French Studies
Chair: Jonathan David Walsh
Department home page: http://www.wheatoncollege.edu/Acad/French/
In the Department of French Studies believe that a nation's language, literature and culture are inseparable and that French and Francophone literatures are privileged cultural archives. In addition, studying a culture in its own language and investigating the similarities and differences within and among national cultures offer critical insights into our own linguistic and cultural traditions.
The faculty members in French studies at Wheaton want to give all students access to the beauty and power of the French language and to the rich diversity and high achievements of French and Francophone cultures in the very broadest sense.
Major
Print a major planning worksheet
The French studies major consists of 10 or more courses, at least two of which must be taken the senior year.
Required
Fr 235 Introduction to Modern French Literature
Fr 236 Introduction to Early French Literature
Fr 245 Contemporary France
Courses in Culture and Linguistics
At least one of:
Fr 307 Translation, Art and Craft
Fr 320 From François I to François Mitterrand: A Cultural History of Politics and Architecture
Fr 346 New Wave and Newer: French Cinema since the 1950s
Fr 352 The Quill and the Brush
Fr 356 Le Théâtre et la Société Française
Period courses
At least one course in each of the following periods:
Middle Ages or Renaissance (Fr 301 or Fr 302)
Seventeenth or 18th century (Fr 327 or Fr 329)
Nineteenth or 20th century (Fr 331, Fr 347, Fr 349, Fr 356 or Fr 357)
Electives
At least two other courses above Fr 245 (may include those listed above).
(By prior arrangement with the chair of the French Department, students may substitute Arth 276 or Arth 353 for one of these electives.)
Senior concentration course
In consultation with the faculty of the department, each senior will designate a 300-level course as a "senior concentration course," in which the senior major will engage in course work beyond that undertaken by other students. This advanced work will include additional oral reports, longer or more frequent writing assignments and the development of a substantial annotated bibliography.
Study Abroad
A number of the major requirements may be met during a junior year spent at a French-speaking university in study programs approved by the department. Application to such programs is made during the first semester of the sophomore year. Note that the college requires that at least one-half of the courses in the major be taken at Wheaton. Students with a good mastery of the French language who are majoring in other fields can pursue these fields during a junior year abroad with the approval of their major department. The department strongly recommends a full year of study abroad in a French-speaking country for all majors.
Majors are encouraged to select courses in areas such as European history, philosophy, religion or history of art, which will strengthen their awareness of the French cultural background. Work in other national literatures, including English, is strongly encouraged.
Minor
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The French minor consists of five French courses, including at least two at the 300 level.
Courses
Language and culture courses
Students who have studied French before are placed in these courses according to their performance on the Wheaton placement test. Enrollment in each section is limited to 20 students. (French 102, 211 and 221 are yearlong courses.)
102. Beginning French
Develops the ability to understand and speak authentic French in a meaningful context. The French in Action videodisks and cassettes introduce students to language, customs, culture and everyday life in France. Four classes per week, plus work in the language lab or media center.
211. Intermediate French
A thorough review of French grammar, mainly through short texts. Students will develop a richer vocabulary and a broader knowledge of French and Francophone culture, including literature and film. Three classes per week, plus weekly meetings with the French language assistant.
(Kirk Anderson)
221. Reading and Conversation
Designed to enhance the student's ability to read, write and speak French through close study and discussion of selected readings--fiction, plays, poetry, essays and articles, as well as films, newscasts and multimedia programs in French. Frequent short papers and/or oral presentations. In the first semester, the course will emphasize reading; in the second, the emphasis will be on oral communication.
(Edward J. Gallagher, Jonathan David Walsh)
279. Literary Translation
See Ger 279.
295. Advanced French Grammar
An intensive review of essential grammar for advanced French studies, with emphasis on structural exercises, writing and oral presentations. The course is appropriate for those who need to master the more difficult grammar and idioms of the language before continuing in the advanced cycle of literature and culture courses.
(Jonathan David Walsh)
296. Writing and Speaking in French
Recommended as an introduction to the 300-level curriculum in French. Stresses clear, precise and idiomatic expression in both writing and speech through translation, exposés, debates, discussions and a series of short papers. Work on grammar and pronunciation as needed.
