Department of French
Curriculum for 2007-2008
Associate Professor: Datta, Petterson, Prabhu
Assistant Professor: Tranvouez, Gunther
Senior Lecturer: Egron-Sparrow, McQuillan
All courses are conducted in French. Oral expression and composition are stressed.
The Wellesley College language requirement is normally met with the completion of either FREN 201-202 or FREN 103- 203. Students who present an AP score of 3 or an SAT II score between 600–640 can satisfy the requirement by taking FREN 205. Students who present an AP score of 4 or an SAT II score between 650–680 can satisfy the requirement by taking one of the following courses: FREN 206, 207, 208 or 209. All incoming students are required to take the placement test. Any discrepancy between a student’s AP score and her score on the departmental placement test will be resolved by the placement committee. After 210, the numbering of 200-level courses does not denote increasing levels of difficulty; 200-level courses above 210 may be taken in any sequence. Please see Directions for Election at the end of this section for information about the major. After 211, the numbering of 200-level courses does not denote increasing levels of difficulty; 200-level courses above 211 may be taken in any sequence. Please see Directions for Election at the end of this section for information about the major.
Qualified students are highly encouraged to live at the Maison Française and to spend their junior year or semester in France in the Wellesley-in-Aix program or another approved program. They are also encouraged to participate in the French Department's Wintersession course in Paris and to inquire about summer internship possibilities in France or another Francophone country.
101-102 Beginning French I and II
Egron-Sparrow, Gunther
Systematic training in all the language skills, with special emphasis on communication, self-expression and cultural insights. A multimedia course, based on the video series French in Action. Classes are supplemented by regular assignments in a variety of video, audio, print and Web-based materials to give students practice using authentic French accurately and expressively. Three periods. Each semester earns 1.0 unit of credit; however, both semesters must
be completed satisfactorily to receive credit for either course.
Prerequisite: Open to students who do not present French for admission or by permission of the instructor.
Distribution: None
Semester: Fall, Spring
Unit: 1.0
103 Intensive French I
Lydgate
Intensive training in French. The course covers the material of French 101-102 in a single semester. Five class periods. For students with little or no previous study of French. This is a demanding course designed for students interested in taking a junior year or semester abroad. Not recommended for
students seeking to fulfill the foreign language requirement in French.
Prerequisite: Open to students who do not present French for admission or by permission of the instructor.
Distribution: None
Semester: Fall
Unit 1.25
201-202 French Language, Literatures and Cultures
Datta, Gunther, Tranvouez, Petterson, Prabhu
Reading, writing and speaking skills are developed through analysis and discussions of short stories, plays, poems, films and newspaper articles from France and the Francophone world. Three periods. Each semester earns one unit of credit; however, both semesters must be completed satisfactorily to receive credit for either course. Students beginning with 202 must take one of the following courses: 205, 206, 207, 208, or 209 in order to complete the
requirement. The 201-202 sequence must be completed within three semesters.
Prerequisite: 102 or 103, SAT II score of 500-590, or an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 1 or 2 or permission of the instructor.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Fall, Spring
Unit: 1.0
202 French Language, Literatures and Cultures
TBA
In this wintersession course, reading, writing and speaking skills are developed through analysis and discussions of short stories, plays, poems, films and newspaper articles from France and the Francophone world. Students beginning with 202 must take one of the following courses: 205, 206, 207, 208, or 209 in order to complete the requirement. The two unit sequence should be completed within three consecutive semesters. Subject to Dean's approval. Not offered every year.
Prerequisite: 102 or 103, SAT II score of 500-590, or an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 1 or 2 or permission of the instructor. Open only to students who receive B+ or better in 201.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Wintersession
Unit: 1.0
203 Intensive French II
Tranvouez
The continuation of French 103. Systematic training in all the language skills. Five class periods. The course is equivalent to French 201-202, and is
designed to prepare students to qualify for study abroad after two further courses in French: a unit of French 206, 207 208, or 209 and a unit of French
210 or 211.
Prerequisite: Open to students who have completed French 103 or 102.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Spring
Unit 1.25
205 Literature and Film in Cultural Contexts
Datta
Discussion of modern literature and film in their cultural contexts. Training in techniques of literary and cultural analysis. Materials include novels, short stories, poetry, films, screenplays and videos from France and the Francophone world. Vocabulary building and review of key points of grammar. Frequent written practice. Attention to oral skills and listening comprehension as needed.
