un jeune domestique devant les abus des blancs qu’il vénérait. Quelques extraits du film « Chocolat » de Claire Denis viendront appuyer le contexte colonial du roman.

Traversant l’Atlantique au Québec d’ Anne Hébert, romancière et poète, nous verrons que c’est l’héritage français colonial, avec son catholicisme étouffant, qui déclenche la révolte de l’héroïne dans le roman Kamouraska (1971) : texte qui recèle dans son titre la transgression mortelle commise dans le village québécois de Kamouraska : l’ »amour. » Nous descendrons ensuite aux Antilles du roman guadeloupéen Traversée de la Mangrove (1985) de Maryse Condé, où, à travers le trauma de l’Histoire vécue à l’échelle personnelle, divers personnages tentent de se créer des identités métisses spécifiques. De retour en Europe, nous nous trouverons en Belgique avec Jacqueline Harpman, dont le roman Orlanda (1996)—à travers l’histoire d’une héroïne professionnelle qui jouit d’une carrière réussie—pose d’inquiétantes questions d’identité, d’altérité et de transformation. Nous bouclerons la boucle dans l’Hexagone avec le roman dystopique de Marie Darrieussecq, Truismes (1996): satire virulente du pouvoir chauvin, masculin, raciste, culturel et politique dans une France hypercontemporaine. Et nous conclurons (essoufflés!) toujours à Paris, mais un Paris hybride, métis—le Paris de l’immigration—avec Calixthe Beyala, qui évoque dans Comment Cuisiner son Mari à l’Africaine (2000) la lutte entre un passé traditionaliste et un présent rempli de fausses solutions. A travers ces lectures différentes, nous serons attentifs aux stratégies formelles de nos textes; à l’évolution du genre et du discours romanesque; et aux capacités critiques de romanciers interlocuteurs de leurs contextes socioculturels.

FRIT F573 / 7458 Methods of College French Teaching
10:10 - 12:05 F - WH 205
Sax, Kelly

This course will provide an overview of approaches to foreign language teaching and the theoretical notions underlying current trends and classroom practice. Course objectives are the following:

1. to acquaint students with issues and research in foreign language teaching
2. to show ways of using research to achieve more effective classroom teaching and testing
3. to develop students' skills in evaluating teaching performance and instructional materials
4. to prepare students for continued professional development

Class meetings will be devoted to discussion, short presentations and/or demonstrations by students and the instructor. Students will use professional journals to explore topics of interest; prepare classroom materials; evaluate instructional materials; and complete an online teaching portfolio.

FRIT F579 / 26294 Introduction to French Morphology
4:00 - 5:15 MW - BH 232
Auger, Julie

Morphology is the study of word structure. In this course, which introduces morphology from the perspective of the structure of French, we will be concerned both with basic questions that must be answered in any theory (such as the elusive definitions of morpheme and word) and with the various approaches to morphology taken within Generative Linguistics in the last 25 years. Among the questions particular to French that we will investigate are the structure of verb endings and the role of the paradigm (inflectional morphology), the status of the feminine desinence (inflection & derivation), the building up of words from roots and suffixes or prefixes (derivation, e.g. emploi+eur), the process of compounding (e.g. la porte-parole, le cessez-le-feu), the role of clitics (e.g. me, y) in the grammar, and the "grammaticalization" of certain lexical forms over time. Because issues in generative morphology interact so crucially with both syntactic and phonological theory, the course affords an opportunity for students to solidify their understanding of generative theory as a whole.

FRIT F604 / 26295 History of the French Language 2
4:00 - 5:15 TR - SY 100
Vance, Barbara

In this course we will explore in greater theoretical and empirical depth some issues introduced briefly in F603, focusing especially – but not exclusively -- on syntax and on the later medieval and early modern periods. We will read texts from the 11th-18th centuries, develop (partial) accounts of their grammatical and phonological systems, and compare these accounts to the comments of 16th and 17th-century grammarians in an attempt to understand the origins of the spoken and written French of today. The semester project may be on any aspect of the history of the French language as long as it involves close scrutiny of texts from several centuries. Prerequisite: F 603

FRIT F615 / 26296 Studies in Medieval French Literature
Topic: Roman de la Rose
8:00 - 9:55 TR - BH 018 - Note time change effective 11-6-08
Mickel, Emanuel

In F 615 we shall read the entire Roman de la Rose. In my lectures I shall draw out the classical tradition in philosophy, history, and theology that forms the foundation of this work. I shall discuss in some detail the 12th century philosophical texts that are fundamental to understanding this work and we shall gloss the work’s major parts. Students will be expected to present a paper to the class. There will be a final exam.

