Fall 2016

Reading and Composition (R&C)

Movin' On Up / Falling (Back) Into Place -- Social Mobility and the Figure of the Parvenue
R1A (Section 1) : English Composition through French Literature in Translation

Fall 2016
Class No: 15599
Z. Burris

Readings/Films:

Méliès, Cinderella. 1899

Johnson, Volpone. 1607

Stendhal, The Red and the Black. 1830 (excerpts)

Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby. 1925

Chekov, The Three Sisters. 1900

Dickens, Great Expectations. 1861 (excerpts)

Balzac, The Father Goriot. 1835

Shaw, Pygmalion. 1913

Thackeray, Vanity Fair. 1847 (excerpts)

Maupassant, “The Necklace.” 1884

Poe, “William Wilson.” 1839

Wells, Citizen Kane. 1941

Cather, “Paul’s Case.” 1905

Course Description:

Literature has long been a space within which an author can examine dynamics of social class and upward mobility. From rags-to-riches fairy tales, through the twists and turns on the road to self-discovery in the picaresque or bildungsroman, to modern novels, plays, and screens big and small, readers (/viewers) have been exposed to countless figures – likeable, detestable, inspirational, successful or ultimately doomed – who have suggested that it is possible to come from nothing and yet reach dizzying heights.

The texts examined in this course will show that the processes of climbing the social ladder are, in fact, much more complicated than a mere act of will suggested by the American adage of “pulling oneself up by the bootstraps.” Many of the characters in the works we will read will be familiar to students, as they have come to represent (perhaps because of their appearance in famous works by famous authors, those “classics” of Western Literature) the social success that can be achieved through talent, hard work, networking, deception, dreaming, and scheming. From Cinderella to Becky Sharp, from Julien Sorel to Jay Gatsby to the Rastignac who to this day lends his name to the French expression for an ambitious social climber, this course will examine (and revel in!) their dazzling triumphs on the social scene – and analyze their sometimes inevitable fall back into obscurity.

This class will introduce students to approaching textual material critically, and will stress the idea of writing as a process through a variety of assignments and revisions geared to guide the development and clear expression of coherent argumentation.

Additional Information:

French R1A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition Requirement. Classes are conducted in ENGLISH

Imposters!
R1B (Section 1) : English Composition through French Literature in Translation

Fall 2016
Class No: 15539
J. Singer

Readings/Films:

Myles. “An American Poem.” 1991

Rousseau. Confessions (Book 6). 1782

Molière. Don Juan. 1665

Erasmus. “Exorcism, or the Specter.” 1524

Montaigne. “Of Cripples.” 1580 – 1595

Vigne. The Return of Martin Guerre. 1982

Franklin. “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker.” 1747

Diderot. Supplement to Bougainville’s “voyage.” 1772

Balzac. Colonel Chabert. 1832

Minghella. The Talented Mr. Ripley. 1999

Course Description:

What happens when someone pretends to be someone else? This course will look at both literary and historical incidences of imposture through a series of primarily fictional texts. We will read earnest confessions of impersonations to win love, compare literary and historical accounts of an impersonator’s trial, discuss the post-revolutionary problem of bookkeeping in the story of a man returning from war after having been legally declared dead, and read both sides of the trans-Atlantic hoax that launched a political debate over women’s rights. We’ll read both secondary and primary sources to look at imposture in relation to larger social and political questions. Students will be able to analyze literature within its historical context while looking into broad questions of self-presentation and fictionality.

Additional information:

French R1B satisfies the second half of the Reading and Composition Requirement. Classes are conducted in ENGLISH

Teenage Dream: Literary Initiations of Sexuality
R1A (Section 2) : English Composition through French Literature in Translation

Fall 2016
Class No: 15600
M. Phillips

Readings/Films:

Colette, The Ripening Seed (1923)

Violette Leduc, Thérèse and Isabelle (1966)

Simone de Beauvoir, “Sexual Initiation”, The Second Sex (1949)

Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (1970)

Françoise Sagan, Bonjour Tristesse, (1954)

Mary Gaitskill, “Secretary”, Bad Behavior (1988)

Calvert Casey, “The Walk”, The Collected Stories (1998)

David Sedaris, “I Like Guys”, Naked (1997)

Marielle Heller, Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)

Marjane Satrapi, “The Pill” Persepolis 2 (2005)

Course Description:

In this course we will study textual representations of sexual awakenings and investigate intersections of the coming-of-age story with the formation of sexual identity. We will examine this topic through novels, short stories, essays, and films from across the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, in both the American and French contexts. How do authors tell stories of sexual exploration, discovery, rejection, desire and shame? How can writing help us to interpret and analyze these texts? Questions of sexual orientation and sexual violence will also be discussed.