Prerequisite: 202 or 203, an SAT II score of 600-640, an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 3.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Fall
Unit: 1.0
206 Intermediate Spoken French
Egron-Sparrow, Respaut
Practice in conversation, using a variety of materials including newspaper articles, radio and television broadcasts, advertisements and films. This course is designed to develop oral proficiency with necessary attention to the other skills - listening comprehension, reading, and writing. Regular use of the language laboratory.
Prerequisite: 202 or 203, an SAT II score of 650-680, an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 4.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Fall, Spring
Unit: 1.0
207 Perspectives on French Culture and Society
(French 207 may be elected only once)
Topic 2007-08: French Identity in the Age of Globalization
Gunther
In this introduction to French society and culture, we will examine France’s identity crisis in the 21st century. From its historical position of political, economic, and intellectual leadership in Europe and the world, France is searching to maintain its difference as a defender of quality over mass appeal
and the proud values of its national tradition in the face of increasing globalization. Topics covered include Franco-American relations, the European Union, immigration, the family, and the role of women in French society. Readings are drawn from a variety of sources: historical, sociological, and ethnographic. Magazine and newspaper articles, along with television programs and films will provide supplementary information.
Prerequisite: 202 or 203, an SAT II score of 650-680, an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 4.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: Fall
Unit: 1.0
208 Women and Literary Tradition
Mistacco
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-2008. An introduction to women's writing from Marie de France to Marguerite Duras, from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. The course is designed to develop an appreciation of women's place in French literary history. Special attention is given to the continuities among women writers and to the impact of their minority status upon their writing.
Prerequisite: 202 or 203, an SAT II score of 650-680, an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 4.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
209 Studies in Literature
Topic 2007-08: Contemporary Theatre & Contemporary Issues
Masson
Reading and analysis of plays performed in France at the end of the 20th or beginning of the 21st century. Introduction to the techniques of reading dramatic works. Emphasis on oral discussion of the representation of contemporary issues in various plays.
Prerequisite: 202 or 203, an SAT II score of 650-680, an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 4.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Arts, Music, Theater, Film, Video
Semester: Spring
Unit 1.0
210 French Literature and Culture from the Englightenment to
the Present
Tranvouez, Petterson
A study of major authors comprising the French canon (18th-21st centuries): Montesquieu, Beaumarchais, Balzac, Flaubert, Sartre, Duras, and Toussaint.
Prerequisites: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, or 209, or an SAT II score of 690-800, an AP score of 5 or an equivalent departmental placement score.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Fall, Spring
Unit: 1.0
After 210, the numbering of 200-level courses does not denote increasing levels of difficulty; 200-level courses above 210 may be taken in any sequence.
211 Studies in Language
(long course description)
Mistacco, Prabhu
Comprehensive review of French grammar, enrichment of vocabulary, and introduction to French techniques of literary analysis, composition and the organization of ideas.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, or 209, an SAT II score of 690-800, an AP score of 5, or an equivalent departmental placement score.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Fall, Spring
Unit: 1.0
212 "In the Name of the Father": Dutiful Sons and Wayward Daughters in the Nineteenth-Century Short Story
Ritchey
A study of the art of the nineteenth-century short story around the theme of "The law of the Father," considered in familial, historical, political, legal, psychoanalytical, and aesthetic terms. This approach will allow us to delve into many narrative motifs that define post-revolutionary literature: Law and order, family dynamics and gender differences, power and transgression, inheritance and legacies, violence and revenge, access to language, to name only a few. The aesthetics of the short story, from romanticism to the fantastic, realism and decadence will be explored as narrative responses to these themes. Fiction by Sand, Balzac, Mérimée, Flaubert, Maupassant, Barbey D'Aurevilly and Rachilde.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, 209 or above, an SAT II score of 690-800, an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 5.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Spring
Unit: 1.0
213 From Myth to the Absurd: French Drama in the Twentieth Century
Masson
An investigation of the major trends in modern French drama: the reinterpretation of myths, the influence of existentialism, and the theater of the absurd. Special attention is given to the nature of dramatic conflict and to the relationship between text and performance. Studies of plays by Anouilh, Cocteau, Giraudoux, Sartre, Camus, Ionesco, Beckett, and Genet.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, or 208, an SAT II score of 690-800, an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 5.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Arts, Music, Theatre, Film, Video
