Course Descriptions

For increased ease of distinction, the names of the six Language-and-Literature Unit courses will be colored blue. MCTF courses will have their names in green.

One last point of interest: courses are ordered according to: Designation (MFr before MCTF); First Digit (of four); Last Two Digits. The second digit is not used for ordering.

MFr Courses

1301-1302. Elementary French I and II.
The foundation for the study of French. Students acquire a basic vocabulary and an understanding of fundamental linguistic structures. Fall and Spring.

2311. Intermediate French I.
Review and further study of grammar, together with extensive oral and written practice. Study of selected aspects of French culture. Fall.

2312. Intermediate French II.
Study of the periods and monuments of French culture, emphasizing particularly moments of French cultural greatness with which American students are unlikely to be familiar. Extensive work in reading, writing, and speaking French. Spring.

3310. Reading and Expression in French.
Intensive practice in reading and writing French. Prerequisite: MFr 2312 or the equivalent.

3311. Advanced Communication: French Cinema I.
Practice in oral French, chiefly through the study of French New Wave cinema. Prerequisite: 2312 or the equivalent.

3312. Advanced Communication: French Cinema II.
Practice in oral French, chiefly through the study of classic or contemporary French cinema. Prerequisite: 2312 or the equivalent.

3313. Advanced Communication: Contemporary France.
Practice in oral French, emphasizing contemporary issues. Prerequisite: 2312 or the equivalent.

3119. French Internship.
A one-credit practicum, undertaken with the approval of the program director and under the direction of a language professor, involving three hours a week on assignments such as planning and conducting laboratory sessions for elementary language classes, working with audiovisual materials, designing modules of grammatical study, compiling glossaries and chronologies, and planning activities for the language clubs. Excellent experience for those planning to teach foreign language. Graded Pass/Fail. May be repeated three times.

3120. Studio Drama.
Participation in a French-language theatrical production. Offered whenever it can be fit in. Graded Pass/Fail. May be repeated.

3341. French Literary Tradition I
The beginnings of French literature. From the Chanson de Roland to Michel de Montaigne: the evolution and accomplishments of French literature in its first half-millenium.

3342. French Literary Tradition II
The literature of the Ancien Régime. L'âge baroque, l'âge classique, l'âge des lumières, l'âge des éblouissements.

3343. French Literary Tradition III
The modern era. Highlights of 19th and 20th-century French literature.

3145. Advanced French Grammar I
The first of three one-credit courses; French majors are expected to take all three. Designed to ensure a solid grammatical foundation necessary for further progress in the language. It is a refinement and an extension of knowledge already acquired rather than a simple review.

3146. Advanced French Grammar II

3147. Advanced French Grammar III

4310. Studies in French Authors (SFA)
Detailed study of the entire Suvre of one or more major authors.

4320. Studies in French Narrative (SFN)

4321. Studies in French Poetry (SFP)

4323. Studies in French Drama (SFD)

4340. Studies in a French Period or Movement (SFM)

4346. Symbolist Poetry: Baudelaire and His Aftermath
A study of modern French poetry and poetic theory from Baudelaire into the 20th century, with special emphasis on the Symbolist tradition: Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Valéry.

4V51. Independent Research / Senior Thesis

4359. French Thought & Culture after 1945
High points of the French intellectual scene since the Second World War.

4V90. Studies in French Cinema (SFC)

5V50. Special Topics in French.
Courses offered as needed, focusing on particular authors, periods, or genres.

MCTF Courses (and one MCTO Course)

3305. Introduction to French Literature
This course, taught in English and requiring no prior knowledge of the French language, is meant as a quick introduction to the high points and overall sweep of French literature: what every cultivated person needs to know. Taught every other year in alternation with the corresponding course in German.

5311. French For Reading Knowledg
Designed especially for graduate students seeking advanced reading competency in their discipline. Offered Fall every other year, in alternation with the corresponding course in German.

5315. Introduction to Old French
An introduction to the Old French language (9th through 13th centuries) and some of the great authors, titles, and genres of medieval French literature (ca. 1100 to 1500). Provides the tools necessary for reading in the original language texts such as the Chanson de Roland, the Roman de la Rose, and the Quête du Saint-Graal, and authors such as Chrétien de Troyes, Marie de France, Thomas d'Angleterre, Rutebeuf, Joinville, Froissart, Christine de Pisan, and François Villon. Permission of the instructor required. Offered as needed.

5316. Topics in Old French
Further readings in Old French. Offered as needed.

MCTO 5317. Introduction to Old Occitan
An introduction to medieval Occitan, a.k.a. Old Provençal, the language of the the troubadours, the lyric poets in the South of France who, in the twelfth century, inaugurated the tradition of fin' amors ("courtly love"). Provides the basic linguistic tools necessary for reading these and other Occitan texts in the original. Permission of the instructor required. Offered as needed.

Numbering logic

3000-level numbers have no special logic, other than that for the required courses (in blue) you should try to take them in order.

4000-level courses are divided thus:

4300-09 - Introductory, fundamentals, or principles courses

4310-19 - Individual authors

4320-29 - Genre or literary form

4330-39 - Linguistics, language pedagogy

4340-59 - Historical period or movement

4360-79 - Thematic or motif-based courses

4380-99 - Interdisciplinary and cultural courses