French

Professor: Spencer; Assistant Professor: Etoke; Visiting Instructor: Chalmin; Associate Professor Austin, chair

The Major in French

The major consists of at least nine courses: five courses at the 200 level or higher, including Course 327, and four additional courses at the 400 level, including a seminar. Courses must represent at least three different “areas,” i.e., periods, themes, and/or genres. Two courses from a semester-long study abroad program in France or a Francophone country may be counted toward the major, usually at the 400 level; four courses from a year-long program may be counted. No more than two courses in English may be counted toward the major. Only four courses taken at an institution other than Connecticut College may be counted toward the major. Senior majors are expected to demonstrate proficiency in the language. Students are strongly encouraged to study away in France or a Francophone country, and to attend the French Table in Knowlton.

The Minor in French

The minor consists of at least six courses at the 200 level or higher, at least two of which must be at the 400 level. One course from a semester-long study abroad program in France or a Francophone country may be counted toward the minor; two courses from a year-long program may be counted. No more than one course in English may be counted toward the minor. Only two courses taken at another institution may be counted toward the minor. Students are strongly encouraged to study away in France or a Francophone country, and to attend the French Table in Knowlton.

Learning Goals in the French Major

French specialists (majors and minors) and non- specialists who are nevertheless interested in seriously studying French are expected to:

Demonstrate proficiency in writing and speaking the language. In speaking, they are expected to reach, as a minimum, the proficiency level designated in the ACTFL standards, as ″High Intermediate.″ In writing they are expected to be able to write in clear, grammatically correct and cogent French 8-12 page analytical papers on literary, filmic or more generally cultural topics (linguistic proficiency)
Demonstrate proficiency in French and Francophone literature, French and Francophone cinema and French history, including knowledge of contemporary France and its troubled relationship with its colonial past (cultural proficiency)
Demonstrate proficiency in French contemporary theory. French students should be able to think critically, to analyze a cultural text (be it literary or cinematic) and to demonstrate some degree of familiarity with the major trends of contemporary French theory: structuralism, semiotics, deconstruction, postmodernism and post-colonialism (theoretical proficiency)
Demonstrate a thorough and nuanced understanding of France′s evolving status in an increasingly globalized world.

Courses

French Language, Literature and Cinema (in French)

FRENCH 101, 102 ELEMENTARY FRENCH Speaking, reading and writing; introduction to French culture. Some reading of French literary texts. Laboratory work. Five credit hours each semester.

Open only to students with fewer than two years in French at entrance. Enrollment limited to 20 students per section. Offered every year. This is a designated Writing course. J. Austin, Staff

FRENCH 103 LOWER INTERMEDIATE FRENCH For students with one or two years of secondary school French or the equivalent. Review and progress in grammar. Listening, speaking, reading and writing. Laboratory work.

Enrollment limited to 20 students. Offered every year. This is a designated Writing course. Staff

FRENCH 113 INTERMEDIATE FRENCH I Review of pronunciation and grammar; vocabulary building. Practice in speaking and writing based on selected readings of literary and documentary texts concerning contemporary France. Laboratory work.

Prerequisite: Two or three years of French at entrance and a College Board score of 470 or over, or Course 101, 102 or 103. Enrollment limited to 15 students. This is a designated Writing course. C. Spencer, Staff

FRENCH 114 INTERMEDIATE FRENCH II Practice in speaking and writing, with emphasis on the analysis and discussion of texts that explore literary, political and social values of modern France; grammar review; laboratory work.

Prerequisite: At least three years of French at entrance and a College Board score of 530 or over, or Course 113. Enrollment limited to 15 students. Offered every year. This is a designated Writing course. J. Austin, Staff

FRENCH 203 PENSEZ FRANCAIS I: THE FRENCH CULTURAL EXPERIENCE Conversation and composition based on contemporary texts and films about France and Francophone countries.

Prerequisite: At least four years of French at entrance and a College Board score of 570 or higher, or Course 114. Enrollment limited to 15 students. Offered every year. This is a designated Writing course. C. Spencer

FRENCH 204 PENSEZ FRANCAIS II: THE FRENCH LITERARY EXPERIENCE Conversation and composition based on contemporary writings.

