The Comprehensive Exam in French is taken in the Spring semester of the Senior year, in the first month of the semester. It has three parts, which you will take on separate days.
1. A French cultural literacy exam. One hour. Written. Basics of French literary and political-cultural history. Go to the end of this document for details.
2 and 3. Movement-author-text presentations. From a short list of topics, you choose four, each from a different period (Medieval, Renaissance, 17th Century, 18th, 19th, and 20th). In each case you use one author, and one principal work by hurrim, to illustrate an important literary school, movement, or tendency, that is particularly significant for the period in question. You will not be allowed to use notes.
2. Written: two topics. 2 hours maximum per question, 4 hours maximum in all.
3. Oral: two topics. 1-2 hours in all.In both kinds of presentation, you should cover the following points, and in this order:
A. An overview of the literary "movement" you have chosen to write on. i) Place it in historical context; most particularly, show how the movement is typical or revelatory of the entire period. ii) Give some idea of the scope of the movement and its most important representatives (including, but not limited to, your principal author).
B. An overview of your main author. Major writings, thematic preoccupations, generic issues, style. Some chronology. What is the author's overall projet ?
C. An analysis of your main text(s). You are not limited to speaking about this text, but you should talk about it in detail. You should show how the work illustrates key aspects of the movement. (You should also be able to speak pertinently about the work in its individuality.) Comment on both form and content.You should choose your questions, in consultation with the program's directors, well in advance of the exam. (In cases where, in the list below, the work is not specified, you must determine it together with the directors.)
List of grand questions you may choose from:
I. Moyen Âge
Ia. Movement: Amour courtois. - Author: Marie de France. - Work: Lais
Ib. Movement: Amour courtois. - Author: Chrétien de Troyes. - Work: one of his romances
Ic. Movement: Heroic/feudal/epic literature. - Author: anonymous. - Work: Chanson de Roland
II. XVIe siècle
IIa. Movement: Humanism. - Author: Rabelais. - Work: selections from Pantagruel & Rabelais
IIb. Movement: Humanism. - Author: la Pléiade. - Work: poems by Ronsard, Du Bellay
IIC. Movement: Humanism. - Author: Montaigne. - Work: selected Essais
III. XVIIe siècle
IIIa. Movement: Baroque philosophy.- Author: Pascal. - Work: Pensées
IIIb. Movement: Classicism. - Author: Molière. - Work: one of his comedies
IIIc. Movement: Classicism. - Author: Racine. - Work: one of his tragedies.
IVd. Movement: Classicism. - Author: La Fontaine. - Work: Fables
IVe. Movement: Classicism. - Author: Mme de LaFayette. Work: la Princesse de Clèves
IV. XVIIIe siècle
IVa. Movement: Âge des Lumières. - Author: Voltaire. - Work: Lettres philosophiques or a conte philosophique
IVb. Movement: Âge des Lumières. - Author: Montesquieu. - Work: Lettres persanes
IVc. Movement: Roman sentimental. - Author: l'abbé Prévôt. - Work: Manon Lescaut
IVd. Movement: Théâtre comique; comédie de mœurs. - Author: Marivaux. - Work: le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard
IVe. Movement: Pré-Révolution; Proto-romantisme. - Author: Rousseau. - Work: le Contrat social
V. XIXe siècle
Va. Movement: Romantisme. - Author: Poètes. - Work: poems by Lamartine, Vigny, Musset, Hugo
Vb. Movement: Romantisme. - Author: Chateaubriand. - Work: Atala or René
Vc. Movement: Symbolism. - Author: Baudelaire. - Work: selected poems
Vd. Movement: Symbolism. - Author: Mallarmé, Rimbaud, Verlaine. - Work: selected poems
Ve. Movement: Realism. - Author: Zola. - Work: one of his novels
Vf. Movement: Flaubert. - Author: Flaubert. - Work: Trois contes
VI. XXe siècle
VIa. Movement: Systèmes de morale. - Author: Gide. - Work: l'Immoraliste
VIb. Movement: Optiques chrétiennes. - Author: Bernanos, Mauriac, or Claudel. - Work: a major work
VIc. Movement: Existentialisme. - Author: Camus. - Work: one of his novels
The French Cultural Literacy Exam
This is the one-hour written exam that is taken first. Use the chronology below as a basis for study. Revisit here! It is in evolution and currently incomplete.
French chronology Année / Période Evénement Personnes Ouvrage 5e-1er siècle av. J-C la culture celtique en Gaule 52 av. J-C Jules César conquiert la Gaule; commencement de la période gallo-romaine les tribus celtiques de la Gaule; Vercingétorix 481-751 les Mérovingiens 481 ap. J-C Clovis devient roi des Francs les Francs et autres tribus germaniques; Clovis, S. Rémi
732 Charles Martel arrête le progrès des Musulmans à Poitiers Charles Martel
751-987 751 Pépin le Bref, fils de Charles Martel, élu roi les Carolingiens 800 Charlemagne est couronné empereur Charlemagne (m. 814); Louis le Pieux lui succède 842
Louis le Germanique, Charles le Chauve Serments de Strasbourg 843 Traité de Verdun: partage de l'empire carolingien …et Lothaire 911 Les Normands s'installent en "Normandie" 987-1328 Capétiens directs 987 Hugues Capet élu roi Hugues Capet 1066 Guillaume le Bâtard, duc de Normandie, s'empare de l'Angleterre 1095 Urbain II proclame la (première) Croisade à Clermont 1099 Prise de Jérusalem par les croisés v. 1100 la Chanson de Roland fl. 2/2 12e s Marie de France Lais fl. 1165-90 Chrétien de Troyes 1204 Mise à sac de Constantinople par les croisés (IVe Croisade) 1226-1270 règne de Louis IX (s Louis) (majoritaire en 1234)
v1225-40, c1270 Guillaume de Lorris, Jean de Meun Roman de la Rose 1309-1377 La papauté à Avignon 1328-1498 Les Valois 1328-1453 La Guerre de 100 Ans Christine de Pisan c1364-1430 1429; 1431 Prise d'Orléans, Sacre de Charles VII à Reims; Exécution à Rouen Jeanne d'Arc c1412-1431 François Villon 1431-après 1461
1494 Expédition de Charles VIII en Italie François Ier (1515-1547) 1530 Création du Collège royal 1534 Jacques Cartier découvre le Canada 1534 le 17 octobre: l'Affaire des Placards Jean Calvin l'Institution de la religion chrétienne 1536
François Rabelais 1494?-v1553 Pantagruel 1532/3 Gargantua 1534
Marguerite d'Angoulême 1492-1549 l'Heptaméron Henri II (1547-1559) Joachim Du Bellay 1522-1560 l'Olive 1549; Défense et illustration de la langue française 1549; Antiquités de Rome 1558; Regrets 1558 Pierre de Ronsard 1524-1585 Odes 1550; Amours 1552; Sonnets pour Hélène 1578