May 15, 2024  
2018 - 2019 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
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2018 - 2019 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Course Descriptions

 

French and Francophone Studies
  

  • FREN 100 - Big Ideas in French & Francophone Studies

    Fall or Spring (4) Staff. (College 100)

    An exploration of significant questions and integrative concepts in French & Francophone Studies, their grounding in the process of scientific discovery and application, and their broader relevance to society. Designed for first-year students. Although topics vary, the courses also seek to improve students’ communication skills beyond the written word.
  

  • FREN 101 - Elementary French I

    Fall and Summer (4) Staff

    An introduction to the French language designed to develop basic communicative competence in speaking and writing skills, and basic listening and reading comprehension of cultural materials. Preliminary introduction to selected aspects of the Francophone world. For additional placement information, please see the Modern Languages and Literatures website. Four class hours.
  

  • FREN 102 - Elementary French II

    Spring and Summer (4) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 101  

    An introduction to the French language designed to develop basic communicative competence in speaking and writing skills, and basic listening and reading comprehension of cultural materials. Preliminary introduction to selected aspects of the Francophone world.  For additional placement information, please see the Modern Languages and Literatures website. Four class hours.
  

  • FREN 150 - First-Year Experience

    Fall or Spring (4) Staff

  

  • FREN 201 - Intermediate French I

    Fall and Summer (4) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 102  or placement by Achievement Test score or by department

    A review of basic French grammar through development of writing, speaking, comprehension and reading skills, with additional emphasis on cultural and literary readings. For additional placement information, please see the Modern Languages and Literatures website. Four class hours.
  

  • FREN 202 - Intermediate French II

    Spring and Summer (4) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 201  or placement by Achievement Test score or by department

    Continued review of basic French grammar through development of writing, speaking and comprehension skills, with additional emphasis on cultural and literary readings. For additional placement information, please see the Modern Languages and Literatures website. Four class hours.
  

  • FREN 206 - Upper-lntermediate Conversation

    Fall, Spring or Summer (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 202  or placement by Achievement Test score or consent of instructor

    A course beyond the College’s foreign language requirement proficiency level stressing the cultural and linguistic notions of oral discourse in developing communicative ability in the language. Practice in simulated foreign cultural contexts through discussion and student presentations on themes in contemporary French life.
  

  • FREN 210 - From Word to Text: An Introduction to Reading and Writing

    Fall and Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 202  or placement by Achievement Test score or by department (ALV, GER 5)

    Continued development of all four language skills, with a special emphasis on reading and writing. This course will incorporate work with applied grammar, interactive video, film, and French and Francophone literary readings.
  

  • FREN 212 - Cross-cultural Perspectives on the Francophone World

    Fall and Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 202  or placement by Achievement Test score or by department (GER 4C) (ALV)

    An introduction to comparative cultural studies of the Francophone world. An exploration of the rich cultural exchanges among Francophone communities with an emphasis on their geographical, historical and social contexts. Sustained attention to oral and written expression.
  

  • FREN 299 - French Studies Abroad at the Upper Intermediate Level

    Fall, Spring, or Summer (1-4) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 210  or FREN 212   and approval by department

    This number is intended for courses completed in France or in a Francophone country. May be repeated for credit
  

  • FREN 300 - French Studies Abroad at the Advanced Level

    Fall, Spring, or Summer (1-4) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 210  or FREN 212  and approval by department

    This number is intended for courses completed in France or in a Francophone country. May be repeated for credit
  

  • FREN 301 - Life in Montpellier

    Spring (1) Resident Director of the Summer in Montpellier, France Program

    A one-credit required course designed for students enrolling in the W&M Summer in Montpellier Program. Provides historical and cultural background of the program site, introduces social, cultural, and political trends that inform life in France today and sensitizes students to the media of the region and nation. Taught in French by the Director during Spring semester prior to enrollment in Summer Program.
  

  • FREN 302 - Perspectives on Contemporary Society

    Summer (4) Resident Director of the Summer in Montpellier, France Program

    A required two-credit supervised research project organized around three themes: 1) the ways in which cosmopolitan and pluralist France addresses issues of diversity, 2) the importance of Europe in France today, and 3) the Southern French perspective regarding themes 1 and 2. In French, under the supervision of the Resident Director of the Montpellier Program.
  

  • FREN 303 - Themes and Issues in the French/ Francophone World

    Fall and/or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 151   or FREN 210   or FREN 212  or placement by Achievement Test score, or by instructor’s permission.

    Each semester’s chosen topic will be indicated in the schedule of classes.
  