Prerequisite: At least four years of French at entrance and a College Board of 580 or higher, Course 114 or 203. Enrollment limited to 15 students. This is a designated Writing course. Staff

FRENCH 324 WORDS IN TRANSLATION An initiation to French-English translation, with an emphasis on vocabulary building, syntaxical sequencing, and stylistical devices. This is a designated Writing course. Staff

FRENCH 325 POSTCOLONIAL FRANCOPHONE AFRICA THROUGH CONVERSATION The year 2010 marked the 50 years of ″African independences.″ This course stresses the improvement of oral skills by exploring various dimensions of francophone, post-colonial Africa. Conversations based on movies, novels, and essays will focus on the failure of the postcolonial state, the dynamics of social progress, gender, sexuality, urbanization, and immigration.

Prerequisite: One 300-level course or permission of the department. Enrollment limited to 20 students. N. Etoke

FRENCH 326 CIVILIZATION THROUGH CONVERSATION Stresses the improvement of oral skills by exploring various dimensions of contemporary French and Francophone culture. Newspaper and magazine articles as well as French television programs will be reviewed.

Prerequisite: One 300-level course or permission of the department. Enrollment limited to 16 students. This is a designated Writing course. Staff

FRENCH 327 INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY AND TEXTUAL ANALYSIS Selected readings and contemporary French films aimed at developing an understanding of literary and cinematic techniques.

Enrollment limited to 20 students. Offered every year. This course satisfies General Education Area 4 and is a designated Writing course. C. Spencer

FRENCH 328 CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN FRANCOPHONIE African (Maghrebian and West African), Canadian, and Caribbean authors. Focusing on questions of independence, language allegiance, colonialism, identity, and belonging.

Prerequisite: Course 327 or permission of the department. Enrollment limited to 20 students. This course satisfies General Education Area 4. N. Etoke

FRENCH 329 FRENCH CINEMA A study of the major directors and orientations of the French cinema, starting with Lumière and Meliès and including Bunuel, Cocteau, Renoir and ″la Nouvelle Vague.″ Special emphasis will be placed on the cinematic styles and techniques, and on their evolution during this period.

Prerequisite: Course 327 or permission of the department. Enrollment limited to 20 students. Offered every year. This course satisfies General Education Area 4 and is a designated Writing course. C. Spencer

FRENCH 330 HISTORICIZING FRANCE: POLITICS, CULTURE, AND LITERATURE A foundation for understanding the culture, language, and literature of France, both by examining its political, economic, and social history, and by historically analyzing literary texts. Topics include revolution, the left/right political divide, current politics, education, colonialism, feminism, and the French economy.

Prerequisite: Course 203 or 204, or permission of the department or instructor. Enrollment limited to 20 students. This course satisfies General Education Area 4 and is a designated Writing course. J. Austin

Prerequisite for all 400-level courses except 403, 403T, 405, 406, 409, 409T: Two 300-level courses, including Course 327.

FRENCH 403T CITIES ON THE SCREEN: CONSTRUCTING URBAN SPACE IN THE CINEMA Additional weekly two-hour session, in which texts and movies will be discussed in French. Students selecting Course 403T must concurrently register for French 403. Open to students who speak and read French beyond the intermediate level. Two credit hours. The TOC section is required for students who wish to count the course toward a major/minor in French. J. Austin

FRENCH 405 THE ART OF SPEAKING Advanced conversation based on newspapers, magazines and contemporary movies; analysis of different levels of language including ″argot.″

Prerequisite: One course at the 300 level, or permission of the department. Enrollment limited to 16 students. C. Spencer

FRENCH 406 THE ART OF WRITING Advanced composition with an emphasis on style. Samples for weekly practice of written expression taken from contemporary French newspapers and magazines. No grammar review.

Prerequisite: One course at the 300 level, or permission of the department. Enrollment limited to 16 students. C. Spencer

FRENCH 407 LA CARAÏBE FRANCOPHONE HIER ET AUJOURD′HUI The French Caribbean is a mixture of diverse cultures and experiences grounded in the violence of slavery. The course uses literature and film to reflect on what came out of that violence, which creates in destroying and destroys in creating. Topics include loss and survival, memory and identity, and deconstructing blackness. This is the same course as Comparative Race and Ethnicity 407.

