Honors

Under Option B, students sit for a written examination based on major works and authors of the French and Francophone literary traditions. (See requirements, below.) Option B carries no course credit, but candidates may elect a unit of FREN 350 in the fall of senior year as part of their preparation for the examination.

To be admitted to either 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. 

---

Honors, Option A: Senior Thesis

Requirements:

1. Grade point average of 3.5 in the major, above the 100-level (Exceptions: see appended Articles of Government, Book II, Section 2, Honors Programs.)  
2. Recommendation of Department's Honors Committee when Project is submitted
3. A 300-level course or its equivalent before the Fall of senior year

4. French 360 and 370 do not count towards the minimum requirement of two 300-level courses for the major.

FRENCH 360: Senior Thesis Research

Prerequisite for French 360:  By permission of the department.  See Academic Distinctions. 

FRENCH 370: Senior Thesis

Prerequisite for French 370:  French 360 and permission of the department.

Timeline

Spring of Junior Year:  In the Spring of the Junior Year qualified students who wish to be in the Honors Program must submit a proposal for 360 Senior Thesis Research. Students in the Wellesley-in-Aix program should discuss their plans with the program Director. Any eligible junior who wishes to do so should then consult a faculty member for advice in selecting appropriate research material for summer reading and in developing her topic into a promising proposal, which is to be formally submitted to the department in the fall. The advisor should be contacted in February. In March and April the student should gather a bibliography and by April 15th she should submit it to her advisor along with a preliminary proposal.  The advisor should comment on the bibliography and proposal by the end of May.

It is suggested that interested students look at the Honors theses of former students in the French Department Germaine Lafeuille Library. The Chair of the department is available for advice about selecting an Honors advisor. Students may also consult the short description of the specializations of each French Department faculty member on the department website http://www.wellesley.edu/french/faculty.

Summer of Junior Year:  Read in general area of research and begin writing proposal for submission to the Department.  Compile an annotated bibliography.

September of Senior Year:  Meet with advisor during the first week of classes to discuss thesis topic, annotated bibliography, and the reading done over the summer.  A schedule of conferences and deadlines should be worked out at this time.

October 1 of Senior Year:  Proposals are to be submitted to the Honors Committee of the department after consultation with the advisor. Goals, scope of study, and critical approach should be clearly and precisely defined. Special attention should be paid to grammar, spelling, and style. A tentative, but detailed, outline of the thesis, suggesting the progression of the argument or analysis must accompany the proposal. A bibliography should also be included. Separate copies of the proposal are to be provided for each member of the Honors Committee. 

If the proposal is not approved, the student will be notified by October 8: in this case, the student may withdraw from the Honors Program. She will be credited with one unit of 360 if sufficient work is done during the semester to justify it.

October 29 of Senior Year:  A more substantial outline should be submitted to the advisor.

December 1 of Senior Year:  A substantial sample (chapter or section, 20-25 pages) should be submitted to the advisor and the members of the Honors Committee. During finals week, a mini-oral will be scheduled with the student, her advisor and two members of the Honors Committee.  At that time, the student, in consultation with her advisor and the committee, should decide whether her 360-370 work thus far, written or otherwise, justifies the continuation of her project into the second semester: it happens sometimes that a topic turns out to be less interesting or fruitful than originally anticipated. In that case, credit will be given for one unit of 360, provided sufficient work has been done. If the submitted sample appears promising, work on the 360 project should continue in consultation with the advisor.  In the latter case the instructor may choose to give a T.B.G. grade (To Be Graded) instead of a letter grade for work done in the fall.

December of Senior Year:  By the end of the final exam period the student will be notified of the decision of the Honors Committee. In order to avoid the possibility of having two 360's on her transcript, a student may find it prudent to register for a course in French which might serve as a substitute for the second semester.

Before the end of the 10th week of classes of Senior Year: List of Honors Candidates to CCI (Committee on Curriculum & Instruction) of the College: the Honors Committee reports to the Curriculum Committee of the College (with copy to the Chair of the Department), the names of students registered for 370’s who are candidates for honors.

2-3 Weeks before the Last Day of Classes:  Oral exam: The thesis is due in the Dean's Office at a date specified by the College, usually 2-3 weeks before the last day of classes. The Oral Defense committee comprises the Advisor, the Chair of the Department (or her or his deputy), a representative of the Curriculum Committee of the College, and at least one other department member ordinarily chosen by the Advisor and Honors candidate.

