FREN 133 / FSEM 133 America Through French Eyes (W 1-4
PM)
The United States has always been a source of
fascination -- both attraction and repulsion -- for the French. This
course aims to understand American culture and identity as revealed by
transatlantic encounters with the French. We will study French
intellectuals' observations from Tocqueville to Simone de Beauvoir as
well as images of America in French popular culture. Instructor:
Julie Fette
FREN 311 Major Literary Works and Artifacts of
Pre-Revolutionary France (T&Th 9:25-10:40)
Study of
French culture, literature, and artifacts from the Middle Ages until the
Revolution. Course conducted entirely in French. Instructor: Wendy Freeman
FREN 318 STRUCTURE OF FRENCH (T&Th 9:25-10:40)
The primary objective
of this course is to present contemporary French as a dynamic linguistic system shaped by
historical, cognitive and sociological developments. Beyond the specific consideration of French,
this course is concerned with the historical, psychological, and sociological dimensions that
enter into the description of any language. Prerequisites: Fren 202 or placement exam or AP credit
or permission of instructor. Also offered as LING 318 Instructor: Michel Achard
FREN 321 Introduction to French Society and Culture (T &
Th 1-2:20
This course provides grounding in social,
political, cultural, and economic aspects of contemporary France. The
course will focus on themes such as youth culture, Europeanization,
immigration, and gender debates. Instructor: Julie Fette
FREN 355 / ENGL 355 Modern Short Story: Towards an Ethics of
Fiction (T Th 2:30 - 3:45)
Study of great works in
American and European short fiction of the 19th centuries, with special
attention to the ethical dimensions that this (and all) fiction
articulates. Selected critical essays will complement readings from
Melville, Flaubert, Mann, Maupassant, Gogol, Wilde, Chekhov, Gilman,
Kafka, O'Connor, Carver, and Garcia-Marquez. Does not count toward
French major. Instructor: Deborah Harter
FREN 360 Women, Sexuality, & Literature (T & Th
10:50-12:05)
Introduction to women writers and to women as
objects of representation in fiction and in poetry since the Revolution.
Special attention to the body and to sexuality as these impinge both on
writer and respresented. Instructor: Aurelie Van de Wiele
FREN 482/582 Discourses of Dissidence (W 1-4
pm)
Seminar centers on dissidence as a concept and a
pratice, both ideological and esthetic. Covers a selection of figures,
genres, media, and movements of "French" expression from Montaigne to
present. Limited enrollment to 12. Open to seniors with approval from
instructor. Also open with texts in Engish to non majors. Instructor:
Bernard Aresu
FREN 570 Versions of Oedipus (Th 1-4:00
pm)
Through the myth, the tragedies, the complex, the Greek
figure of king Oedipus has haunted our literary imagination, troubled
our philosophical thought, and nourished our psychoanalytical
investigation. This seminar explores this well-known figure in French
modern playwrights who revisited the tragic character, as well as in the
various philosophical and theoretical interpretations of the myth and
its ramifications. Instructor: Jean Joseph Goux
FREN 580 Gilles Deleuze (T 1-4:00 pm)
Taught in English. Exploration of the shift from a Marxist political
economy of class struggle, through Bataille's "general economy"
(economic activity as a "cosmic phenomenon") to Baudrillard's
"indetermination of the code" and "simulation" in postmodernity. Texts
by Marx, Mauss, Bataille, Athusser, Ernest Mandel, and Baudrillard. Instructor: Philip Wood