Semester: Fall
Unit: 1.0
214 Desire, Power and Language in the Nineteenth-Century Novel
Ritchey
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08. Ambition, passion and transgression in major works by Balzac, Stendhal, Flaubert, and Zola. Analysis of narrative techniques
that organize the interplay of desire and power against which individual destinies are played out in post-Revolutionary France. Realism and the representation of reality in the context of a society in turmoil.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, or 208, an SAT II score of 690-800, an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 5.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
215 Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud
Respaut
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08. Close study of a body of poetry which ranks among the most influential in Western literature, and which initiates modern poetics, Baudelaire will be treated in relation to romanticism and conceptions of the modern. In Verlaine, we will study the development of free verse and the liberation of poetic form. This course will conclude by confronting Rimbaud’s effort to “changer la vie” through his visionary and surreal writing. Analysis of texts and their historical context, through a variety of approaches.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, or 209, an SAT II score of 690-800, an AP score of 5, or an equivalent departmental placement score.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
216 Mothers and Daughters
Mistacco
This course will examine the mother/daughter relationship in French literature, in autobiographical writing including personal correspondence, and in art from the eighteenth century to the present in the context of evolving concepts of motherhood and the education of girls in French culture. Recent feminist criticism will be brought to bear on the conflicts and complexities of the mother/daughter dyad, highlighting both its enabling and engulfing aspects and its role as a vehicle for transmitting societal values as well as challenging them. Authors and artists include: Lambert, Genlis, Rousseau, Charrière, Vigée-Lebrun, Sand, Desbordes-Valmore, Ségur, Cassatt, Colette, Irigaray, Cixous, and Chawaf.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, 209 or above, an SAT II score of 690-800, an AP score of 5, or an equivalent departmental placement score.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Spring
Unit: 1.0
217 Books of the Self
Lydgate
This course focuses on texts that seek to reveal the reality of the self in the space of a book, including readings of confessional and autobiographical works by the twentieth-century writers Camus, Annie Ernaux, Roland Barthes, and Maryse Condé, and by their literary ancestors Augustine, Abélard, Montaigne, and Rousseau. Themes examined include: the compulsion to confess; secret sharing vs. public self-disclosure; love, desire, and language; the search for authenticity; dominant discourse and minority voices; the role of the reader as accomplice, witness, judge, confessor.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, 209 or above, an SAT II score of 690-800, an AP score of 5, or an equivalent departmental placement score.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Religion, Ethics and Moral Philosophy
Semester: Fall
Unit: 1.0
218 Négritude, Independences, Women's Issues: Francophone Literature in Context
Prabhu
This course seeks to understand the key concerns of writers during the Négritude movement in order to address important questions that became crucial during the ensuing period of the various independence movements. We will discuss issues which arose at this time and continue to be of interest concerning the role of women in these movements and thereafter in the newly independent nation. The impact of colonialism and independence on different indigenous societal
institutions, polygamy in particular, will be central to the later readings.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, 209 or above, an SAT II score of 690-800, an AP score of 5, or an equivalent departmental placement score.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Fall
Unit: 1.0
219 Love/Death
Respaut
This course investigates the connection between fiction and film and our fundamental preoccupation with the issues of love and death. Texts ranging from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century are studied, with an eye toward understanding how the thematics of love and death are related to story structure, narration, and the dynamics of reading.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, 209 or above, an SAT II score of 609-800, an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 5.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Fall
Unit: 1.0 /p>
221 Voices of French Poetry from Christine de Pizan to Surrealism
Petterson
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08. An overview of the voices, forms and innovations of the French poetic tradition through the themes of song, love, laughter and madness in the works of French poets from the late fourteenth-century poems of Christine de Pizan, the classical and baroque poetry of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, nineteenth-century romanticism, the poèmes en prose of Baudelaire, the poetry of Rimbaud and Mallarmé, and Apollinaire and surrealism in the early twentieth century.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, 209 or above, an SAT II score of 690-800, an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 5.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