Additional Information:

French R1A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition Requirement. Classes are conducted in ENGLISH

Demand the Impossible! France in the 1960s
R1B (Sections 3 and 4) : English Composition through French Literature in Translation

Fall 2016
Class No: 15541, 31630
M. Koerner

Readings/Films:

Books to Purchase:

George Perec, Things: A Story of the Sixties

Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle

Other/Optional:

Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

Kristin Ross, May ’68 and Its Afterlives

Films:

Grin Without A Cat (Chris Marker)

La Chinoise (Jean-Luc Godard)

Tout Va Bien (Jean-Luc Godard)

Course Description:

In this course we will study some of the turbulent events that occurred in France during the 1960s, including the massive student occupation of universities and the largest labor strike in French history in May ‘68. Situating these events in relation to their broader, international context in anti-colonial struggles, mass demonstrations against the wars in Algeria and Vietnam, as well as the emergence of postwar “consumer society” and what Guy Debord termed the “society of the spectacle”– this course offers students an overview of one of the most transformative decades of the twentieth century. In challenging traditional social norms and existing forms of authority and representation, young people across the globe began calling society into question. Through novels, philosophical texts, manifestos, films and poetry, this course investigates the legacies of these movements as well as the different historical narratives that have since come to frame these events.

In connection with our theme, this Reading and Composition course focuses on the critical analysis of texts, images, and sounds (literary works, historical documents, speeches and manifestos, as well as photographs, posters, film and music). Texts and films studied in this course may include: George Perec, Things: A Story of the Sixties; Mavis Gallant, The Events in May: Paris Notebooks Iⅈ Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle; Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth; Monique Wittig, Les Guérillères; Kristin Ross, May ’68 and Its Afterlives and the films of Jean-Luc Godard and Chris Marker.

In addition to gaining skills in literary and rhetorical analysis, students will strengthen their capacities to produce informed responses to materials encountered in class, formulate compelling research questions, and build persuasive arguments. Writing assignments emphasize drafting, revising, and responding to feedback. In addition to several in-class writing exercises, students should expect to write two short response essays (2-3 pages) as well as a final research paper (8-10 pages).

Additional information:

French R1B fulfills the second half of the Reading and Composition Requirement in the College of Letters and Science. Class conducted in ENGLISH.

Upper-Division Courses 

The Digital Humanities in Practice: NOT Reading English Novels, 1750 to 1830
24 : Freshman Seminar

Fall 2016
Class No: 33707
N. Paige

Course Description:

In literature departments, much talk has turned toward new kinds of research opened up by digital tools: with the availability of full-text databases containing hundreds and sometimes thousands of novels, literary historians can ask questions they couldn’t when they were still dependent on the close reading of a relatively few well-known texts. Close reading is great, but there are times when we may wonder what other writers beside Jane Austen or Charles Dickens are doing: does the work of great writers do the same thing as that of lesser writers, only better? does it “change the game,” causing other people to write like the greats? or is the work of such individuals in fact exceptional, that is, not at all representative of what’s going on at the level of the literary “system”? and how do such systems evolve, exactly?

This Freshman Seminar will quickly introduce students to some issues in digital humanities before undertaking an actual project on the English novel from around 1750 to 1830. The nature of the project is quantitative: we won’t be reading novels, we’ll be tagging them for certain features and then making calculations. Since the project is not based on computerized text searches, no particular digital expertise is necessary. Students will need only a laptop with wifi to bring to the class, which will be run as a lab. Eventually, the work undertaken in this lab will be incorporated into Professor Paige’s next book, where seminar participants will be duly credited. Come be part of the new wave of humanities research at Berkeley!

Additional Information:

Course taught in ENGLISH. Although this course is being offered in the French Department, the actual subject is English novels and no knowledge of French is demanded. Priority enrollment for Freshmen.

Professor Paige teaches mainly classes in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French literature and culture, with special interest in the history of the novel.

