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Course Catalog

TOPICS IN FRENCH (FR1910)

TOPICS VARY BY SEMESTER

INTRODUCTION TO FRENCH GLOBAL STUDIES (FR2001)

This introductory Francophone Studies course explores French language's global status, examining its evolution, geography, politics, and colonial legacies. Students delve into decolonial perspectives, questioning binaries between France and Francophone regions. Discussions on world literature,transculturalism, and language varieties prompt reflections on contemporary French and Francophone identities. The course probes debates surrounding French usage and its diverse manifestations, encouraging critical examination of language in today's world.

FRENCH IMMERSION: INTERMEDIATE I (FR2005I)

This intermediate course reinforces and expands students’ ability to express themselves, defend an opinion, and debate with others. Special attention is paid to increasing students' ability to form complex sentences, to express attitudes, wishes, necessity, doubt, emotions, to link ideas and to speculate. It aims at the B1 level on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, while allowing a first-hand introduction to French culture both in and outside the classroom. The French immersion program includes daily coffee and croissant breaks, offering opportunities for casual conversation, and two Friday afternoon faculty-led tours of towns near Paris, including dinner.

PARIS THROUGH ITS BOOKS (FR2010)

Examines how experiences of Paris have been committed to the page from the first century to the present. Considers the uses and effects of overviews, street-level accounts, and underground approaches to describing the city and its inhabitants. Includes visits to the sewers and museums, revolutionary sites and archives, with multiple members of the comparative literature faculty speaking on their areas of expertise.

FRENCH IMMERSION: INTERMEDIATE II (FR2010I)

This advanced course reinforces and expands students’ ability to give clear descriptions, express viewpoints on most general topics, without much searching for words, using some complex sentence forms. It aims at the B2 level on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, while allowing a first-hand introduction to French culture both in and outside the classroom. The French immersion program includes daily coffee and croissant breaks, offering opportunities for casual conversation, and two Friday afternoon faculty-led tours of towns near Paris, including dinner.

PARIS VU PAR LES PHOTOGRAPHES (FR2046)

This course aims to introduce students to the different arrondissements of the city of Paris and its immediate suburbs, their most unusual and secret aspects but also the most mundane by immersing them in the worlds of Doisneau, Cartier-Bresson, Atget, Kertész, Miller, Weiss, Lartigue, Newton, Klein, and other photographers. Tender and nostalgic icons of the popular Paris of Doisneau, darker and ambiguous visions of the nocturnal Paris of Brassaï and Kertész, historical representations of major events such as the Second World War or May 68, ideological images linked to the French colonial Empire and to decolonial movements, more modern images of Paris and its diverse and multicultural suburbs, images of photojournalism from the 2015 attacks...: these multiple and contradictory facets will encourage students to explore the city, to immerse themselves in its history and diverse culture. Through the photographs of these artists as well as literary or critical texts, students will discover the intimate faces of Parisians, their gestures, their habits, their values, their dreams, their disappointments, their fears. Students will measure the impact of the major historical events of the 20th century on their lives and will analyze urban transformations from the end of the 19th century to the present day.

RISE OF THE HERO & THE POET IN FRENCH LIT (FR2057)

"The Rise of the Hero and the Poet in French Literature" (formerly "Masters of French Literature 1") has been modified to give AUP students and visitors an opportunity to engage with the canonical texts and counter-texts of French literature across its long span, from the Middle Ages to the present. French literature was the first vernacular literature to emerge on the European scene and until relatively recently it remained the most influential.

This panoramic overview of French literature is anchored in bilingual editions, inviting participants to interact closely with the French originals and their facing English translations (including The Song of Roland, François Villon, Voltaire’s Candide, a Beckett play). Depending on the individual student’s needs, supporting readings will be recommended in French or English. Written work may be submitted in either language. French is not a requirement, but the better the student’s level, the more he or she will benefit from the course.

INTRO TO LINGUISTICS/ A LA LINGUISTIQUE (FR2060)

A bilingual survey of linguistics conducted in French and English. Combines theory and practice to introduce students to the basic concepts in phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Focuses on the study of the human language as a system, the forms and functions of words and sentence elements, the creativity inherent in language systems, and language varieties. Prepares students to further investigate areas such as Historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, language pathologies and first/second language acquisition.

THEATER IN PARIS (FR2075)

This course essentially happens in the theatres of Paris, exploring the city’s fabulous resources, exchanging with practitioners and scholars from other institutions. We see ways of integrating music, dance and “physical theatre,” innovative explorations of classics from European and non-European traditions, avant-garde masters and the brightest young experimental troupes. We have theatre that directly questions political dilemmas, collective theatre and director-driven theatre, machine theatre and theatre based around great individual actors. Taught in French. Papers done in French or English.
Course fee attached.