222 French Cinema
Gillain
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08. A survey of French cinema with a focus on three key periods: the 30s, the 60s and the 90s. Starting with classics by Jean Renoir, Marcel Carné, and Julien Duvivier, the course will study the stylistic revolution brought about by the New Wave and the mark it has left on recent French cinema. The films will be analyzed from a variety of perspectives: political and socio-economic contexts, gender representations, narrative patterns, and visual metaphors of subjectivity.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, 209 or above, an SAT II score of 690-800, an AP score of 5, or an equivalent departmental placement score.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Arts, Music, Theatre, Film, Video
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
224 Versailles and the Age of Louis XIV
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08. Versailles will be used as a focal point for the study of the aesthetic and literary trends prevalent in seventeenth-century France, as well as the social and historical trends that accompanied them. Works from a wide range of genres (including films, plays, and memoirs) will be chosen to examine the state of the arts in France under the Sun King.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 205, 206, 207 , 208, 209 or above, an SAT II score of 690-800, an AP score of 5, or an equivalent departmental placement score.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
225 The French Press
Gunther
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08. This course is designed for students who want to become more familiar with the French media, to keep up with current events and to know more about the differences between the perspectives of French and American news sources with regard to current issues. The course is also intended to improve students' reading, writing, and speaking skills in French.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208 or above, an SAT II score of 690-800, an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 5.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Social and Behavioral Analysis
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
226 Advanced Spoken French: Speaking through Acting
Masson
Improvement of French oral skills and public speaking skills through the use of acting techniques. Intensive analysis of short literary texts and excerpts of
several plays with emphasis on pronunciation, diction, elocution, acting and staging.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 205, 206, 207 , 208, 209 or above, an SAT II score of 690-800, an AP score of 5, or an equivalent departmental placement score.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Arts, Music, Theater, Film, Video
Semester: Spring
Unit: 1.0
228 Wintersession in Paris: The Paris of Balzac and Zola
Tranvouez
An examination of the rapid modernization and urbanization (haussmanization) of Paris in the Nineteenth Century and the changes it brought to the life of Parisians. Two authors fond of Paris: Balzac, the eternal Parisian wanderer, and Zola, the social scientist, will be the focus of this course. Balzac witnesses the birth of the bourgeoisie and of the power of money; Zola evokes the monsters they engender. While in Paris, we will follow their steps and explore the neighborhoods dear to Balzac as well as the modern Paris Zola describes in his novel. Not offered every year. Subject to Dean’s Office approval.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, 209 or above, an SAT II score of 690-800, an AP score of 5, or an equivalent departmental placement score. Application required.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Wintersession
Unit: 1.0
229 America Through French Eyes: Perceptions and Realities
Datta
The French have long been fascinated by the United States, especially since the end of the Second World War. At times, the U.S. has been seen as a model to be emulated in France; more often, it has stood out as the antithesis of French culture and values. This course examines French representations of the United States and of Americans through an examination of key historical and literary texts - essays, autobiographies, and fiction - as well as films. Topics to be explored include: representations of African-Americans in French films (Josephine Baker), French views of Taylorization, the Coca Cola wars of the 1950's, French-American tensions during the Cold War, especially under de Gaulle, as well as more recent debates about Eurodisney, McDonald's, Hollywood, globalization, and multiculturalism.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 206, 207, 208, 209 or above, an SAT II score of 690-800, an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of 5.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Historical Studies
Semester: Spring
Unit: 1.0
237 Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Lydgate
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-2008.The legendary sixth arrondissement neighborhood as a cultural crucible in post-Liberation Paris. Saint-Germain-des-Prés as the locus of an unprecedented concentration of literary and artistic talent after 1945: existentialists, writers, artists, café intellectuals, and non-conformists. The discovery of jazz and American popular culture. Saint-Germain and the myth of the Left Bank. Study of texts by Sartre, Camus, Simone de Beauvoir, Boris Vian, Raymond Queneau; songs by Juliette Gréco and others; newsreel, film and audio documents of the period.