If her thesis and her oral exam are judged of honors quality, the student is awarded honors in the major field.  If the thesis is completed but it or the honors exam is not of honors quality, honors are not awarded; 370 remains on the transcript as Senior Thesis with an appropriate grade.

---

Honors, Option B: Survey of French Literature Examination

A second path towards earning Honors in the French department is through examination.

Requirements:

In accordance with Wellesley College Articles of Government (Article IV, Section 2) and French Department Policy:

1. Grade point average of 3.5 in the major, above the 100-level;
2. Students must be recommended by at least two professors from the department;
3. A 300-level course or its equivalent by the Fall of senior year;
4. No course credit will be awarded for the preparation of this exam. Students in this Honors path do not register for French 360 or 370;
5. A student requesting such an examination must do so in writing to the French department and to the Committee on Curriculum and Academic Policy, normally by the end of the third week of her eighth semester;
6. The examination shall be given during the reading period;
7. A student passing the examination will receive Honors in French on the permanent record.

Description of the Exam: 

A written examination of major works and authors based on the “French Department List of Representative Works from the French and Francophone Traditions (Medieval Period to the Twenty-First century).” See list below.

• At the time of the exam, students are required to have read one work classified under the Medieval period and at least five works from each century thereafter; additionally, students are require to view at least six works listed under the “Cinéma” category of which Three must predate 1985 (a minimum total of 26 works of literature and six films).
• Students will have 3 hours to complete the exam, which will consist of two separate prompts. Students will not be required to address every one of the works they have read in their exam answers, but their responses must display breadth and depth in placing a variety of readings within historical and literary contexts.
• Students taking the exam must submit an “Honors Exam Reading Binder” which consists of notes, papers and/or exam drafts, attesting to their completion of the required readings.  This binder must include the written feedback of at least 3 professors the students have consulted in preparation for the exam (see below).

Timeline:

Students interested in pursuing the examination path to Honors are encouraged to consult with their professors early in their careers within the French Dept. Though the Honors Option B is not limited to students who begin their preparation for it as first or second years, the preference is that studying for the exam be a methodical process rather than a fourth-year endeavor.

Fall of Second Year: By the fourth week of the Fall semester, professors nominate students who have displayed excellence in and enthusiasm for the study of French language and literature. The students meet with a designated “Honors Exam Advisor” who will discuss the goals of the exam and share strategies for reading effectively. This advisor will meet with the students again before the start of winter break and in the spring to encourage reading progress and provide guidance. He or she will be available to answer questions and help formulate ideas about the readings.

From Second-Year to Fourth year: Students continue making progress on their readings, consulting with professors as they go. Students must obtain written feedback from at least three professors in the department on their readings, attesting to their initiative in seeking out dialogue and feedback regarding the texts they have read.

Fourth-year: Students complete the reading list. Sample examination questions are printed. Students may choose to take the exam either in the Fall or Spring Reading Periods.

French Department List of Representative Works from the French and Francophone Traditions from the Middle Ages to the Twenty-first century:

1. Moyen Age (9th-15th centuries) - Read at least one of the following:
   • Chrétien de Troyes, Chevalier de la charrette (Lancelot)
   • Marie de France, Lais—à choisir 
   • La Chanson de Roland 
   • Tristan et Iseult
2. XVIe siècle:  Read at least five of the following:
   • Marguerite de Navarre (extraits)
   • Montaigne, Les Essais (extraits)
   • Rabelais, Pantagruel (extraits)
   • Ronsard, Premier Livre des Amours, Premier Livre des Sonnets pour Hélène
   • Du Bellay, Les Antiquités de Rome (extraits)
   • La Boétie, Discours de la Servitude volontaire
3. XVIIe siècle: Read at least five of the following:
   • Lafayette, La Princesse de Clèves
   • Corneille, Le Cid, Cinna, Horace
   • Molière, L'École des femmes, Le Misanthrope
   • Racine, Bérénice, Phèdre
   • Descartes, Discours de la méthode
   • Pascal, Pensées (extraits)
   • La Bruyère, Les Caractères (extraits)
   • La Fontaine, Fables (extraits)
   • Bernard, Brutus
4. XVIIIe siècle: Read at least five of the following:
   • Beaumarchais, Le Mariage de Figaro
   • Diderot, La Religieuse
   • Voltaire, Candide, L’Ingénu
   • Graffigny, Lettres d’une Péruvienne
   • La Clos, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
   • Montesquieu, Lettres persanes
   • Marivaux, Le jeu de l’amour et du hasard
   • de Saint-Pierre, Paul et Virginie
   • Rousseau, Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'inégalité parmi les hommes
   • D'Alembert, Discours préliminaire à l'Encyclopédie
   • Bougainville, Voyage autour du monde (extrait)
   • de Gouges, L’Esclavage des Noirs
5. XIX siècle: Read at least five of the following:
   • ​​​Novels:
     • Balzac, Le Père Goriot
     • Chateaubriand, René
     • Constant, Adolphe
     • Flaubert, Madame Bovary
     • Maupassant, Boule de Suif
     • Sand, Indiana, François le champi
     • Staël, De l’Allemagne
     • Stendhal, Le Rouge et le noir
     • Zola, Germinal
   • Poetry:
     • Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal (extraits)
     • Hugo, Les Contemplations (extraits)
     • Mallarmé, Poésies (extraits)
     • Rimbaud, Poésies (extraits)
     • Verlaine
   • Theater
     • Hugo, Hernani
     • Musset, Lorenzaccio
     • Sand, Cosima
     • Dumas, Antony
     • Poèmes saturniens (extraits) and "L'art poétique"
6. XXe siècle et XXIe siècle : Read at least five of the following:
   • Novels:
     • Beauvoir, Le Deuxième Sexe, "Introduction"
     • Bâ, Une si longue letter
     • Breton, Nadja
     • Camus, L’étranger
     • Céline, Voyage au bout de la nuit
     • Colette, Le blé en herbe, Vagabonde
     • Dadié, Un nègre à Paris
     • Duras, L’Amant
     • Gide, Les Faux-monnayeurs
     • Memmi, Portrait du colonisateur suivi du portrait du colonisé, Un negre a paris
     • Perec, W ou le souvenir d'enfance
     • Proust, Du côté de chez Swann
     • Robbe-Grillet, La Jalousie
     • Djebar, Ombre sultane / L’Amour, la Fantasia
     • Sartre, La Nausée
     • Chalem, Dis à ma fille que je pars en voyage
     • Thomas, Les Adieux à la reine
   • Poetry:
     • Apollinaire, Alcools
     • Valéry, Charmes
     • Leiris, Mots sans mémoire
     • Césaire, Cahier d’un retour au pays natal (extraits)
     • Senghor, Damas, Selections
   • Theater:
     • Beckett, En attendant Godot
     • Cocteau, La Machine infernale
     • Genet, Les Bonnes / Les Nègres
     • Giraudoux, La Guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu
     • Ionesco, La Cantatrice chauve
     • Zadi Zaourou, Négresse bonheur et putain d’Afrique
     • Ndiaye, Papa doit manger
     • Werewere Liking, Puissance d’Um
     • Soni Labou Tansi, Qui a mangé Madame d’Avoine Bergotha
     • Sartre, Huis-Clos
     • Schmitt, Le Visiteur
     • Obaldia, Monsieur Klebs et Rozalie
     • Camus, Les Justes
     • Vinaver, 11 septembre 2001
     • Duras, Savannah Bay
   • Cinema (6 films, 3 of which must be before 1985) :
     • Jean Vigo, L'Atalante (1934)
     • Jean Renoir, La Règle du Jeu (1939)
     • Robert Bresson, Un condamné à mort s'est échappé (1954)
     • Alain Resnais, Hiroshima mon amour (1959)
     • Jean-Luc Godard, À bout de souffle (1960)
     • Gillo Pontecorvo, Bataille d’Alger (1966)
     • Sembène Ousmane, Xala (1975)
     • Agnès Varda, Sans toit, ni loi (1985)
     • Matthieu Kassovitz, La Haine (1995)
     • Olivier Assayas, Irma Vep (1996)
     • Joseph Gai Ramaka, Karmen Geï (2001)
     • Abderrehmane Sissako, Bamako (2006)
     • Abdeladif Kechiche, La Graine et le mulet (2008) ou Vénus noire (2010)
     • Claire Denis, White Ma