FRIT F630 / 28513 Studies in 17th-Century Literature
Topic: Pascal’s Political Thought
First 8 weeks only 4:00 - 6:00 TR - GB 333
Méchoulan, Eric

Dans le séminaire, nous analyserons de près une pensée de Pascal (Le Guern 677, Lafuma 828-829) qui est une fable sur l’origine du politique. À partir de cette pensée, nous tâcherons de reconstruire l’ensemble de la pensée politique de Pascal et sa situation dans l’héritage de la philosophie politique antique, médiévale et moderne. Nous en verrons aussi les enjeux pour la réflexion politique contemporaine. Ces analyses fourniront en même temps l’occasion de penser ce que peut être une histoire des idées (politiques par exemple), en particulier en liaison ou en opposition avec l’archéologie de Michel Foucault.

FRIT F677 / 26298 French Lexicology / Lexicography
2:30 - 3:45 TR - BH 221
Rottet, Kevin

From the marginal glosses of medieval manuscripts to the bilingual lexicons of Renaissance classicists to today’s electronic and on-line dictionaries such as the Trésor de la langue française informatisé, dictionaries have been essential repositories and even shapers of language. This course will survey major issues and techniques in lexicology (the scientific study of words), and lexicography (dictionary making). Looking first at lexicology, we will consider topics such as componential analysis; semantic primitives (do all languages have a common semantic core?); prototype theory (why are some birds more “birdy” than others?); semantic relations including problems of homonymy and polysemy, metonymy and metaphor (in English, time is money; in French, money is food) and how these are deployed creatively throughout the lexicon of a language. Turning our attention to lexicography, we will examine, inter alia, definitions (how are they constructed and what is Aristotelian about them?), sense distinctions (do words really have separate enumerable definitions or is this a convenient fiction?), and problems of etymology, including Pierre Guiraud’s structural etymology. We will examine the nature and techniques of lexicographic evidence, from 19th century volunteer readers to electronic concordances and corpora. Issues in the compilation of bilingual dictionaries, dictionaries of collocations, learners’ dictionaries, and research on the dictionary user will also be examined. FRIT F677 meets with LING L630

FRIT F810 / 13562 Individual Readings in French & Francophone Civilization
Time and location arranged with professor
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line permission from department.

FRIT F815 / 7459 Individual Readings in French Literature & Linguistics
Time and location arranged with professor
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line permission from department.

FRIT F825 / 26299 Seminar in French Literature
Topic: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, philosophe de la vie.
3:35 - 5:30 W - BH 321
Brillaud, Jerome

Ce séminaire est consacré à Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Nous nous intéresserons tout particulièrement aux rapports entre les écrits philosophiques et les textes autobiographiques.

Les œuvres suivantes figurent au programme :

Les Lettres morales
Du Contrat social
Discours sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité parmi les hommes
Narcisse
Lettre à d’Alembert
Emile ou de l’éducation
Les Confessions
Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire
Dialogues de Rousseau juge de Jean-Jacques

FRIT F875 / 7460 Research in French Literature & Language
ARR - ARR ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

This section for on-campus students.

FRIT F875 / 13565 Research in French Literature & Language
ARR - ARR ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

This section for off-campus students. Obtain on-line permission from department.

FRIT G901 / 7461 Advanced Research
ARR - ARR ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line permission from department.

Italian Language and Literature Courses

FRIT M301 / 11107 Italian Reading & Expression
10:10 - 11:00 D - BH 314
Pecchioli, Emanuela

In this course we will learn to analyze texts from the main literary genres (lyric poetry, epic poetry, narrative, theater, songs, cinema) using specialized vocabulary, basic literary tropes and rhetorical figures, and basic principals of poetic rhyme and meter. We will also deepen our understanding of intermediate and advanced grammar structures through daily practice of structures in speaking and writing activities that revolve around our texts. Therefore, primary semester goals include reading and writing analytically with greater accuracy and ease, and speaking with greater fluency and confidence, particularly about literary texts.

FRIT M308 / 7485 Masterpieces of Italian Literature 2
4:00 - 5:15 TR - BH 336
Lèbano, Edoardo

This course will cover the most representative Italian writers and literary movements from the 18th through the 20th century, seen in the background of the historical, political and social developments of the period. The focus of the course will be on individual authors such as Goldoni, Foscolo, Leopardi, Manzoni, Carducci, Pascoli, Pirandello, Ungaretti, and Montale. Students will write short essays during the term, participate in oral presentations and discussions, and write a final exam. The course will be conducted in Italian. Fulfills A & H requirement and carries culture studies credit.

Required Text: Carlo Goldoni, La locandiera. Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, Torino, Italy (or any other available paperback edition). Additional material for the course will be prepared by the instructor and will be available at the I.U. Bookstore.

