* FREN 109a, French for Reading  Constance Sherak

Fundamental grammar structures and basic vocabulary are acquired through the reading of texts in various fields (primarily humanities and social sciences, and others as determined by student interest). Intended for students who either need a reading knowledge of French for research purposes or are preparing for French reading examinations and who have had no (or minimal) prior study of French. No preregistration required. Conducted in English. Does not satisfy the language requirement.
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

* FREN 110a, Elementary and Intermediate French I  Candace Skorupa

Intensive training and practice in all the language skills, with an initial emphasis on listening and speaking. Emphasis on communicative proficiency, self-expression, and cultural insights. Extensive use of audio and video material. Conducted entirely in French.  To be followed by FREN 120. For students with no previous experience of French. Daily classroom attendance is required.  L1  RP  1½ Course cr
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* FREN 120b, Elementary and Intermediate French II  Matuku Ngame

Continuation of FREN 110. Open only to students who took FREN 110 (L1) at Yale.   Conducted entirely in French. Only after FREN 110. To be followed by FREN 130.  L2  RP  1½ Course cr
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* FREN 121a, Intermediate French  Candace Skorupa

Designed for initiated beginners, this course develops all the language skills with an emphasis on listening and speaking. Activities include role playing, self-expression, and discussion of cultural and literary texts. Emphasis on grammar review and acquisition of vocabulary. Frequent audio and video exercises. Conducted entirely in French. Daily classroom attendance is required. Placement according to placement test score. Online preregistration required; see french.yale.edu for details.  L2  1½ Course cr
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* FREN 125a, Intensive Elementary French  Constance Sherak

An accelerated course that covers in one term the material taught in FREN 110 and 120. Practice in all language skills, with emphasis on communicative proficiency. Admits to FREN 145. Conducted entirely in French. For students of superior linguistic ability. No preregistration required.  L1, L2  RP  2 Course cr
MTWThF 9:25am-10:15am

* FREN 130a or b, Intermediate and Advanced French I  Staff

The first half of a two-term sequence designed to develop students' proficiency in the four language skill areas. Prepares students for further work in literary, language, and cultural studies, as well as for nonacademic use of French. Oral communication skills, writing practice, vocabulary expansion, and a comprehensive review of fundamental grammatical structures are integrated with the study of short stories, novels, and films. Admits to FREN 140. Conducted entirely in French. After FREN 120, 121, or a satisfactory placement test score.  L3  RP  1½ Course cr
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* FREN 140a or b, Intermediate and Advanced French II  Soumia Koundi

The second half of a two-term sequence designed to develop students' proficiency in the four language skill areas. Introduction of more complex grammatical structures. Films and other authentic media accompany literary readings from throughout the francophone world, culminating with the reading of a longer novel and in-class presentation of student research projects. Admits to FREN 150. Conducted entirely in French. After FREN 130 or a satisfactory placement test score.  L4  RP  1½ Course cr
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* FREN 145b, Intensive Intermediate and Advanced French  Candace Skorupa

An accelerated course that covers in one term the material taught in FREN 130 and 140. Emphasis on speaking, writing, and the conversion of grammatical knowledge into reading competence. Admits to FREN 150. For students of superior linguistic ability. Conducted entirely in French. After FREN 120, 121, or 125. No preregistration required.  L3, L4  RP  2 Course cr
MTWThF 9:25am-10:15am, MTWThF 10:30am-11:20am

* FREN 150a or b, Advanced Language Practice  Staff

An advanced language course intended to improve students' comprehension of spoken and written French as well as their speaking and writing skills. Modern fiction and nonfiction texts familiarize students with idiomatic French. Special attention to grammar review and vocabulary acquisition. Conducted entirely in French. After FREN 140, 145, or a satisfactory placement test score.  Online preregistration required; see http://french.yale.edu/academics/placement-and-registration for details.  L5
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* FREN 160a or b, Advanced Conversation Through Culture, Film, and Media  Staff

Intensive oral practice designed to further skills in listening comprehension, speaking, and reading through the use of videos, films, fiction, and articles. Emphasis on contemporary French and francophone cultures. Conducted entirely in French. Prerequisites: FREN 150, 151, or a satisfactory placement test score, or with permission of the course director. May be taken concurrently with or after FREN 170.  L5
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* FREN 170a or b, Introduction to Literatures in French  Staff