  • FREN 304 - French Phonetics and Diction

    Fall or Spring (3) Kulick Prerequisite(s): FREN 206  orFREN 210   or FREN 212  or FREN 303  or consent of instructor (CSI)

    Intensive study of concepts in articulatory phonetics and phonology in modern standard French. Readings in phonetic theory. Diagnostic evaluation of each student’s pronunciation. Corrective phonetics.
  

  • FREN 305 - The Craft of Writing

    Fall and Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 210  or FREN 212  or FREN 303  or FREN 151   (ALV)

    Applied grammar and intensive written work. French 305 is a prerequisite for upper-level French courses.
  

  • FREN 306 - Advanced Conversation

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 210  or FREN 212  or FREN 303  , and FREN 206  (or consent of instructor)

    Intensive oral-aural training, with class discussions and oral presentations focusing on relevant issues in contemporary French and francophone society and culture as presented in a variety of texts and media.
  

  • FREN 310 - French Cinema

    Fall or Spring (3) Fauvel Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315  (GER 4A)

    History of the French cinema, including an introduction to film technology and aesthetics. This course is taught in French. Two class hours, two laboratory hours.
  

  • FREN 314 - Introduction to French Cultural Studies

    Fall and Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 305   (College 200, ALV, GER 4A, 5)

    This course will introduce students to interdisciplinary approaches to the study of French and Francophone cultures with a particular focus on the notion of French national identity.  Specific examples will include national mythology and collective memory, the cultural production of nineteenth-century Paris, and the contemporary issues of immigration and multiculturalism as they relate to the history of colonialism.This will introduce students to interdisciplinary approaches to the study of French and Francophone cultures with a particular focus on the notion of French national identity.  Specific examples will include national mythology and collective memory, the cultural production of nineteenth-century Paris, and the contemporary issues of immigration and multiculturalism as they relate to the history of colonialism. (This course is anchored in the ALV domain, and also considers aspects of the CSI domain.)
  

  • FREN 315 - Provocative Texts: French Literature in its Cultural Contexts

    Fall and Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 305   (College 200, ALV, GER 4A, 5)

    What can literature do? This course will test the powers of fiction by studying provocative masterpieces of French & Francophone literature. In the process, we will also consider the material, social, legal, economic, and ideological forces that shaped French & Francophone literary culture over the centuries. (This course is anchored in the ALV domain, and also considers aspects of the CSI domain.)
  

  • FREN 316 - The Middle Ages

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s):  FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    A study of French literature up to 1500: representative works. (Most texts are read in modern French translation.)
  

  • FREN 318 - The Renaissance

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s):

    FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    A study of the major writers of the French Renaissance.

  

  • FREN 321 - The Spectacular Culture of Early Modern France

    Fall or Spring (3) Pacini Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    A history of theater and theatricality in France from the XVIIth to the XVIIIth centuries. Readings include critically acclaimed literary masterpieces, as well as essays that theorize the effects of theater on the evolution of moral, social, and political conventions.
  

  • FREN 331 - Topics in Eighteenth-Century French Literature and Culture

    Fall or Spring (3) Pacini Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    Studies in the literature, history and visual culture of eighteenthcentury France. Topics will vary. This course may be repeated for credit if topics differ
  

  • FREN 332 - Topics in Early Modern Literature and Culture

    Fall or Spring (3) Pacini Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    Studies in the literature, history and visual culture of early modern France. Topics will vary. This course may be repeated for credit if topics differ
  

  • FREN 341 - Romanticism as Revolution

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    This course will explore the multiple links between French Romanticism and the series of revolutionary upheavals that shook France beginning in 1789. Students will also discover the impact of this movement on subsequent literary and cultural trends.
  

  • FREN 342 - Inventing Modernity: Nineteenth-Century French Narrative

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    Why is the nineteenth century in France considered the Golden Age of the Novel? This course explores that question by focusing on how writers such as Balzac, Sand, Flaubert, and Zola used narrative in order to construct their own modernity.
  

  • FREN 350 - Modern French Poetry

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    From the post-romantic poets to the present with special emphasis on Baudelaire, the Symbolists and the Surrealists.
  

  • FREN 351 - Twentieth-Century French Literature I

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    A study of the principal novelists up to 1950: Colette, Gide, Proust, Sartre, Camus.
  

  • FREN 352 - Post-war, Post-modern, and Post-colonial

    Fall or Spring (3) Fauvel Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    A study of major post-World War II contemporary novelists and critics in relation to the political and social currents of the age from Camus, Robbe-Grillet, Butor to Duras and Modiano, Toussaint and Redonnet, with reference to critics such as Barthes, Foucault, Derrida,Cixous, and Said.
  