French Culture and the History of Emotion
43B : Aspects of French Culture

Fall 2016
Class No: 31659
T. Hampton

Readings:

See Description

Course Description:

From “Crimes of Passion” to existentialist melancholy the French have defined, in large measure, the ways in which western culture has understood and reflected on the emotions. In this course we will study the complex history of emotion–of passion, affect, and sensation. Through a study of literature philosophy, painting, and film we will examine the ways in which different emotions have been understood and “located” in the self, as well as the ways in which writing about the emotions has shaped cultural history. Among the topics to be studied: why are certain emotions “in vogue” at different historical moments? How can we “read” emotions in the body? When is an emotion not an emotion? Among the writers and artists to be studied: Montaigne, Descartes, LaFayette, Diderot, Stendhal, Proust, Barthes, LeBrun, David, Delacroix, and Manet. Course taught in English; knowledge of French not required.

Additional Information:

This course satisfies the College of Letters and Science breadth requirement in Historical Studies. Course taught in English; knowledge of French not required.

Writing in French, 3 sections
102

Fall 2016
Class No: 15587, 15586, 15585
S. Maslan; N. Paige, E. Colon

Readings:

Course Reader; other readings as assigned by Instructor

Course Description:

This course introduces students to different modes of proposing and furthering a point of view or argument (whether in a critical essay, through dramatic metaphor, or in plays or short stories). To this end, we read passages from a variety of works, such as critical essays, novels, and plays, in order to study their use of language, their structure, and their tactics of persuasion. Through readings on problems of language and the visual arts, we explore the ways in which words and images structure thought, communication and interactions of individuals and societies. Great attention is paid, both through the readings and through extensive written work, to questions of interpretation as well as to the logical and coherent development of reading and writing skills leading to correct and effective expression in French.

Prerequisites:

Completion of French 4 at Berkeley or the equivalent. Students who have taken the equivalent of a third-year college level French course elsewhere may also enroll in French 102; Additional placement questions may be directed to the course instructor.

Additional information:

French 102 is the sole prerequisite to all UCB French courses numbered 103 and above. Course open to non-native speakers of French only. Course conducted in French.

La question du colonialisme --- entre politique et fiction
103A : Language and Culture

Fall 2016
Class No: 15622
S. Tlatli

Readings:

Course Reader

Course Description:

Dans ce cours nous analyserons la manière dont des auteurs français et francophones du vingtième siècle posent la question de la colonisation, dans la literature, mais aussi dans le monde politique. Nous discuterons les questions de l’identité coloniale, de l’engagement pour la lutte anti-coloniale et de la décolonisation. Nous lirons en particulier les essais et les textes littéraires de Sartre, Camus, Césaire, Fanon et Memmi.

Prerequisites:

Students must have either previously completed French 102 or its equivalent, or be concurrently enrolled in French 102. For additional placement information please see Placement Guidelines.

Additional information:

Satisfies College of Letters and Science breadth in Arts and Literature.

Continuity and Change in Thirteenth-Century French Literature
112B : Medieval Literature

Fall 2016
Class No: 32182
D. Hult

Readings:

Chrétien de Troyes, Le Chevalier de la Charrette and Le Conte du Graal; La Quête du Saint Graal; Guillaume de Lorris, Le Roman de la Rose; Rutebeuf, Le Miracle de Théophile; selected fabliaux, courtly lais and lyric poems.

Course Description:

This course provides an introduction to medieval French literature, starting with some of the most important courtly works of the late twelfth century and tracing their adapations in selected major works of the thirteenth century. Among the topics will be the nature and appearance of courtly poetry, the invention of romantic love, the transmission of Celtic themes in the matière de Bretagne, the legend of King Arthur and the myth of the Grail, the early comic traditions, and early theater. Some work will be done on medieval manuscripts and the transmission of these texts (including a session viewing manuscripts in the Bancroft Library). Most of the texts will be read in modern French, but instruction in the Old French language will be included and key passages will be read in their original linguistic form.

Prerequisites:

French 102 or consent of instructor.

Additional information:

Knowledge of Old French not required; readings in modern French translation. This course satisfies 1 French Major course requirement in the “Literature” (112-120) category or 1 French Major course requirement in the Elective category. This course also satisfies 1 Historical Period Requirement in the French major. Priority enrollment for declared French majors. Satisfies College of Letters and Science breadth in Arts and Literature.