Introduction to close reading and analysis of literary texts written in French. Works by authors such as Marie de France, Molière, Balzac, Hugo, Baudelaire, Duras, Proust, and Genet.  Please note the syllabus is different for each section.  Each syllabus can be found on the syllabus tab of the section course resources in Yale Course Search. May not be taken after FREN 171.  L5, HU
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* FREN 182b, Advanced Writing Workshop  Staff

An advanced writing course for students who wish to work intensively on perfecting their written French. Frequent compositions of varying lengths, including creative writing, rédactions (compositions on concrete topics), and dissertations (critical essays). Recommended for prospective majors. Conducted entirely in French. After FREN 150 or higher, or a satisfactory placement test score. May be taken after courses in the 200–449 range.  L5
MW 9am-10:15am

* FREN 183a, Medical French: Conversation and Culture  Leo Tertrain

An advanced language course emphasizing verbal communication and culture. Designed to introduce students to historical and contemporary specificities of various Francophone medical environments, and to foster the acquisition of vocabulary related to these environments. Discussions, papers, and oral presentations, with a focus on ethical, economic, legal, political, semiological, and artistic questions. Topics such as public health policies, epidemics, medicine in Francophone Africa, humanitarian NGOs, assisted reproductive technologies, end-of-life care, and organ donation are explored through films, documentaries, graphic novels, a literary text, an autobiographical narrative, and articles. Conducted entirely in French. Prerequisite: FREN 150 or a satisfactory placement test score, or with permission of instructor.  L5
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* FREN 184b, Business French: Communication and Culture  Leo Tertrain

An advanced language course emphasizing verbal communication and culture. Designed to introduce students to historical and contemporary specificities of various Francophone economic environments, and to foster the acquisition of vocabulary related to these environments. Discussions, papers, and oral presentations, with a focus on ethical, political, legal, semiological, and artistic questions. Topics such as taxation, privatization, the eurozone, the energy industry, labor unions, labor law, banking, the sharing economy, and human resources are explored through films, documentaries, a graphic novel, a literary text, a biographical narrative, articles, and excerpts from essays. Conducted entirely in French.  Prerequisite: FREN 150 or a satisfactory placement test score, or with permission of instructor.   L5
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* FREN 191a, Literary Translation: History and Theory in Practice  Nichole Gleisner

This course offers a semester-long introduction to the practice of literary translation. Each week, we will read and discuss a notable piece of translation theory and we will also translate and workshop together an assigned text from French into English. With these workshop sessions, students will gain a range of translation experience across a variety of genres (poetry, theatre, short story, fiction, nonfiction and personal essay) as well as a sense of formative moments in French literary history. Readings in translation theory and history include du Bellay, Dryden, Schleiermacher, Goethe, Benjamin, Sontag, Apter, Moi and Briggs.  Readings in French and in English. Generally taken after FREN 150 or with permission of instructor.   HU
W 9:25am-11:15am

* FREN 192b, Literary Translation: Contemporary Workshop  Nichole Gleisner

This course will focus on translating contemporary literature by exploring concerns of writers and translators working in the French and Francophone field today. Each week, students will translate an excerpt from a wide variety of texts written in French: prose, poetry, graphic novels, YA, science fiction, long-form journalism. We will also read and craft literary criticism, paying special attention to reviews of books in translation as we seek to understand and define the role of the translator in our current day. How does literary criticism complement the work of translation? In what ways is the current mode of approaching translations in reviews lacking? How can we develop criteria to evaluate works in translation that acknowledge the role of the translator ? How do these activities – both translating and reviewing – enrich scholarly communities, webs of thought, networks of writers, students’ own ways of approaching and understanding a text? Students will translate and workshop selections each week as well as undertake the translation of a significant portion (25-35 pages) of a contemporary text of their own. Course may be taken after FREN 150 or with permission of the instructor.  HU
W 9:25am-11:15am

FREN 240b / HUMS 201b / LITR 214b, The Modern French Novel  Alice Kaplan and Maurice Samuels

A survey of major French novels, considering style and story, literary and intellectual movements, and historical contexts. Writers include Balzac, Flaubert, Proust, Camus, and Sartre. Readings in translation. One section conducted in French.  HU  Tr  0 Course cr
TTh 1:30pm-2:20pm