  • FREN 355 - Contemporary Women Writers and Movie Makers from the Francophone World

    Fall or Spring (3) Fauvel Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    Readings selected from French women writers and filmmakers of the 20th and 21st centuries. The course will focus in particular on feminist issues.
  

  • FREN 361 - Culture in Context 1: Art and Ideas

    Fall or Spring (3) M. Leruth Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315   (ALV)

    This course studies French artistic and intellectual production in its varied social contexts from the middle ages through the postmodern period.
  

  • FREN 362 - Culture in Context 2: The Republic

    Fall or Spring (3) M. Leruth Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315   (CSI) (ALV)

    This course studies the key role political institutions, geography, and representations of the past play in the formation of the French idea of nation in the republican era (1789-present).
  

  • FREN 363 - Culture in Context 3: Social Trends

    Fall or Spring (3) M. Leruth Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315  (CSI)

    This course studies contemporary French society, the historical origins of some of its most characteristic structures (e.g., institutions, representations, lifestyles), and the forces of change that have shaped it over the past twenty years.
  

  • FREN 385 - Francophone African Literature I (in French)

    Fall or Spring (3) Compan Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315   (ALV, GER 4B)

    This course explores the sub-Saharan African and Caribbean literature written in French that emerged in the French colonial period and continues in the post-colonial period. Major topics to be examined include Négritude and the rise of political consciousness, cultural conflict with the West, women’s voices, Créolité, and postindependence literature.
  

  • FREN 386 - Francophone African Literature II (in English)

    Fall or Spring (3) Compan

    See course description for French 385  . The works for French 386 will be read in English translation and will not duplicate those covered in French 385 . This course cannot be included in the hours required for the major. (Cross listed with AFST 386 .)
  

  • FREN 390 - Topics in French/Francophone Culture and Civilization

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    Topic will be indicated in the schedule of classes. Course may be repeated for credit if topic differs
  

  • FREN 391 - Topics in French/Francophone Literature

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    Topic will be indicated in the schedule of classes. Course may be repeated for credit if topic differs
  

  • FREN 392 - Topics in French Language

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    Topic will be indicated in the schedule of classes. Course may be repeated for credit if topic differs
  

  • FREN 393 - Topics in French/Francophone Cinema

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 

    Topic will be indicated in the schedule of classes. Course may be repeated for credit if topic differs
  

  • FREN 394 - Topics in French & Francophone Studies (in English)

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff

    May be repeated for credit if topic is different.
  

  • FREN 406 - Contemporary Spoken French

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 , or consent of instructor

    Intensive training in the contemporary French idiom.
  

  • FREN 408 - Comparative Stylistics and Translation

    Fall or Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): FREN 314  or FREN 315 , or consent of instructor (CSI)

    An intensive course in writing and language analysis. Basic concepts in stylistics applied to writing in French and to the problems of translation.
  

  • FREN 411 - Independent Study

    Fall and Spring (1-3) Staff

    This course is designed to permit an in-depth study in an area of literature culture or linguistics not available in current course offerings. A written petition to the instructor and approval of the section coordinator are required before registration. May be repeated for credit if topic varies
  

  • FREN 412 - Teaching Practicum

    Fall and Spring (1) Staff

    A mentored teaching internship experience for students to work closely with a faculty member in teaching either a language or content course. May be repeated up to a maximum of 4 credits
  

  • FREN 413 - Field Research Abroad

    Fall, Spring and Summer (6) Staff Prerequisite(s): 9 credits in French Studies at the 300 level

    A mentored field research experience in French/Francophone culture conducted abroad. Project and related 50-page thesis developed in consultation with a university professor.
  

  • FREN 450 - Seminar in French/Francophone Literature, Language, or Culture

    Spring (3) Prerequisite(s): At least 9 hours of 300 and/or 400-level French courses (generally FREN 305 , FREN 314  and /or FREN 315 , and higher, or consent of instructor)

    Fulfills the Major Writing Requirement and the Major Computing Requirement.
  

  • FREN 495 - Honors

    Fall, Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): At least 9 hours of 300 and/or 400-level French courses (generally FREN 305 , FREN 314 , FREN 315 , and higher), and French Section approval prior to registration

    Note: For College provisions governing the Admission to Honors, see catalog section titled Honors and Special Programs or the Charles Center website.
  

  • FREN 496 - Honors

    Fall, Spring (3) Staff Prerequisite(s): At least 9 hours of 300 and/or 400-level French courses (generally FREN 305 , FREN 314 , FREN 315 , and higher), and French Section approval prior to registration

    Note: For College provisions governing the Admission to Honors, see catalog section titled Honors and Special Programs or the Charles Center website.