Prerequisite: Two French courses at the 300 level or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 16 students. This is a designated Writing course. N. Etoke

FRENCH 409T HISTORY/STORY: ON THE GRAND AND THE INTIMATE IN FRENCH CINEMA Additional weekly two-hour session, in which texts and movies will be discussed in French. Students selecting Course 409T must concurrently register for French 409. Open to students who speak and read French beyond the intermediate level. Two credit hours. The TOC section is required for students who wish to count the course toward a major/minor in French. J. Austin

FRENCH 412 PERSONALIZING HISTORY: A STUDY OF COLONIALISM AS REPRESENTED IN CONTEMPORARY FRENCH CINEMA An examination of the ways in which contemporary French cinema has been refiguring France's colonial past, with emphasis on Indochina and Algeria. Films include Le petit soldat (J. L. Godard), La bataille d'Alger (G. Pontecorvo), Le crabe tambour (P. Schoendoerffer), La guerre sans nom (B. Tavernier), L'amant (J. J. Annaud), and Indochine (R. Wargnier).

Enrollment limited to 16 students. C. Spencer

FRENCH 414 NEW WAVE FILM, THEN AND NOW This course will examine the crucial New Wave movement in French cinema, as it is expressed as a historical moment or ″school″ and as it is conceived in less temporal terms as an attitude toward making and viewing film. The Nouvelle Vague′s contribution to filmmaking as writing and as epistemological quest will be explored with reference to earlier filmmakers, and in relation to the parallel Rive Gauche group. Special emphasis will be placed on contemporary French cinema as inheriting the auteur tradition. Films by Bresson, Truffaut, Godard, Rohmer, Varda, Marker, Resnais, Beineix, Besson, Asseyas, Pool, Jeunet.

Enrollment limited to 16 students. This is a designated Writing course. J. Austin

FRENCH 418 REVISITING THE ENLIGHTENMENT A study of the ″Siècle des Lumières″ with a focus on the new, contested relationship between the individual and power. Works by literary and political authors such as Montesquieu, Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, Robespierre, and St. Just.

Enrollment limited to 16 students. This is a designated Writing course. R. Chalmin

FRENCH 420 THE WOMAN′S BODY IN AFRICAN LITERATURE AND CINEMA Rather than being a stable signifier of female oppression, the woman′s body signifies a number of potentially conflicting projects and positions in postcolonial African societies. This seminar will analyze the body as a sign and a bearer of social and political ideologies embedded in discourses of patriarchy, nationalism, violence, and desire. This is the same course as Comparative Race and Ethnicity/Gender and Women′s Studies 420.

Enrollment limited to 16 students. This is a designated Writing course. N. Etoke

FRENCH 422 BLACK BLANC BEUR CINEMA/LITERATURE Black Blanc Beur/Bleu Blanc Rouge? An examination of how the ethnic makeup of contemporary French society challenges its republican ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The course employs literature, film, newspapers, and popular musical forms to reflect on issues such as integration, identity, urban violence, race, gender, and class.

Enrollment limited to 16 students. N. Etoke

FRENCH 424 ESPACES URBAINS: LA VILLE AU CINEMA The French city long has been defined in opposition to the countryside, and more recently, to the (dystopian) suburb. This course will examine the cinematic construction of urban space in France, and in so doing interrogate the role of the urban/suburban dyad in the contemporary French social landscape. Weekly screenings.

Enrollment limited to 16 students. J. Austin

FRENCH 426 THE ART OF REBELLION: THE LIBERTINE AND THE DANDY IN FRENCH LITERATURE An examination of the relationship between the libertine and the dandy in 17th−, 18th−, and 19th− century French literature, focusing on the "Art of Rebellion" these cultural figures embody. Authors include Molière, Casanova, Laclos, Sade, Balzac, Baudelaire, and Wilde. Representative paintings of the period and cinematographic adaptations of certain works will provide context.

Prerequisite: Two 300-level courses, including Course 327. Enrollment limited to 16 students. R. Chalmin

FRENCH 430 LA FEMME ET LA RÉVOLUTION DANS LA FRANCE DU 19E SIÈCLE An examination of the collective memory of women in France after the Revolution. Emphasis on their role in the Republic, and the reality of being a woman in a 19th century Paris that was undergoing further revolutions in politics, fashion, and capitalism. Works by Baudelaire, Zola, Sand, Flaubert, Mallarmé, Desbordes-Valmore, Delacroix, Camille Claudel, Hugo.