(Kirk Anderson)
298. Experimental Course
Advanced French Grammar and Composition
In this course students will develop reading and composition skills necessary for advanced course work in French. The course is designed to bring students to an advanced level of proficiency in grammar and composition through intensive practice of oral and written language skills and a comprehensive review of essential and advanced-level grammatical structures.
Introductory culture and literature courses
Intended for students who have studied French for three or four years in secondary school, whose placement scores indicate comparable preparation or who have completed French 211 (with permission of the instructor) or French 221.
235. Introduction to Modern French Literature
Postcolonial encounters: What does it mean for the colonized to write in the language of the colonizer? We will try to answer that question through film screenings and the reading and discussion of novels, plays, poems and essays by 20th-century French writers such as Marguerite Duras as well as Vietnamese, African and West Indian Francophone writers.
(Cecile Danehy)
Connections:
Conx 20041 Colonial Encounters
236. Introduction to Early French Literature
Reading and discussion of novels, plays and poems by major French authors from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. We will read, discuss and write about Tristan et Iseut, poems by Ronsard, Racine's Phèdre, Diderot's La Religieuse and Flaubert's Madame Bovary.
(Edward J. Gallagher)
Connections:
Conx 20008 Gender Inequality: Sociological and Literary Perspectives
Conx 23004 Gender
245. Contemporary France
What does it mean to be French today? What factors contribute to French national identity and how has that identity evolved in recent years? In this course we look at the values that define French identity and how they are transmitted from one generation to the next. We look closely at education, government, religion, demographics and social policies as they affect work, race relations and the family. We conclude by studying how the European Union has changed French identity and politics.
(Jonathan David Walsh)
246. Introduction to French Cinema
What is implied by the expression "the seventh art"? How have French directors both resisted and appropriated the dominant Hollywood formula? How have they challenged social, political and sexual norms? In what ways have French directors influenced world cinema? A survey of classic films from the silent period, Poetic Realism, The New Wave, and more recent filmmakers. Directors studied may include Ganz, Carné, Renoir, Cocteau, Truffaut, Godard, Rohmer, Buñuel, Varda, Denis, Beineix, Ozon, Haneke.
(Jonathan David Walsh)
Connections:
Conx 23014 Film and Society
Advanced culture and literature courses
Before enrolling in a 300-level course, students should have completed at least two of the three required courses at the 200 level (French 235, 236 and 245). Prerequisites may be waived by the instructor for students with special preparation.
301. Medieval French Literature
Representative works of the 12th through the 15th centuries in modern French translation: La Vie de Saint Alexis, La Chanson de Roland, Tristan et Iseut, Chrétien de Troyes' Yvain and Lancelot, Aucassin et Nicolette, Les Lais of Marie de France, La Châtelaine de Vergy, Le Mystère d'Adam and the poetry of François Villon.
(Edward J. Gallagher)
302. Renaissance Literature and Society
Not for a thousand years had there been such an upheaval in Western Europe as in the 16th century, marked by the end of Rome's hegemony and the consequent fragmentation of Christendom and, paradoxically, by a concomitant rediscovery of the pagan cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. We will consider these and other aspects of the period as we read and discuss the Heptaméron of Marguerite de Navarre; Rabelais' seriocomical epics Gargantua; and Pantagruel; and selected essays by Montaigne, the inventor of the genre; as well as the poetic badinage of Marot, works of the Lyonnais poets Maurice Scève and Louise Labé; du Bellay's Les Regrets; and representative works from the prince of poets, Pierre de Ronsard.
(Edward J. Gallagher)
307. Translation, Art and Craft
An exploration of what the phrase "lost in translation" implies. Translation is considered here not as an end in itself, but as an effective means to enrich vocabulary, to refine writing style, to review grammar and to appreciate better what is "untranslatable" in French and English. Not recommended for students seeking extensive oral practice in French.
(Kirk Anderson)
320. From François I to François Mitterrand: A Cultural History of Politics and Architecture
Focusing on great works of art and architecture, from the châteaux of the Loire Valley, Fontainebleau and Versailles to the great works of Napoléon, Haussmann and François Mitterrand, we examine the construction of French national identity while investigating the personal and political motives that have driven French heads of state to build a cultural empire with universal aspirations.
