GRADUATE COURSES IN FRENCH

SPRING 2004

(Course information subject to change)
(Cross-reference with Department Roster)

French 500-301
Proseminar
Prof. Weber
T 2-4

The proseminar in French will address such issues as academic writing and presentation, the application of critical theory to textual analysis, research methods and resources. It will also provide a forum for preparation for the Master's exam.

French 536-401
Medieval Allegory
Prof. Brownlee/Prof. Copeland
T 2-5

The seminar considers the theory and practice of medieval allegory in a variety of literary and philosophical contexts. The major focus is on the 12th through the 14th centuries in both the vernacular and Latin, with an awareness of Late Antique philosophical and theological approaches. We will also utilize selectively various modern perspectives on the history and theory of allegory. Readings will include selected texts from Alain de Lille, the Roman de la Rose, Dante, Boccaccio, Chaucer, Gower, Langland, and Christine de Pizan.

French 619-401
Poetique du Recit
Prof. Prince
W 2-4

A study of the nature, form, and functioning of narrative, relying on
structuralist narratological theory as well as post-classical narratologies
(e.g. feminist narratology and postcolonial narratology). Particular attention
will be paid to such topics as narrator and narratee; point of view; narrative
order, speed, and frequency; existents and events; actants and actors;
narrative codes; and metanarratives signs.

French 640-301
Womens' Writing & the Representation of Women in 16th-Century French Literature
Prof. Lance Donaldson-Evans
R 2-4

This course will explore the way women represent themselves and "la condition feminine" in literary texts of the 16th century, as well as the way women are
represented in literary and non-literary texts by male authors of the period. The female authors will include Marguerite de Navarre (L'Heptaméron and selections of her religious poetry and plays), Pernette Du Guillet, Louise Labé, the religious poet Anne de Marquets. The representation of women will be analyzed in texts by
Rabelais (selections from Pantagruel, Gargantua, Le Tiers Livre), Ronsard (selected poems), Montaigne (selected essays). A selection of non-literary texts associated with the querelle des femmes will also be studied.

French 650-301
Research Methods for Early Modernists
Prof. DeJean
R 4-6

This class is open to all graduate students in the humanities whose work
requires familiarity with research using primary source materials in the early
modern period. Faculty come from several fields and disciplines and are joined by
curatorial and reference staff from the Library. The class will focus on ways of
better connecting students with the types and range of sources they need in the
course of their work. The class has a practical, methodological orientation, but
it will include reading as well as problem-solving exercises and discussion of
issues raised by participating students. The class has three goals:

1. to help students learn how to exploit more fully the array of
resources available to them in and through this and other
research libraries;

2. to assist students in developing a repertoire of research
skills and techniques;

3. to introduce students to some of the intellectual implications
as well as to practical aspects of the material/artifactual bases
of textual research in the early modern period.

Initial sessions will include presentations by faculty and Library staff that
will lay the ground for future sessions devoted to specific problems and tasks.

Background readings will include Philip Gaskell's New Introduction to
Bibliography and additional secondary works that discuss scholarly and editorial
processes, as well as the history of humanistic scholarship.

Weekly assignments will be designed to familiarize students with, and
encourage both the use and evaluation of, a variety of resources in printed and
online formats relevant to early modern topics. A final project will be editorial
in nature: students will work (either with onsite manuscript or printed materials
or with microfilm or other reproduced original materials, and with secondary
sources) in order to create a short edited text that considers both textual and
explanatory issues. The instructors will make every effort to match texts with
students' interests.

The class meets in the Lea Library, 6th floor, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library.

French 670-301
Narrative and Pathology in 19th-Century France
Prof. Mary Donaldson-Evans
M 4-6

This course will focus on representations of sickness, the medical profession and medical discourse in the French novel from realism to the literary Decadence. From the often fatal battlefield surgery of Revolutionary times to the birth of modern clinical medicine, the medical profession made great strides during the nineteenth century, and writers became increasingly eager to win respect for their work by associating the practice of their art with that of the physician. By analyzing the medical dimension in several fictional narratives (a selection will be drawn from the works of Balzac, Flaubert, Maupassant, Zola, Huysmans, and Rachilde), we will attempt to understand the cross-fertilization that took place between literature and medicine during this period.

Romance Languages 690-301
Applied Linguistics
Prof. McMahon
M 2-4

Romance Languages 690 is a course required of all Teaching Assistants in
French and Italian in the second semester of their first year of teaching. It is designed to provide instructors with the necessary practical support to carry out their teaching responsibilities effectively and builds on the practicum meetings held during the first semester. The course will also introduce students to various approaches to foreign language teaching as well as to current issues in second language acquisition. Students who have already had a similar course at another institution may be exempted upon consultation with the instructor.

Romance Languages 691-401
Technology and Foreign Languages
Prof. McMahon / Prof. Frei
T 9-10:30; R 4-5:30

(Crosslisted with German 517)

This course will introduce participants to the field of technology and foreign language teaching and learning. It will review the pertinent theoretical underpinnings for the pedagogically sound use of technology in the teaching of languages, starting with a brief overview of the historical development of the field. Students will learn to evaluate existing programs and applications with a critical eye through a systematic examination of projects that have been implemented both here at Penn and elsewhere. The course will also have weekly hands-on workshops to introduce participants to the design and development of multimedia materials, including image, video, and sound editing. The focus will be primarily on Web-based design and delivery. All participants will select a project to work on during the course of the semester; in addition they will develop an on-line teaching portfolio.