Prerequisite: At least one unit of 205, 206, 207, 208, or 209, an SAT II score of 690-800, an equivalent departmental placement score, or an AP score of
5. Not open to students who have taken FREN 228 in Wintersession 2006.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Arts, Music, Theater, Film, Video
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
301 Books and Voices in Renaissance France
Lydgate
Innovative writers in sixteenth-century France and the ideas and forms of expression they explored in the early decades of printing. The persistence of oral culture and the search for a voice in print; the triumph of French over Latin as a literary language of subtlety and power; the collisions of propaganda and censorship in a century torn by religious strife; the emergence of new audiences and new strategies of narration and reading. Readings in prose works by Rabelais, Montaigne, Calvin, Marguerite de Navarre; poetry by du Bellay, Ronsard and Louise Labé. Periodic reference to resources of the rare book collection in the Wellesley library.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Spring
Unit: 1.0
303 Advanced Studies in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Topic A: Honor, Passion, and the Social Order in Seventeenth-Century Theater: Corneille, Molière, Racine
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-2008. Love and duty, appearance and reality, freedom and destiny: seventeenth-century theater expresses major oppositional themes that both shaped and undermined the political order of the time. Corneille, Molière and Racine, the leading playwrights from the Golden Age of French literature, articulate the causes of economic crisis, social unrest and religious conflict that plagued the reign of Louis XIV and too often led to bloody consequences. The course will concentrate on the tragedies and comedies of these writers as keys to understanding the forces at work in a changing society, as outstanding achievements in theatrical art, and as illustrations of critical developments in theatrical style.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
304 Male and Female Perspectives in the Eighteenth Century Novel
Mistacco
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-2008. Drawing from feminist inquiries into the politics of exclusion and inclusion in literary history, the course examines, in dialogue with masterpieces authored by men, novels by major women writers of the period. Though much admired in their time, these novels were subsequently erased from the pages of literary history and recovered in the late twentieth century. In this course we will reconsider this particular literature of female dissent along with key novels by men as part of a crisis in legitimacy that led to the French Revolution. Works by Prévost, Claudine-Alexandrine de Tencin, Françoise de Graffigny, Marie-Jeanne Riccoboni, Rousseau, Diderot, Laclos, Isabelle de Charrière.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
305 Artistic And Political Revolutions From 1789 To 1851: The Rise And Fall of Romanticism
Ritchey
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-2008. During the Romantic era, a series of political revolutions and coups paralleled equally tumultuous literary and artistic battles in a whirlwind of changes that forever altered the face of French society and culture. In this course, we will examine the nature and form of this connection between the artistic and the political in the aftermath of the Revolution. We will also trace the source and nature of the Romantic spirit, its rebellion against Classicism, the conditions of its emergence and the causes of its decline. Readings by Chateaubriand, Duras, Lamartine, Hugo, Musset, Sand, Staël, Stendhal, Vigny; paintings by David, Gericault, Ingres, Gros, and Delacroix.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Fall
Unit: 1.0
306 Literature and Inhumanity: Novel, Poetry, and Film in
Interwar France
Petterson
This course will examine the confrontation between literature and inhumanity through the French literature, poetry and film of the early twentieth century. Poetry by Guillaume Apollinaire, Robert Desnos, André Breton,Francis Ponge, and René Char, films by Luis Buñuel, and novels and prose by André Gide, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and André Malraux all serve to illustrate the profound crisis in human values that defined and shaped the twentieth century.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Fall
Unit: 1.0
307 The Contemporary French Novel & The Pleasure of the Text
Petterson
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08. In mental landscapes ranging from the excruciatingly personal to the desperately impersonal, and in geographical settings that vary from high-paced urbanism to plodding ruralism, the contemporary French novel invites us to reassess the formal, political, cultural and historical stakes of writing and reading fiction in the twenty-first century. This course explores in depth the subtle pleasure of the text in works by some of France's more brilliant and intriguing contemporary authors: Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Danièle Sallenave, Jean Echenoz, Lydie Salvayre, Marie Redonnet, François Bon, Patrick Modiano, Iegor Gran.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
308 Advanced Studies in Language
(long course description)
Masson
The art of translation and its techniques are studied through analysis of the major linguistic and cultural differences between French and English. Translations from both languages will serve to explore past and present-day practices and theories of translation.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above. Open to juniors and seniors only, or by
permission of the instructor.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Fall
Unit: 1.0
313 George Sand and the Romantic Theater
Masson
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08. George Sand, multi-faceted woman and influential writer, allows us to explore the Romantic Theater as well as the overall theater production of the century. The fact that Sand’s theater was overlooked in her time and subsequently forgotten raises important questions of public recognition and literary posterity that we will examine.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Arts, Music, Theatre, Film, Video
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
314 Cinema
Gillain
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08 François Truffaut: An in-depth review of Truffaut’s overall contribution to cinema. Includes readings from this articles as a film critic, a study of influences on his directorial work (Renoir, Hitchcock) and a close analysis of twelve of his films using a variety of critical approaches: biographical, historical, formal, and psychoanalytical.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Arts, Music, Theatre, Film, Video