Hearts, Minds, Bodies -- The French Novel in the Enlightenment
118B : Eighteenth Century Literature

Fall 2016
Class No: 32841
N. Paige

Readings:

Prévost, Manon Lescaut; Graffigny, Lettres d’une Péruvienne; Montesquieu, Lettres persanes; Voltaire, Zadig; Vivant Denon, Point de lendemain; Laclos, Les Liaisons dangereuses

Course Description:

The Enlightenment was a moment of huge upheaval in relation between self, society, and the physical world: the “New Philosophy” of methodical doubt was brought to bear on European customs, religions, and beliefs, often in the hopes of aligning society with natural laws; and the gradual weakening of the société d’états (a kind of caste system of social division) necessitated new ways of thinking about what tied human beings together. We’ll be reading a series of key novels from the period that help bring this upheaval into focus. These include Prévost’s great novel of male aristocratic anxiety, Manon Lescaut; Graffigny’s feminist not-a-love-story, Lettres d’une Péruvienne; Voltaire’s face-off between corrupt and mendacious rulers and the ideal of a government of reason, Zadig; and Laclos’s libertine masterpiece of eroticism run amok, Les Liaisons dangereuses.

Prerequisites:

French 102 or consent of Instructor. Course conducted in French.

Additional information:
This course satisfies one “Literature/Genre” or one “Elective” course requirement in the French major; satisfies one Historical Period requirement in French major. Satisfies L & S breadth requirement in Arts and Literature. Priority enrollment for declared French majors.

les banlieues
121B : Literary Themes, Genres, Structures

Fall 2016
Class No: 15650
É. Colon

Readings/Films:

Blaise Cendrars, La banlieue de Paris (extrait)

Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Voyage au bout de la nuit (extrait)

François Bon, Décor Ciment

Faïza Guène, Les gens du Balto

Mohamed Razane, Dit violent

Philippe Vasset, Un livre blanc

Films

Jean-Luc Godard, Deux ou trois choses que je sais d’elle

Cécile Sciama, Bande de filles

Mathieu Kassovitz, La Haine

Patrick Alessandrin, Banlieue 13: Ultimatum

Course Description:

In this course, we will focus on French contemporary culture from a particular vantage point: the Parisian suburbs. We will retrace the conflicting history of this space, from the 19th century onward, to explore the genealogy of the banlieues as a precarious space of social marginalization. Drawing on discourses ranging from sociology (Bourdieu) to architecture (Le Corbusier), space theory (Lefebvre, Augé), postcolonial studies as well as political theory (Fanon, Mbembe, Balibar, Rancière), we will study films and literary texts by major and minor authors with the following questions in mind: which (dis-)continuities can we trace between the 19th century exclusion of industrial workers outside the limits of the city and current marginalization of French citizen of colonial descent? How does the French State organize space? What idea of “democracy” guides this organization? How does France negotiate its colonial legacy? How can we understand the 2005 suburban revolts? These questions will guide our exploration of the creative forms that have emerged in the banlieues since the 1960s. Students will be introduced to key notions in literary and film analysis, while being encouraged to relate their analysis of cultural objects to the social history of the banlieues.

Prerequisites:

French 102 or consent of instructor.

Additional information:

This course satisfies 1 “Literature/Genre” or 1 “Elective” course requirement in the French major. Satisfies College of Letters and Science breadth in Arts and Literature; Priority enrollment for declared French majors.

Writing the Autobiography
139 : Creative Writing in French

Fall 2016
Class No: 32839
V. Rodic

Readings:

Course Reader; D’Astragal, Laure, J’écris ma vie pour mieux me connaître. Ed. Albin Michel. ISBN-10: 2226250530 ; Lesot, Adeline, Bescherelle poche Mieux rédiger: L’essentiel pour améliorer son expression ISBN-10: 2218952408

Course Description:

This course offers an introduction to creative writing in French. Using their French language skills, students will work on producing elements of a personal narrative that will culminate with an autobiographical piece. We will read autobiographies produced by writers of French and Francophone expression. Throughout the semester, students-writers will work on aspects of the creative process including the crafting of a story, elements of narrative writing, style, rewriting and editing. The work will involve in-class discussion, writing workshops and reading and writing assignments. The class will discuss and provide constructive criticism for students’ autobiographical writing in a supportive workshop environment. Readings will include works by Rousseau, Colette, Sartre, Duras and Ernaux, among others.

Prerequisites:

French 102 or consent of instructor.