FRIT M311 / 14066 Italian Film and Culture: Italian-Style Comedy
Topic: Laughing is a Serious Matter
1:00 - 2:15 TR - BH 242
Films: 7:15 - 10:00 T - BH 109
Vitti, Antonio

In the wake of postwar cinema a new genre emerged that lasted from the late 1950s to the mid 1970s: La commedia all’italiana - Italian Style Comedy, influenced by the Neo-realist movement, continued social critique by combining it with comic techniques. From this new style a series of directors managed to satirize the Italy of the economic boom by presenting it as a “Miracolo economico all’italiana” in a genuinely popular form of cinema. Despite its artistic and box-office success, Italian Style Comedy is rarely studied. In this course we will look at the emergence of this genre, its key works, and compare and contrast the way in which different directors developed the unique features of the commedia. We will also examine the relationship between cinematic creation, social issues and the historical conditions that gave rise to the popularity of this particular form of comedy and shaped its development. Class discussion will be in English, the films will be shown with English subtitles, and students may write their papers in either English or Italian, the choice of language will not be a factor in the final grade. Joint-offered with CMCL C398 National Cinemas

Required texts:

• A New Guide to Italian Cinema; Year: 2007; Authors: Carlo Celli and Maria Cottino-Jones; ISBN: 1-4039-7565-5; Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Comedy Italian Style: The Golden Age of Italian Film Comedies (paperback); Year: due to be published 10/15/2008); Author: Remi Fournier Lanzoni; ISBN: 978-0826-418-227; Publisher: Continuum International Publishing Group
• Additional essays will be provided by the instructor

FRIT M333 / 26301 Dante and His Times
11:15 - 12:30 TR - WH 006 - location changed 12-03-08
Storey, H. Wayne

This course examines the formation of Dante’s artistic, political, and religious world and his often eclectic views and responses to the conditions of that world. Taught in English with readings in English.

Required Books:

• Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, translated by Allen Mandelbaum: all volumes Bantam Classics (Inferno, Pugatarorio, and Paradiso)
• John Larner, Italy in the Age of Dante and Petrarch 1216–1380. Longman Publishers

Suggested:

• T. Barolini, Dante for the New Millennium. Fordham University Press.

FRIT M435 / 28448 Italian Theater Workshop
2:30-3:45 TR - WY 101
Ryan-Scheutz, Colleen

This full-immersion workshop experience is open to students of all levels of Italian who have completed the M100-M250 sequence (or equivalent) or by permission of the instructor. Students will read and explore a variety of theatrical texts before focusing on the full-scale production of one authentic play by an Italian author. Students can have both acting and non-acting roles (stage managers, set designers, costumes, and publicity, web design, photography and video technician, sound and lighting design) in the final production. All classes, rehearsals, assignments and communications will take place in Italian. NOTE: All students must attend a preliminary meeting/audition, even those interested in non-acting roles. Students should sign up for a time slot on Dec. 2 or 3 (3:30-5:30 pm). Contact Prof. Ryan-Scheutz (ryancm @indiana.edu).

FRIT M495 / 7488 Individual Readings in Italian Literature
ARR - ARR ARR ARR
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line permission from department.

FRIT M499 / 7489 Readings for Honors
Time and location arranged with professor
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line permission from department.

FRIT M565 / 26306 Readings in the Italian Cinema: The Cinema of Gianni Amelio
4:00 - 6:00 R - BH 018
Films: 7:15 - 10:00 W - BH 310
Vitti, Antonio

Gianni Amelio is a writer, a critic, and the only filmmaker ever to win three Felix awards for best European film. Abroad, in spite of his great success in the early nineties, his name is not always recognized. In Italy, where the dominant culture likes to think of itself as one of the five superpowers, he is perceived as a difficult artist who faults the nation for its short memory and the younger generation for pursuing material goods and status symbols. So why take a course on Amelio? Why explore a type of cinema that for many is not entertaining or modern or even Italian? The answers to these questions and to the reservations about Amelio’s films are complex, and this course will address them in a variety of ways.

Amelio has explored themes intrinsic to Italian cinema, art, and literature but in a way that unsettles many critics and audiences and contradicts commonly held expectations. Part of Amelio’s reading of the past directly confronts realism, cinephilism, and neorealism. He constantly uses narrative digression and ellipse to rework autobiographical elements in a cinematic amalgam that includes the style of American classics. Although regarded as the primary living descendent of neorealism, true to his unmistakable evasion of categorization, he discounts both the term and the association with postwar filmmakers.

Class discussion will be in Italian, the films will be shown with English subtitles.

FRIT M572 / 26308 Italian Teaching Practicum
2:30 - 3:20 W - BH 626
Ryan-Scheutz, Colleen

For M250 instructors.

FRIT M572 / 26309 Italian Teaching Practicum
3:35 - 4:25 W - BH 344
Ryan-Scheutz, Colleen

For M150 instructors.

