GRADUATE COURSES IN FRENCH

SPRING 2005

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

French 500-301
Proseminar
Prof. Moudileno
M 2:00-4:00

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 640-301
Essaying and Assaying the Essais of Montaigne
Prof. Donaldson-Evans
R 2:00-4:00

Montaigne's Essais are one of the seminal works of French and world literature.
Montaigne's book is, by his own admission, unique, a curious hybrid of autobiography, of philosophy, of literary, political and social commentary. This course will briefly examine its antecedents (even a unique work has antecedents!) and then embark on a detailed reading of the principal essays, a reading which will tease out the various threads which make up its complex tapestry,| while examining the philosophical and literary underpinnings which give cohesion to this "marqueterie mal jointe" (as Montaigne describes it).

Principal text: Michel de Montaigne, Les Essais, (sous la direction de Jean Céard)
Edition Pochothèque, Livre de poche, Paris 2001.

French 660-301
Studies in the 18th Century: The Enlightened Subject
Prof. Weber
F 2:00-5:00

In this course, we will examine the stakes of subjectivity as constructed or conceived by various Enlightenment discourses pertaining to power, liberty, sociability and sexuality. Primary texts will include works from Rousseau, Diderot, Montesquieu and Sade; secondary readings will be drawn from Kant, Hegel, Freud, Lacan and Blanchot.

French 680-301
French Cinema
Prof. Met
R 4:00-6:00

The purpose of this survey course is twofold:
-to provide an introduction to the history and scope of French cinema all the way to the present time through the analysis of key works of the French film canon. Particular attention will be paid to various period styles ("le réalisme poétique", "la qualité française", "la nouvelle vague", "le cinéma du look", …) and genres (drama, comedy, film noir, …).
-t o provide students with the proper analytical and technical tools for studying and teaching film. A variety of critical lenses will be considered (psychoanalysis, socio-historical and cultural context, politics, aesthetics, gender…) from a practical, rather than strictly theoretical, perspective.

Film directors considered should include Renoir, Duvivier, Carné, Clouzot, Melville, Bresson, Truffaut, Resnais, Godard, Tati, Chabrol, Tavernier, Beineix, Denis.

The class will be conducted in English.

French 684-301
Studies in the 20th Century
Prof. Prince
W 2:00-4:00

A narratologically oriented study of the poetics of the modern French novel from Proust and Gide to surrealist "fiction" (Nadja), existential and existentialist narratives (Malraux, Celine, Sartre, Camus), and the foreshadowings of the New Novel (Queneau).


Romance Languages 690-301
Applied Linguistics
Prof. McMahon
M 2:00-4:00

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.