Additional information:

This course satisfies one “Elective” course requirement in the French major. Satisfies L & S breadth requirement in Arts and Literature. Priority enrollment for declared French majors. Course conducted in French.

French Writing and Social Concern
140D : French Literature in English Translation

Fall 2016
Class No: 31606
S. Guerlac

Readings:

see Description.

Course Description:

Traditionally, the writer is a figure of cultural authority – even wisdom — in France. Although some have followed a path of ” Art for Art’s Sake”, many French writers have used their voice to address issues of social concern. In this course we will study 19th and 20th century texts of various genres —poetry, theatre, prose fiction and the essay — that bring home to their readers a sense of urgency in relation to questions of social change, war, colonialism, anti-semitism, and social responsibility. We will examine how writing can make us think and feel beyond ourselves and our own immediate concerns. We will investigate questions such as the following: how does a writer convincingly express anger or social dissent? Is realism the only way to convey social concern? How does form affect meaning and the force of its communication? How can ambiguity become powerful and even makes us responsible ? What kind of literary devices does the writer of essays use to convince the reader of his or her point of view?

Readings will be in English and will include works by writers such as Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire, Emile Zola, Henri Babusse, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Franz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Georges Perec and Patrick Modiano.

Prerequisites:

No language prerequisites. Course open to all students.

Additional Information:

No knowledge of French is required. All lectures and discussions in English. This course can satisfy 1 “Outside Elective” course requirement in the French major, with prior approval of French Undergraduate Major Adviser.

Satisfies College of Letters and Science breadth in Arts and Literature.

Introduction to French Linguistics
146A

Fall 2016
Class No: 32976
R. Kern

Readings:

Léon, P., & Bhatt, P. (2009). Structure du français moderne: Introduction à l’analyse linguistique. Paris: Armand-Colin. (EAN-13 : 9782200353315)

Course Description:

Ce cours est destiné aux étudiant(e)s qui désirent se familiariser avec les bases de la linguistique française. Aucune expérience en linguistique n’est requise, mais une bonne connaissance du français parlé et écrit s’impose. Le cours abordera les domaines principaux de la linguistique : la phonétique et la phonologie, la morphologie, la syntaxe, la sémantique, et la pragmatique, ainsi qu’une brève introduction à la sociolinguistique. Le but sera de présenter des concepts et des outils essentiels qui permettront une exploration ultérieure plus approfondie. Nous commencerons par un bref survol historique pour encadrer la discussion de notions telles que « langue », « langage », « signe », « mot », « phrase » et « grammaire ». Ensuite nous explorerons les sous-disciplines indiquées ci-dessus, avec des exercices pratiques pour concrétiser les principes présentés en classe et dans le manuel. Nous considérerons les différences entre le français parlé et le français écrit, nous étudierons la langue dans le contexte de son emploi dans la communication, et nous finirons par appliquer des approches linguistiques à l’analyse de la conversation.

Prerequisites:

French 102 or equivalent.

Additional Information:

This course satisfies one “Culture” or one “Elective” requirement in the French major. Satisfies College of Letters and Science breadth in Social and Behavioral Science.

Literature and Politics under Cardinal Mazarin (1656-1659)
161A : A Year in French History

Fall 2016
Class No: 31611
D. Blocker

Readings:

Robert Descimon et Christian Jouhaud, La France du premier XVIIe siècle (1594-1661) (Paris, Belin, 1996) ; Blaise Pascal, Les Provinciales (1656-1657) ; Cyrano de Bergerac, Les États et empires de la Lune (1657) ; Jean de La Fontaine, Adonis et Le Songe de Vaux (1658) ; Pierre Corneille, Œdipe (1659) ; Mlle de Scudéry, Clélie, histoire romaine, extraits (1658-1659) ; Molière, Les Précieuses ridicules (1659).

