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Course Descriptions
FRENCH 77020
Problems in French Literary History
Survey of poetry, drama, and essay
Concentrating on the poetry, drama, and essays that appear
most vital to a present reader (from this present reader's
viewpoint, of course), this course will run from Montaigne,
Molière, Mallarmé, and Malraux, to Michaux. In each century
and in each of these three genres, we will choose one or two
emblematic works on which to center our discussion, trying
at once to see the context and the relevance to the present.
For example, Diderot's essay "Paradoxe sur le comédien" in
the 18th century and Rousseau's meditative "Promenade d'un
rêveur solitaire" are eminently readable now, as is Victor
Hugo's poem "Demain, dès l'aube" in all its pathetic brevity
- far more so than his grandiloquent dramas, where often the
prefatory essay is far more interesting than what it
prefaces. Such aesthetic essays fall easily into the content
of this course, which will shape itself around the idea of
the aesthetic in its broadest sense. Contemporary French
poetry will form the content of the last two course
meetings.
First year sequence. Course enrollment reserved to first
year French students only.
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FRENCH 72000
Montaigne
Montaigne et la formation de la voix personnelle
Le but principal de ce séminaire est de présenter les
Essais de Montaigne dans le contexte de l'émergence de la
subjectivité moderne. Nos discussions porteront surtout sur
la problématique de la constitution du moi qui sera analysée
selon des critères historiques, rhétoriques et
épistémologiques. En sus du texte de Montaigne, on fera
aussi appel, de temps en temps, aux Pensées de Pascal,
lecteur avide des Essais qu'il n'hésita pas à s'approprier.
Pour des raisons pratiques, il est très important que
tous les étudiants se procurent l'édition Villey des Essais
(PUF, 1965, nouvelle éd. 2004) ainsi que l'édition Lafuma
des Pensées (Seuil, 1963). Pour chaque séance nous lirons un
choix de textes primaires et secondaires que tout le monde
est censé avoir lus pour en discuter en cours.
FRENCH
78400 Translation Workshop
The class will focus on the translation of contemporary
texts from France and the Francophone world, poetry, fiction
and literary nonfiction prose. While we will draw upon
methodologies from accomplished translators in the field,
"theory" will develop from practice. We will begin by
working together on set texts and examining our different
approaches to them. Each student will also have an
individual translation project, selected in conference with
the teacher, to be presented as work-in-progress in the
seminar and completed by the semester's end.
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FRENCH 86200 French Theater and Politics : from the Dreyfus
Affair to the Algerian War
This course will examine the relationship between French
theater and politics from the 1880s to the beginning of the
1960s. Our approach will be both historical and thematic.
Short readings on French social and cultural history will be
assigned. After the 1871 Commune, French theater responded
actively to the political and social problems of the day. We
will begin by examining the debates and essays of the period
on the form and function of the theater (e.g.: Emile Zola,
Le naturalisme au théâtre [1881] ; Jean Jaurès, "Le théâtre
social" [1900] Romain Rolland, Le Théâtre du peuple [1903]
). We will then discuss the ways in which a number of plays
depict major social / political issues and historical events
Examples: - The plight of the working class: Octave Mirbeau,
Les mauvais bergers (1897), an example of anarchist theater;
- Feminism: Eugène Brieux, Maternité (1903) and a short play
by either Vera Starkoff or Nelly Roussel; - The Dreyfus
Affair: Romain Rolland, Les Loups (1898); - AntiSemitism:
Maurice Donnay, Le retour de Jerusalem (1903) and Henry
Bernstein, Israël (1908); - World War I: Nozière, La prière
dans la nuit (1915) and /or Marcel Martinet, La nuit (1919);
- Colonialism : Henri Lenormand, A l'ombre du mal (1924) and
Jean Genet, Les Paravents (1961); - AGIT-PROP and Communism:
Jacques Prévert, La bataille de Fontelnoy ( from Spectacle
[1932-1936]), and other examples of AGIT-PROP theater. The
last topic to be discussed will be the Occupation: Jean
Anouilh, Antigone (1942) or Armand Salacrou, Les nuits de la
colère (1946).
Recommended References: - Michel Winock, Le siècle des
intellectuels ( Seuil, 1997); - Relevant parts of the
volumes in the excellent series, Nouvelle histoire de la
France contemporaine (Seuil); - Georges Duby, Histoire de la
France de 1852 à nos jours. Vol. III (Larousse) ; - Georges
Duby and Robert Mandrou, Histoire de la civilisation
française. XVIIe-XXe siècle. Vol. II. (Armand Colin).
FRENCH 87400 North African Film
In this course we will examine
literary texts and films in order to better understand the
cultural production of the Middle East and North Africa
during the mid-twentieth century. Our main subject of
inquiry is the colonial and postcolonial relationship that
has conditioned both the film making process itself as well
as the characters and plots of films. We will begin the
semester with a look at some colonial images of North
Africans and Arabs. We will move on to contrast these
colonial images with the images of Arabs as seen in films
produced by North Africans themselves.
Readings: Arab Cinema, Viola Shafik; Dreams of Trespass,
Fatima Mernissi; The Wretched of the Earth, Franz Fanon; Bab
El-Oued, Merzak Allouache; Men in the Sun, Ghassan Kanafani;
Lawrence of Arabia, Steven Caton; Postcolonial Images, Roy
Armes.
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