(Cecile Danehy)
327. Moralists and Misanthropes, Sociability and Individualism in Literature of the Ancien Régime
Examines texts from mid-17th- to mid-18th-century France that influenced public opinion and shaped modern moral and social ideas. Special attention is paid to the notions of sociability, honnêteté, the birth of individualism and to related questions of language and reciprocity. Readings include essays, plays and novels by authors like La Rochefoucauld, La Bruyère, Molière, Marivaux, Voltaire, Diderot, Graffigny and Rousseau.
(Jonathan David Walsh)
329. Love and Libertinage in the Early French Novel
From the late 17th century onward, French novels depict the waywardness of heart and mind, love and worldliness in stories that helped define the novel as we know it today. As they test the realms of nature and reason, they bear witness to the dramatic social and ideological changes that occurred over the course of the 18th century before the Revolution, changes reflected in sometimes disturbing power strategies between the sexes. Readings include works by Mme de Lafayette, Abbé Prévost, Crébillion fils, Mme Riccoboni, Diderot, Laclos and Sade.
(Jonathan David Walsh)
331. Other Voices, Other Stories: Great Works by Women from France and the Francophone World
This course studies novels and short stories by contemporary women writers whose work defies traditional literary forms and introduces new modes of expression, whether as narrative experiments, figures of discourse or alternative texts--the body, for example, as metaphor or "text." We explore how these writers respond to marginalization, subjugation or oppression through literature and how their stories operate on a political level. The course begins with a short introduction to French feminism. Authors include Cixous, Leclerc, Duras, Letessier, Hébert, Ernaux, Djébar, Tadjo, Bâ.
(Jonathan David Walsh)
Connections:
Conx 23006 Sexuality
346. New Wave and Newer: French Cinema since the 1950s
What is implied by the expression "the seventh art"? How have French directors both resisted and appropriated the Hollywood formula? How have they challenged social, political and sexual norms? Discussion of films by Truffaut, Varda, Claire Denis, Godard, Buñuel, Tavernier and others. Lectures in English; readings, written work and discussions in English (Fr 246) or in French (Fr 346).
(Jonathan David Walsh)
347. Literature, the Arts and Society from the Dreyfus Affair to Vichy
Emphasis on representative shorter works in prose, theatre, poetry and cinema. Readings may include Proust, Apollinaire, Colette, Césaire, Sartre and the surrealists. Consideration of issues such as the decline of the realist novel, cross-pollination in the arts, the communal loss of innocence after the "Great War," and the birth of négritude.
(Kirk Anderson)
349. Les Trente Glorieuses
The 1945 - 1975 period was marked by both material prosperity and cultural ferment. Is there a relationship between these two worlds? Particular focus on France in the 1950s. Likely readings: existentialism (Sartre, Camus), postwar poetry (Prévert, Ponge), feminine voices (Beauvoir, Sarraute, Duras, Rochefort), essays in cultural criticism (Barthes) and the nouveau roman (Robbe-Grillet).
(Kirk Anderson)
352. The Quill and the Brush
What do we mean by "word" or "image," and what do we do with them individually or in combination? In this creative writing course, we investigate the relationship between word and image in graphic novels or medieval tapestries; we deconstruct advertisements, photographs and movies. Students' work will take many forms, from surrealist "Cadavres Exquis" to poems, collages, short stories and short videos. Theoretical texts by Barthes, Sontag and Berger.
(Cecile Danehy)
Connections:
Conx 23012 Visualizing Information
356. Le Théâtre et la Société Française
Through the study of plays by major French playwrights of the 17th, 18th and 20th centuries, we will attempt to define how mentalities and the political and social environment of these periods helped shape theatrical masterpieces by Corneille, Racine, Molière, Marivaux and Giraudoux.
(Cecile Danehy)
357. French Theatre in the 20th Century
Varied forms and innovations in the French theatre since the turn of the century, including farces by Feydeau, presurrealist and surrealist inventions by Jarry, Apollinaire, plays by Cocteau, Claudel, Giraudoux, Sartre and Camus and some "absurd" theatre creations of Beckett, Ionesco, Vian and Arrabal.