Course Description:

This class offers an in-depth investigation of four years in French history, from a perspective that closely intertwines literary history, political history and social history. As the conflicts of the Fronde (1648-1652) — which seriously threatened royal authority — died down, the French monarchy was consolidated, but remained fragile because Louis XIV (1661-1715) was not yet old enough to rule. Under the Queen’s regency, the country was governed by cardinal Mazarin and the Superintendant of France’s finances, Nicolas Fouquet. During this period, heterodox works find their way into print such as Cyrano de Bergerac’s États et empires de la Lune (1657) and far-ranging theological polemics spread, as evidenced by the success of the Provinciales, the stakes of which are as much literary as they are religious and political. New literary figures emerge (Pascal, La Fontaine and Molière) and others return to the foreground (Pierre Corneille), while the status of the author evolves rapidly. As such, the period is particularly interesting from the point of view of the study of literary patronage: protecting La Fontaine and Corneille, as much as Madeleine de Scudéry and Molière, Nicolas Fouquet dominates the literary field. By analyzing the writings of those authors working under his patronage, as well as the literary productions of those who shun it, it is therefore possible to closely observe the interactions between literature and politics before Louis XIV’s personal reign begins. The years 1656-1659 can thus be studied as a laboratory in which new genres, new ideas and new forms of writing were experimented with by a number of writers whose role would become predominant under Louis XIV, while new understandings of the role of literary productions in the public sphere were also being tested.

Prerequisites:

French 102 or consent of instructor.

Additional information:

This course satisfies one “Culture” or one “Elective” requirement in the French major. Course also satisfies one Historical Period Requirement in French Major. Satisfies College of Letters and Science breadth in Social and Behavioral Sciences or Historical Studies. Priority enrollment for declared French majors.

Introduction to French Cinema
170 : French Films

Fall 2016
Class No: 31612
D. Young

Readings/Films:

See Description

Course Description:

An introduction to the language of film analysis. We will examine how image, sound, and editing work together to produce narrative and non-narrative meanings in a range of film styles. We will consider examples from the history of French cinema, encountering some of its major movements, from poetic realism to the Nouvelle Vague. Accompanying this study of film form and history, we will read works of French film theory which ask, for example, how film relates to the novel and to still photography, and how it produces meanings around gender, class, and race. This course is a prerequisite for French 177 and 178, though students who have taken French 177 or 178 may take this course.

Prerequisites:

French 102 or consent of instructor. Film Studies students should consult the instructor about French language preparation and prerequisites.

Additional information:

Weekly film screening (required): Tuesdays, 5-7 pm. Satisfies one “Culture” or one “Elective” course requirement in the French Major. Satisfies College of Letters and Science breadth in Arts and Literature. Priority enrollment for declared French majors.

Religious Fanaticism, Toleration, and "Laïcité" in France from the Wars of Religion to the Terrorist Attacks of 2015
171A : A Concept in French Cultural History

Fall 2016
Class No: 31613
D. Blocker

Readings:

Agrippa d’Aubigné, Les Tragiques (book 1 only : “Les Misères”), Voltaire Le Fanatisme of Mahomet le prophète, and Traité sur la Tolérance (excerpts), Henri Pena-Ruiz, Qu’est-ce que la laïcité ? (Paris, Gallimard, coll. Folio actuel, 2003) et Denis Crouzet et Jean Marie Le Gall, Au péril des guerres de religion (Paris, PUF, 2015).

Course Description:

When, in the course of 2015, Islamist terrorist attacks hit Paris twice, the French immediately contextualized what was happening to them within a century-long history. For instance, historians, soon echoed by the mainstream media, started asking whether the country was experiencing a return to the wars of religion that had plagued France in the second half of the 16th century. Simultaneously, Voltaire’s Traité sur la Tolérance (1763), which critiques religious fanaticism and advocates for the tolerance of Protestantism, was suddenly propelled to the top of the nation’s best-sellers lists, selling 185,000 copies in 2015 alone (in comparison with 11,500 copies the previous year). This course investigates the cultural lens through which the French tried to make sense of the attacks of 2015, by engaging in the historical exploration of three tightly intertwined concepts in French history: religious fanaticism, toleration, and laicity. To do so, the class focuses on five formative historical moments in French culture: the wars of religion (and in particular the massacre of the Saint-Barthelemy, in 1572), the Edict of Nantes (1598) and its revocation (1685), the Enlightenment’s embracing of religious toleration (centered on a study of Voltaire’s position), the Revolution (which gave birth both to Terror and the concept of laicity) and the separation of Church and State (1905). We will be reading literary works (such as excerpts of D’Aubigné’s poem Les Tragiques, and Voltaire’s play Le Fanatisme de Mahomet le prophète, alongside his Traité sur la Tolérance) in parallel with historical writings (by Denis Crouzet, Janine Garrison, Sophie Wahnich, Rita Hermon-Belot) and philosophical essays (Catherine Kintzler, Henri Pena-Ruiz). The goal is to gain a better understanding both of France’s complex historical relationship to religion and of the reasons why this relationship might make this country a central ideological target for Islamic terrorism today.