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
318 Narrative in the Twentieth Century
Mistacco
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08. This course explores innovative fiction by major novelists spanning the twentieth century, from André Gide at the threshold of "the age of suspition" (Sarraute) on. Challenges to canonical narratives, discourses of mastery and authoritative modes of storytelling in a wide variety of revolutionary works, including absurdist, avant-garde, and feminist texts are examined. Literary, historical, and cultural perspectives will be brought to bear on these narratives which chart vital developments in twentieth-century novel. Authors include André Gide, Marcel Proust, Nathalie Sarraute, Albert Camus, Samuel Beckett, Marguerite Duras, and Alain Robbe-Grillet.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
319 Women, Language, and Literary Expression
Mistacco
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08. Fiction by twentieth-century women writers in France. Challenges to literary conventions, patriarchal thinking and
dominant discourse by Beauvoir, Colette, Chawaf, Wittig, Duras, and Djebar. Attention to gender as a site of dissidence and to the creative possibilities as
well as the risks involved in equating the feminine with difference. Perspectives on women, writing, and difference in colonial and post-colonial contexts. Readings from foundational and recent works by feminist theoreticians including Cixous, Kristeva, and Irigaray.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
321 Selected Topics
Topic A:
Women of Ill Repute: Prostitution in Nineteenth-Century France
Ritchey
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08Women of loose morals in French fiction from the Revolution to the end of the nineteenth century. This course will trace the figure of the prostitute-from the innocuous fallen woman with a heart of gold to the threatening incarnationof feminine perversity-in literary texts and in the paintings of prominent artists of the period. Readings in contemporary treatises on hygiene, public policy, and the legal status of prostitutes will situate the theme in the socio-cultural context of the time. Fiction by Balzac, Dumas, Hugo, Baudelaire, Maupassant, Barbey d’Aurevilly, Zola. Paintings by Degas, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
327 A Fascination with Bodies: The Doctor's Malady
Respaut
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08. The addictive interplay between doctors and patients as reflected in a variety of nineteenth- and twentieth-century writings, and in photography and film. The course will investigate the effect of sickness on family structure and the struggle with illness as a desperate "dancing with the beast", touching on mental and physical suffering of various kinds - hysteria and alcoholism, childbirth and abortion,
tuberculosis, cancer, AIDS - represented in novels and short stories from Flaubert to Gide, in the reflections of historians and psychologists (Michelet,
Charcot), and in biographies, personal accounts and autofictions by Duras, Guibert and Ernaux.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
329 Colette/Duras: "A Pleasure Unto Death"
Respaut
Two prolific authors whose works embrace the span of women's writing in the twentieth century, and who correspondingly illustrate the essential features of modern expression by women. Attention to the phases of a woman's life, sexuality, the figure of the mother, exoticism and race, and the relation between fiction and autobiography.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: Fall
Unit: 1.0
330 French and Francophone Studies
Prabhu
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08. The course examines various texts from the post-independent Francophone world to understand pressing concerns in
different postcolonial regions. Close attention will be paid to narrative techniques while studying questions concerning the relationship with the metropolis and the functioning of language(s). Includes a brief introduction to the history of Francophone literature. Texts by Driss Chraïbi, Maryse Condé, Axel Gauvin, Assia Djebar.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
331 Desire, Sexuality, and Love in African Francophone Cinema
Prabhu
An exploration of interpersonal relationships within traditional or transgressive couples in African Francophone Cinema. Consideration of various cultural and social backgrounds will frame our discussion of such controversial issues as cliterodectomy, polygamy, homosexuality, and incest.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Arts, Music, Theatre, Film, Video
Semester: Spring
Unit: 1.0
332 Myth and Memory in Modern France: From the French Revolution to May 1968
Datta
NOT OFFERED IN 2007-08This course explores the way in which the French view their past as well as the myths they have created to inscribe that past into national memory. Through an approach simultaneously thematic and chronological, modern French history and culture will be examined from the perspective of “les lieux de mémoire,” that is, symbolic events (Bastille Day), institutions (the Napoleonic Code), people (Joan of Arc), and places (Sacré-Coeur) that have shaped French national identity. The course begins by analyzing such concepts as the nation and the hexagon, and proceeds to the legacy of key moments in French history, among them the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era, the establishment of the Third Republic, the two World Wars, the Algerian conflict, and the events of May 1968.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Historical Studies
Semester: N/O
Unit: 1.0
349 Studies in Culture and Criticism
Topic A: La Belle Époque: Politics, Society and Culture in France: 1880-1914
Datta
In the aftermath of World War I, French men and women viewed the preceding years as a tranquil and stable period in French history. Yet during the era, subsequently known as "la Belle Epoque," the French experienced changes of enormous magnitude: the emergence of both consumer culture and a working class, the development of a national press, and the expansion of an overseas colonial empire. Such ebullience was reflected in the emergence of Paris as the capital of the European avant-garde. Drawing on literary texts and historical documents, as well as on films, posters, and songs, this interdisciplinary course examines French society, politics, and culture during the era which ushered France into the modern age.
>Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later), or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Historical Studies
Semester: Fall
Unit: 1.0
Topic B: France and Europe: Ambiguities, Obstacles, and Triumphs
Gunther
After an introduction to various social, cultural and political aspects of contemporary France and the French, we will turn our attention to issues surrounding France's role in the project to unify Europe. We will examine how France's anxieties and hopes for the Union are shared by other European nations, and how France is experiencing membership in the European Union differently from its neighbors, in ways that reflect its unique history and culture. Readings will be drawn from a variety of disciplines, including texts by historians, political scientists, sociologists and economists.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units, one of which must be 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later) or 211 or above.
Distribution: Language and Literature or Historical Studies
Semester: Spring
Unit: 1.0
350 Research or Individual Study
350s will ordinarily be permitted in cases where there is no overlap of the content of the proposed study with a course being offered by the French
Department in the same semester. A student interested in doing an independent study should first have a well-defined topic, including, for example, the
author(s) to be considered, the question or central idea to be studied, and the approach that will be taken. She should consult the section entitled, "French Department Faculty and Specializations" in the department handbook, which is also available on the CWIS. Subsequently, she should contact the professor whose area of specialization and interests most closely match her proposed study. Meetings and regular assignments will be discussed and arranged with the professor in question.
Students should contact the instructor at the time of pre-registration and, in any case, no later than the end of the first week of classes.
Prerequisite: Two 200-level units above 206
Semester: Fall, Spring
360 Senior Thesis Research
Prerequisite: By permission of department. See Academic Distinctions.
Semester: Fall, Spring
370 Senior Thesis
Prerequisite: 360
Semester: Fall, Spring
Directions for Election
One-hundred Level Courses: Courses 101-102 and 103 count toward the degree but not toward the major. Students who begin with 101-102 in college and who plan to study abroad should consult the Chair of the department during the second semester of their first year.
Majors: French majors are required to complete a minimum of eight units, including the following courses or their equivalents: 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later) or 211, and 308. The goals of a coherent program are: (a) oral and written linguistic competence: (b) acquisition of basic techniques of reading and interpreting texts; and (c) a general understanding of the history of French literature and culture. All majors must take two 300-level French courses at Wellesley College. French 350, 360, and 370 do not count towards the minimum requirement of two 300-level courses for the major. No more than two courses taken credit / non credit at Wellesley College may be applied to the French Major. Students planning to major in French should consult with the Chair of the French Department.
Students interested in an interdepartmental major in French Cultural Studies should click here.
Honors: For further information about honors, students should click here.
Graduate Study and Careers:
French and French Cultural Studies majors have pursued interesting and diverse
careers; they have entered fields such as teaching, business, banking, retail,
law, publishing, government, sales, and computer programming. They have also
enrolled in some of the best graduate schools in the country, including Harvard,
Yale and New York University. Students who plan to do graduate work in French
are advised to begin or pursue the study of a second modern language and Latin.
Those who plan to do graduate work in comparative literature are advised to
study the literature of several countries and to acquire proficiency in at least
one classical language.
French Advanced Placement Policies and Language Requirement: A student entering Wellesley must have an Advanced Placement score of 5 or an SAT II score of 690 to satisfy the foreign language requirement. All incoming students who have studied some French and who are considering taking French at some point during their college career at Wellesley are required to take the placement test. True beginners, without an experience in French may register for French 101 or 103 without taking the test. The placement test is a tool to evaluate your proficiency in French so that you will be placed with students who are at the same level as you. If your SAT or AP score suggests a different placement level than your French Department placement results, the French department placement committee will advise you as to which course to take. Any student who intends to fulfill her language requirement by taking a course at another institution must take the French placement test upon her return and attain the required level.
Teacher Certification: Students interested in obtaining certification to teach French in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should consult the Chair of the Department of Education.