FRIT M572 / 26310 Italian Teaching Practicum
4:40 - 5:30 W - BH 344
Ryan-Scheutz, Colleen

For M100 instructors.

FRIT M572 / 26311 Italian Teaching Practicum
5:45 - 6:35 W - BH 626
Ryan-Scheutz, Colleen

For M200 instructors.

FRIT M604 / 13232 Seminar in Renaissance Italian Literature: Ariosto and Folengo
3:35 - 5:30 T - WH 108
Scalabrini, Massimo

Ariosto e Folengo concepiscono e compongono l’Orlando furioso e il Baldus nello stesso giro d’anni (i primi cinque decenni del Cinquecento) e nella stessa area culturale padana che ha in Ferrara e Mantova due vitalissimi centri di irradiazione. Nonostante tali affinità, le soluzioni stilistiche e le figure antropologiche da essi elaborate risultano profondamente diverse, fino a culminare, in un caso, nel capolavoro riconosciuto del cosiddetto “classicismo rinascimentale” e, nell’altro, nel testo forse più straordinario della cosiddetta “letteratura irregolare.” Leggeremo in maniera ravvicinata e comparata il Furioso (del 1532) e il Baldus (nella redazione, postuma, del 1552), mettendoli al vaglio della critica e confrontandoli ad altre opere ariostesche e folenghiane. L’andamento seminariale del corso comporterà l’intervento costante di tutti i partecipanti, anche sotto forma di brevi presentazioni e schede recensorie. È richiesto inoltre un saggio finale di 15-20 pagine. Il corso si terrà in italiano.

Testi:

Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando furioso
Teofilo Folengo, Baldus
Il restante materiale sarà reso disponibile su “e-reserve”

FRIT M815 / 7490 Individual Readings in Italian Literature
Time and location arranged with professor
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line permission from department.

FRIT M815 / 30097 Individual Readings in Italian Literature -- section added 12/23/08
Time and location arranged with professor
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line permission from department.

FRIT M875 / 7491 Research in Italian Literature
Stephens, Sonya

This section for on-campus students.

FRIT M875 / 13566 Research in Italian Literature
Stephens, Sonya

This section for off-campus students. Obtain on-line permission from department.

FRIT G901 / 7462 Advanced Research
Stephens, Sonya

Obtain on-line permission from department.

Cross Listed and Topics Courses

COLL E103 / 11481 What is Tragedy?
11:15-12:05 TR - BH 340
Brillaud, Jerome

Discussions:
10:10 - 11:00 F - FQ 012A - Semk, Chris
11:15-12:05 F - FQ 012A - Semk, Chris
1:25 - 2:15 F - TBA - Semk, Chris

What did Antigone and Marilyn Monroe have in common? They were both viewed as tragic heroines in their own times. This course is an exploration of the human experience called tragedy. We will see that from the 4th century Athens to 21st century Hollywood the concept of tragedy has constantly been redefined and little if any consensus has been reached on what constitutes a tragedy.

Our discussions will be centered on artistic expressions of the tragic, whether a play, a novel or a movie. We will also read philosophical texts and analyze current media use of the term 'tragedy' in an attempt to answer the question: What is tragedy?

The readings include excerpts from Aristotle, Plato, Saint Augustine, Nietzsche and complete works from Sophocles, Shakespeare, Beckett, White... We will watch several movies including Hamlet with Ethan Hawke.

COLL S103 / 29810 Literature and Power in Early Modern Europe
4:00 - 6:35 MW - BH 011 - 2nd eight weeks - effective 12-03-08
Scalabrini, Massimo

This course will focus on the culture of the Italian Renaissance courts and the modern European national states. We will examine the complex relationship between literary creation and political power in an age that witnessed the origin of modern Absolutism in European history. How is poetry to preserve its inner freedom as well as its open access to truth in the context of absolute political power? The dilemmas of caution and resoluteness, simulation and dissimulation, heroism and conformity will be considered as some of the forces shaping early modern Italian and European literature.

The goal of the course is to read some of early modern Europe’s most representative works, to understand them in their diverse historical contexts, and -- on a more general note -- to develop a critical approach to literary texts. We will study the cultural and political circumstances in which these works were produced and read, as well as the metrical, rhetorical and stylistic notions indispensable to an analytical understanding of them. A selection of relevant introductory and critical essays will also be discussed. In order to develop and exercise these analytical skills, the students will write three short essays, give an oral presentation, and take a final exam.

Readings will include works by Dante, Ariosto, Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Castiglione, Della Casa, Montaigne, F. Bacon, Accetto, Gracián, La Rochefoucauld, La Bruyère and Alfieri.

Required Texts:

N. Machiavelli, The Prince;
F. Guicciardini, Maxims and Reflections;
B. Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier;
G. Della Casa, Galateo: A Renaissance Treatise on Manners.
All other texts will be available in a reader.

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