Prerequisites:

French 102 or consent of instructor.

Additional information:

This course satisfies one “Culture” or one “Elective” requirement in the French major. Course also satisfies one Historical Period Requirement in French Major. Satisfies College of Letters and Science breadth in Social and Behavioral Sciences or Historical Studies. Priority enrollment for declared French majors.

Cultural Representations of Asylums in France
183A : Configurations of Crisis

Fall 2016
Class No: 31614
D. Sanyal

Readings/Films:

Didier Fassin: La Raison humanitaire, Eric Emmanuel Schmidt: Ulysse from Baghdad, Shumona Sinha, Assommons les pauvres!, Marie Cosnay: Entre Chagrin et Néant, Marie Ndiaye: Trois femmes puissantes, Bienvenue! 34 auteurs pour les réfugiés

Films: Welcome, Les Arrivants, Dheepan, Playground, Hotel Problemski, Illegal

Course Description:

This course investigates the itineraries and narratives of refugees who are seeking asylum in France today. Contemporary fiction and film will help us reconstruct aspects of a refugee’s flight from unlivable conditions and chart their perilous journey across land and sea into France. We will pay particular attention to the forms of personhood that emerge or are put into crisis by such experiences as clandestine passage, detention, surveillance and deportation, the stages of an asylum application, undocumented labor, etc. We will also consider the importance of narrative in organizing histories and selves in ways that are audible and visible for their place of sanctuary. These questions are pursued through readings of literature, cinema, testimony, theory and the press.

Prerequisites:

French 102 or consent of instructor.

Additional information:

This course satisfies 1 “Culture” or 1 “Elective” course requirement in the French major. This course also satisfies College of Letters and Science breadth in Social and Behavioral Sciences or Historical Studies. Priority enrollment for declared French majors.

L’imaginaire colonial du dix-neuvième siècle au présent
185 : Literature and Colonialism

Fall 2016
Class No: 31516
S. Tlatli

Readings:

Course Reader

Course Description:

Dans ce cours, nous étudierons l’imaginaire colonial français, c’est à dire la manière dont la France a affirmé et maintenu la nécessité de son empire colonial au moyen de l’éducation, de la propagande visuelle et écrite et des expositions coloniales. Nous analyserons également la manière dont certains auteurs tels que Marguerite Dumas et Albert Camus ont décrit la vie dans les colonies. En conclusion, nous interrogerons les effets de la colonisation sur la France contemporaine.

Prerequisites:

French 102 or consent of Instructor.

Additional Information:

This course satisfies one “Culture” or one “Elective” requirement in the French major. Satisfies College of Letters and Science breadth in Arts and Literature.

Graduate Courses

Reading and Interpretation of Old French Texts
211

Fall 2016
Class No: 15458
D. Hult

Readings:
La Chanson de Roland, ed. I. Short; Lais de Marie de France, ed. Harf-Lancner (IBN 978-2-253-05271-X); Chrétien de Troyes, Tristan et Iseut, ed. P. Walter; Kibler, Introduction to Old French

Course Description:
Introduction to the study of medieval French language and literature of the 12th and 13th centuries. Through a careful analysis and critical interpretation of certain canonical works (La Chanson de Roland; Béroul and Thomas, Tristan; selected lais of Marie de France; selected romans of Chrétien de Troyes; Le Roman de la Rose) we will study Old French language and some main dialects; verse and prose composition; theories of the oral tradition; editorial problems; and the material aspects of the manuscript work (including some work on codicology and paleography). Class will be conducted in English.

Additional information:
No previous knowledge of Old French language or literature is expected. This course fulfills the Medieval Literature component of the historical coverage requirement.

17th and 18th Century Theater
245A : Early Modern Studies

Fall 2016
Class No: 15436
S. Maslan

Readings:

See Description

Course Description:

Theater was France’s pre-eminent art form from the seventeenth through the early nineteenth centuries. Theater was also a public, collective social experience as well as a cultural institution often in contention with other institutions—religious and political.