FRENCH CULTURAL STUDIES
AN INTERDEPARTMENTAL MAJOR
Director: Venita Datta
The French Cultural Studies major is intended for students whose interests in the French and Francophone world are primarily cultural and historical. This interdepartmental major combines courses from the department of French with those in Africana studies, art, history, music, political science, or any other department offering courses on France or Francophone countries. The French department’s courses in history and society are the core of the program. These courses examine institutions, political and social movements, along with the mass media, using methodologies grounded in the social sciences, primarily history and sociology. Other French department offerings in the field include courses that place literature and film in a social context. French cultural studies majors ordinarily work closely with two advisors, one from the French department and one from their other area of concentration.
Directions for Election One-hundred and two-hundred level courses. FREN 101-102, 103 and 201 (starting with the class of 2011) count toward the degree but not toward the major. Students who begin with 101-102 in college and who plan to study abroad should consult the chair of the department during the second semester of their first year. Majors. The major in French cultural studies consists of a minimum of eight units. At least four units in the French department above the 100 level are required including 207 and 210 (if taken Fall 2004 or later) or 211. In special cases, an upper-level culture course in French approved by the program director may be substituted for FREN 207. At least one unit in French at the 300 (advanced) level is required. All majors must take two 300- level courses at Wellesley College. FRST 350, 360 and 370 do not normally count towards the minimum requirement of two 300-level courses for the major. In exceptional cases, this requirement may be waived by the FCS director and/or the chair of the French department. No more than two courses taken credit/noncredit at Wellesley College may be applied to the French cultural studies major. Honors. The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100-level; the department may petition on her behalf if her GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5. Students must complete a 300-level course or its equivalent before the fall of senior year. In addition, a 300-level course is to be taken concurrently with 360-370. See Academic Distinctions.
350 Research or Individual Study
Prerequisite: Open by permission to juniors and seniors.
Semester: Fall, Spring
360 Senior Thesis Research
Prerequisite: By permission of Director. See Academic Distinctions.
Semester: Fall, Spring
370 Senior Thesis
Prerequisite: 360
Semester: Fall, Spring
Students will also take a minimum of two units in related departments from among the following:
AFR 207 Images of Africana People through the cinema
AFR 235 Societies and Cultures of Africa
AFR 251 Religion in Africa
AFR 299 Women in the Caribbean
AFR 318 Seminar, African Women, Social Transformation, and Empowerment
ARTH 209 Topics in West African Art
ARTH 224 Modern Art to 1945
ARTH 226 History of Photography: From Invention to Media Age
ARTH 228 Nineteenth and Twentieth-Century Architecture
ARTH 235 Landscape and Garden Architecture
ARTH 258 African Spaces: Architecture and Installation
ARTH 268 Art, Architecture and Pilgrimage in the Medieval World
ARTH 289 European Art and Architecture, from 1700-1900: From Watteau to Van Gogh
ARTH 304 Seminar: Renaissance Art
ARTH 305 Seminar, History of Prints: New Media of the Renaissance
ARTH 323 Seminar: Topics in the Arts of France
ARTH 339 Seminar. Beyond Japonisme: Japan and Europe in the Late Nineteenth Century
CPLT 334 Literature and Medicine
HIST 102 The Great War
HIST 208 Society and Culture in Medieval Europe
HIST 222 The Barbarian Kingdoms of Early Medieval Europe
HIST 232 The Transformation of the Western World: Europe from 1300-1815
HIST 236 The European Enlightenment: A Revolution in Thought, Culture, and Action
HIST 261 World War II in Europe: History, Experience, and Memory
HIST 279/370 Heresy and Popular Religion in the Middle Ages
HIST 286 History of the Middle East, c. 600-1918
HIST 290 Morocco: History and Culture (Wintersession in Morocco)
HIST 297Europe Since 1945
HIST 307 Religious Change and the Emergence of Modernity in Early Modern Europe, 1600-1800
HIST 328 Seminar. Anti-Semitism in Historical Perspective
HIST 330 Seminar. Revolution and Rebellion in Twentieth-Century European Society
HIST 335 Seminar. The Many Faces of Fascism: Authoritarianism in the World of the
Twentieth Century
HIST 336 Seminar. The Middle East and World War I, 1914-1923
PHIL 221 History of Modern Philosophy
POL2 302 Globalization and the Nation-State
POL3 328S Seminar. Selected Topics in World Politics: Anti-Americanism as Politics and Performance
POL4 241 Modern Political Theory
Teacher Certification: Students interested in obtaining certification to teach French in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should consult the Chair of the Department of Education.