Course Descriptions
FREN 4001 Histoire du français - Moyen Âge/History of French - The Middle Ages
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Advanced research into selected topics in Old and Middle French - manuscript studies such as paleography, historical phonetics, morphology and syntax, and the cultural-literary context of linguistic development.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French course
FREN 4002 Histoire du français - époque moderne/History of French - The Modern Period
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Advanced research into selected topics - the emergence of a national language, the problem of orthography, usage and the development of normative grammars, the evolution of vocabulary, epochal phenomena (Rhétoriqueurs, the Baroque, Préciosité, the Revolution, scientific French, argot), etc.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French course
FREN 4011 Lexicologie/Lexicology
CREDIT HOURS: 3
How can French vocabulary be studied and structured? What is its formation (derivation, composition, metaphor, borrowing, abbreviation, etc.), its meaning, its development? Class reports, discussions and lexical assignments are important components of this course.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: FREN 3020.06 or
FREN 2020.03 and
FREN 3021.03 or
FREN 3022.03, or instructor's permission
FREN 4013 Pragmatique/Pragmatics
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Introduction to the study of linguistic pragmatics: definitions, principles and methods. Analysis of the conditions of language use, with particular emphasis on the description of speech acts. Elements of literary pragmatics. Application exercises.
FORMAT: Lecture
PREREQUISITES: FREN 3020.06 or
FREN 2020.03 and
FREN 3021.03 or
FREN 3022.03, or instructor’s permission
FREN 4014 Langue et société/ Language and Society
CREDIT HOURS: 3
A linguistic introduction to the analysis of the relationship between language and society. Typology of sociolinguistic situations. The phenomena of language contact, linguistic variation, norms. The relationship between groups in multi-lingual situations. Principal theoretical tendencies. Practical applications.
FORMAT: Lecture
PREREQUISITES:
FREN 2020.03 or instructor’s permission
FREN 4017 Traduction générale/General Translation
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course normally follows
FREN 3045 or FREN 3047.03 and FREN 3048.03. Students taking this course will be familiarized with essential notions of translation theory, and will be introduced to professional translation practice. Emphasis will be placed on the translation of relatively short texts in a wide variety of subjects and fields, from English into French and from French into English. Assessment will be carried out through weekly assignments, as well as in-class exams.
FORMAT: Lecture
PREREQUISITES:
FREN 3045.06, or FREN 3047.03/FREN 3048.03, or instructor's permission
EXCLUSIONS: FREN 4015.06
FREN 4018 Outils et ressources électroniques d'aide à la rédaction, la traduction et la révision en français/Electronic tools and resources for French
CREDIT HOURS: 3
The aim of this course is to provide the student with a wide range of electronic tools and resources useful to text writing, translation and editing activities in French. The student will learn how to use these electronic tools and resources, and in particular, some of the techniques associated with them. Tools demonstrated will include grammar checkers, machine (aided) translators, concordancers and speech synthesisers/recognizers. Resources presented will consist of on-line terminology banks, dictionaries, thesauri and grammars, etc.
FORMAT:
PREREQUISITES:
FREN 3045X/Y.06 or FREN 3047.03 and FREN 3048.03 or instructor's permission
FREN 4046 Composition avancée/Advanced Composition
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course normally follows
FREN 3045 or FREN 3047.03/FREN 3048.03. Students in this course will hone their writing skills by learning principles of good writing and putting them into practice via writing, editing and revising texts of various kinds. They will learn the conventions that characterize good academic writing in French. They will also create some professional documents, including a French curriculum vitae and job application letter. Students may also do some less formal writing, including descriptions or narratives.
FORMAT: Lecture
PREREQUISITES:
FREN 3045.06 or FREN 3047.03/FREN 3048.03 or instructor's permission
EXCLUSIONS: FREN 4045.06
FREN 4300 Parallel Universes (Medieval Literature -- Advanced)
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In-depth study of Medieval French narrative literature (12th – 15th centuries) through the motif of the “other world”, whereby the protagonists gain access to a hidden, parallel world. Various examples and literary genres will be considered: lays (Faerie, the land of Cocaigne, etc.), Arthurian romance (the forest of Brocéliande, the island of Avalon, etc.), Alexandrian romance (the terrestrial Paradise, the enclosed land of Gog and Magog, “India” and “Ethiopia”, etc.), real and imaginary travel narratives (Saint Brendan’s Island, Cipangu [Japan], etc.), visions of the afterlife (Heaven, Hell, Purgatoire de Saint Patrice, etc.) or the Apocalypse. Texts will be studied in bilingual editions (Old or Middle French / Modern French), with occasional unilingual excerpts.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French literature course
EXCLUSIONS:
FREN 3300.03
FREN 4401 Love and Death (French Prose & Poetry - Advanced)
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In-depth study of two recurring topics in 16th century French thought and literature, often intertwined: “l’amour” (love) and “la mort” (death). Comparisons to earlier and later occurrences of the same “themes” in French literature will be involved, from courtly love and late medieval “macabre” to 17th c. baroque literature. Various genres will be considered: poetry, narrative prose, commentaries, philosophical essays, etc.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French literature course or instructor's permission.