We will study some major plays of the 17th and 18th centuries (Corneille, Racine, Molière, Marivaux, Voltaire, Beaumarchais). We will seek to understand some of the important literary and aesthetic stakes of these works, as well as to investigate the social and political history of the theater (organization of theater troupes, audiences and their social composition, censorship practices, etc.). We will think about the role and the effects of genre (tragedy vs. comedy; the rise of “drame”). We will study contemporary debates about the theater and trace theater’s importance as a crucible for the formation and expression of public opinion.

"Milieux" in Life and Literature
250A : Studies in 19th-Century French Literature

Fall 2016
Class No: 32853
S. Guerlac

Readings:

See Description

Course Description:

“The notion of milieu is becoming a universal and obligatory mode of apprehending the experience and existence of living beings; one could almost say it is now constituted as a category of contemporary thought” writes Foucault’s teacher, the historian of science Georges Canguilhem.

It was during the nineteenth century that “milieu” emerged as a concept in the field of biology and then became a philosophical, social, and literary critical term. “Milieu” is a central notion in the ambitious literary projects of Balzac and Zola. It was also important in the development of experimental literary forms such as the prose poem, which Baudelaire ties to the milieu of the modern city. In this seminar, we will investigate the emergence of the concept “milieu” and examine its impacts on literary practices. This will lead us to examine literary works from the perspective of boundaries between personal and social identity (questions of type and class, of language – who can say what and how? — of character development and its limitations), as well as of relations between character and ambiance (physical, social and historical) all of which will require consideration of formal practices of literary description and narration.

Readings will include works by Balzac (short works such as “La Femme Abandonnée” as well as one novel from the Comédie humaine), Baudelaire (Le Spleen de Paris), Zola (short works such as Le Colonel Chabert, L’Assommoir, critical writings about Naturalism), Georges Sand (Le Meunier d’Angibault ), Sainte Beuve (Volupté) , Maupassant (Le Horla) as well as short selections from the writings Claude Bernard, Auguste Comte and Hippolyte Taine.

Cultural Forms of Testimony — From the Shoah to the Current Refugee Crisis
260A : Studies in 20th-Century Literature

Fall 2016
Class No: 31621
D. Sanyal

Readings:

See Description

Course Description:

This course takes as its starting point the emergence of a particular conception of testimony in the aftermath of World War Two. How do the poetics of testimony forged in a postwar culture of trauma and witnessing affect contemporary frameworks for envisioning today’s refugee crisis? Theoretical writings (by Adorno, Arendt, Agamben, Derrida, Didier and Eric Fassin, Lanzmann, Rancière) will help us tease out some continuities and discontinuities between postwar debates on representation- in the artistic sense and the juridico-political sense- and contemporary reflections on the refugee crisis.

We will examine a range of cultural production, including literature and visual media, to explore the following questions: To what extent does testimony- in the form of “bearing witness” to one’s own history or that of others- constitute a genre whose effects shape, if not produce, truth, identity and authority? Is testimony exclusively the province of the victim? How can we “site” the refugee in geopolitical and conceptual terms? How pertinent is the concentrationary history for thinking about refugees today? How do we discuss the relationship between bearing witness and the transformation of such witnessing into aesthetic form? To what extent can cultural frames put pressure on or re-envision existing politics of representation and protection? What are some possible relations between hospitality and artistic form?

Texts and films by Alain Resnais, Claude Lanzmann, Jorge Semprun, Shumona Sinha, Sylvain George, Elizabeth Klotz and Nicolas Perceval, Marie Ndiaye, Philippe Lioret, Marie Cosnay, Laurent Gaudé, Abdourahman Waberi, Nicole Caligaris and others.

Teaching French in College: First Year
301

Fall 2016
Class No: 15584
S. Chavdarian

Readings: Lightbown, How Languages Are Learned

Course Description:

This course (1) provides participants with an understanding of basic principles of first- and second-language acquisition and the theoretical underpinnings of commonly used language teaching methods, and (2) offers inservice training in teaching, in creating and adapting instructional materials, and in designing tests for use in the Lower Division Program in French. The two-hour weekly meetings consist of a one hour lecture/discussion and a one hour practicum. GSIs are also required to attend a pilot class, taught by Seda Chavdarian, on select dates and as indicated on the lesson plans. Enrollment in this course is required for GSIs in their first semester of teaching in the French Department.

Additional information:

Attendance at the appropriate session (301 for French 1; 302 for French 2) is required of all instructors teaching French 1 and 2 for the first time. GSIs are also required to attend a pilot class, taught by Seda Chavdarian, on select dates and as indicated on the lesson plans.