Prerequisite: One course at the 300 level, or permission of the department. Enrollment limited to 16 students. This is a designated Writing course. R. Bédoui

FRENCH 493, 494 ADVANCED STUDY SEMINARS

Prerequisite: Open to juniors and seniors who have completed two 400–level French courses or by permission of the department. Enrollment limited to 16 students. This is a designated Writing course.

FRENCH 493K, 494K TROLLOPS AND TRANSVESTITES: PROSTITUTION AND THE THEATRICS OF TRANSVESTISM IN PREMODERN AND MODERN EUROPE (FRANCE AND ENGLAND) A study of the relation between transvestism and theatre from a literary, historical, social and political point of view. Texts by A. Behn, Defoe, Marivaux, Zola among others. Films by Almodóvar, Buñuel, B. Blier and B. Jacquot. C. Spencer

FRENCH 493M, 494M HEARING VOICES: STUDY OF VOICE, THEATRICALITY AND PERFORMANCE The course will explore the changing meanings and perceptions attached to voice in its relationship to contemporary issues such as identity, gender and sexuality. Literary texts (L′Ecole des femmes by Molière, The Rover by Aphra Behn, Sarrazine by Balzac) and films (Singing in the Rain, The Law of Desire, The Bad Education). Some incursions in opera, in particular Haendel and the vogue of castrati. This is the same course as Gender and Women′s Studies 406. C. Spencer

FRENCH 493N, 494N SEDUCTION A study of seduction in Ancient Regime literature and today's cinema. Authors include: Marivaux, Laclos, Balzac, Barbey d'Aurevilly, Truffaut, Deville and Almodovar. Emphasis on theatricality, cross-dressing, the narrative contract and the body in performance. Staff

FRENCH 493O, 494O THE PROSTITUTE AND THE ARTIST A study of the representation of prostitution in 19th Century French literature and art. C. Spencer

In English

FRENCH 240 BLACK PARIS/BLACK NEW YORK This is the same course as Anthropology 240. Refer to the Anthropology listing for a course description.

FRENCH 314 FOREIGN BODIES FORBIDDEN SEXUALITIES IN AFRICA AND THE CARIBBEAN An examination of the methods, tactics, and strategies involved in the literary, musical, and cinematic representations of same-sex love in the African and Diasporic context. Topics include psychoanalysis, black queer theory, HIV/AIDS, and the politics of (re)cognition/(mis)recognition. This is the same course as Comparative Race and Ethnicity/Gender and Women′s Studies 314.

Enrollment limited to 30 students. This is a designated Writing course. N. Etoke

FRENCH 403 CITIES ON THE SCREEN: CONSTRUCTING URBAN SPACE IN THE CINEMA Focus on urban space as constructed on the screen and the interplay between architecture, sets, cultural memory, and film technologies. Study of films from the French cinematic tradition and examples from the American, Russian, and European cinemas. An additional weekly two-hour, two credit TOC session in French, 403T, will be offered to students who speak and read French beyond the intermediate level. Students selecting Course 403T must concurrently register for French 403. The TOC section is required for students who wish to count the course toward a major/minor in French. This is the same course as Film Studies 403.

Prerequisite: Film Studies 101 or French 329; or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 16 students. J. Austin

FRENCH 409 HISTORY/STORY: ON THE GRAND AND THE INTIMATE IN FRENCH CINEMA Two French cinemas have long existed: one ″big″ cinema about the tumultuous political, cultural, and literary history of France, and one ″small,″ personal cinema about a few characters and their lives. This course will examine what the differences in subject and scale mean for French film and culture. An additional weekly two-hour, two credit TOC session in French, 409T, will be offered to students who speak and read French beyond the intermediate level. Students selecting Course 409T must concurrently register for French 409. The TOC section is required for students who wish to count the course toward a major/minor in French. Weekly screenings. This is the same course as Film Studies 409.

Prerequisite: Film Studies 101 or French 329; or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 16 students. This is a designated Writing course. J. Austin

FRENCH 491, 492 INDIVIDUAL STUDY

FRENCH 497-498 HONORS STUDY