EXCLUSIONS:
FREN 3400.03
FREN 4500 L'aventure intellectuelle du Grand Siècle/The Intellectual Adventure of 17th-Century France
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course examines, at an advanced level, a major writer, movement, genre or theme in 17th-century French literature. As the focus of the course may vary frequently, please consult the professor for detailed information on the topic and format.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French literature course or instructor's permission.
FREN 4600 Le siècle des lumières: forme et philosophie/The Enlightenment: Form and Philosophy
CREDIT HOURS: 3
An in-depth study of the French Enlightenment which treats some of the longer works by major authors and introduces the student to secondary authors whose works are also of significant literary, philosophical or historical value. The study is unified by an examination of recurring philosophical ideas and literary themes important to understanding the development of new genres and styles. Please consult the professor for information on the theme treated and the works to be studied in any given semester.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French literature course or instructor's permission.
FREN 4700 La révolution romantique/The Romantic Revolution
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Romanticism is viewed primarily as a rebellious and creative force which greatly contributed to the reshaping of traditional society. The origins, main themes and trends of the movement are studied with an attempt to show Romanticism as a European movement, the impact of which was felt in fields beyond the boundaries of literature. Classes are conducted as seminars. The choice of texts depends largely on the students' previous experience: they include works by Mme de Staël, Chateaubriand, Lamartine, Hugo, Vigny, G. Sand and others.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French literature course or instructor's permission.
FREN 4701 Le roman du dix-neuvième siècle/ The Nineteenth-Century Novel
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Intensive study of the work of a major novelist of the 19th century: e.g. Stendhal, Flaubert, Balzac, Zola, Sand; a study of his/her place in the development of the novel and of his/her contribution to the genre.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French literature course or instructor's permission.
FREN 4710 Du symbolisme au surréalisme/ From Symbolism to Surrealism
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Analysis of the evolution of French literature from the various symbolist manners of Verlaine, Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Lautréamont and Laforgue, through the period of Jarry and Dada, to the aspirations and paradoxes of Surrealism viewed, principally, through the work of Breton, Eluard, Aragon and Desnos.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French literature course or instructor's permission.
FREN 4801 Le Nouveau Roman/Anti-novels of the 20th Century
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In this course we are mainly interested in fictional techniques: how the author creates his illusion. Each of the works selected for detailed study is important due to the author's rejection of conventional ideas regarding the form of the novel.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French literature course or instructor's permission.
FREN 4811 La poésie francophone de Perse et Char à Senghor et Césaire/Francophone Poetry from Perse and Char to Senghor and Césaire
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Discussion of the works of five or six major francophone poets of the modern period, chosen from: Perse, Reverdy, Claudel, Char, Frénaud, Senghor, Tchicaya, Césaire, Glissant, Miron and others.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French literature course or instructor's permission.
FREN 4902 Écrivains québécois contemporains/Contemporary Québec Writers
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In depth study of one or more contemporary Québec writers. Approved with Canadian Studies.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French literature course or instructor's permission.
FREN 4903 Contemporary Quebec Writers
CREDIT HOURS: 3
In depth study of one or more contemporary Québec writers. Approved with Canadian Studies.
FORMAT: Seminar
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French literature course or instructor's permission.
FREN 4904 Écrivaines québécoises/ Québec Women Writers
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course will explore the condition of women as revealed in texts by Québec women writers. In any given year different writers and time periods will be covered, and a variety of genres may be included. Approved with Canadian Studies.
FORMAT:
PREREQUISITES: 3000-level French literature course, preferably French Canadian, or instructor's permission.
CROSS-LISTING:
GWST 4250.03