* FREN 241a / GMAN 301a / LITR 397a, After the War, Novels after 1945, French and German  Rudiger Campe

How to write, how to narrate after war? In this course we read alternatingly some of the greatest novels and novellas after 1945 (until ca. 1968) from German speaking countries and from France. This can but does not necessarily mean novels about fascism and democracy, aggression and resistance (Sartre, Grass). It also means negotiating radical break and reorientation, politically and ideologically (German “Zero Hour”, the absurd, existentialism in France); and the attempt to reinvent literary writing in general (‘nouveau roman’ in France, Handke and Bernard in Austria). Further authors include Camus, Duras, Robbe-Grillet, Le Clezio, Koeppen, Wolf, Handke, Bachmann.  HU
Th 3:30pm-5:20pm

* FREN 247b / LITR 446b, Experimental Literature, Theory, and Manifestoes  Morgane Cadieu

A survey of the French experimental prose of the 20th and 21st centuries. Corpus includes novels and plays, literary and political manifestoes, and landmark articles on literary theory, structuralism, and poststructuralism. Topics include: inspiration and creativity; the aesthetics of manifestoes and the politics of literature; automatic writing and constrained prose; feminist and queer writings; urban spaces in avant-garde literary movements. Works by: Bataille, Beauvoir, Beckett, Breton, Perec, Sarraute, Wittig. Theoretical excerpts by: Barthes, Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault, Glissant, Malabou.   HU
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

* FREN 262b / AFAM 362b / ER&M 272b / GLBL 272b / HIST 223b, Black France  Marlene Daut

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the complex history of Black France, tracing its roots from the era of French colonization in the Caribbean and the transatlantic slave trade to its contemporary manifestations across France and its overseas territories. Beginning with an examination of French colonialism in the Caribbean, particularly focusing on the brutal system of slavery and the development of the Code Noir under the reign of Louis XIV, students gain a comprehensive understanding of the origins of race-thinking in France. Students also read about the pivotal role of French colonies like Saint-Domingue, Martinique, and Guadéloupe in the resistance against slavery, highlighting the Haitian Revolution as a watershed moment in the struggle for freedom and self-determination. Through the lens of this historic event, students analyze the complexities of slave rebellion, the quest for abolition, and the enduring legacy of resistance in Black (francophone) communities. By highlighting the socio-political relationship of the colonial and revolutionary era to the present, students explore the interconnectedness of slavery, colonialism, and power dynamics within the French empire and the enduring impact of this tumultuous history on contemporary conceptions of Blackness in France. Using an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses history, sociology, literary, and cultural studies, students analyze the formation of Black identity, racial ideologies, and the ongoing struggle for recognition and equality within French society.  WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 331a, The French Enlightenment and the Pursuit of Happiness  Pierre Saint-Amand

French Revolutionary Saint-Just famously declared: “happiness is a new idea in Europe.” It is certainly a major concern in the eighteenth century. Whether envisioned as an individual or a collective pursuit the quest for happiness increasingly moves away from the realm of theology to become secularized and democratized. This course proposes to study how the writers of the period introduced the idea of happiness in their works, both literary and philosophical. Readings in Abbé Prévost, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Giacomo Casanova, Denis Diderot, Mme de Charrière, Voltaire, and others.  This course is conducted in French at L5 level.  L5
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* FREN 345a, The Prose Poem  Thomas Connolly

An examination of the poème en prose, from its beginnings as a response to the inadequacy of French verse forms through its emergence as an independent genre. Ability to read and discuss in French  HU
M 9:25am-11:15am

* FREN 362a, Mid-Century Modern Memoir  Alice Kaplan

Autobiography came into its own as a literary genre in the 20th century, and it is as varied as fiction in its ambitions and approach. The seminar is divided into four units: Memories of Childhood (Sartre, Sarraute, Camus); WWII memoirs (Duras, Bloch, Gold); braided autobiography and biography (Modiano, Ernaux, Beauvoir); and revolutionary autobiography (Fanon, Mokhtefi and Drif). WR designation The class is taught in English with readings in translation; previous course work in  literature is helpful but not required.  WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 365a / AFAM 375a / AMST 465a / HIST 378a / LITR 377a, Haiti in the Age of Revolutions  Marlene Daut

The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) was an event of monumental world-historical significance. This class studies the collection of slave revolts and military strikes beginning in August of 1791 that resulted in the eventual abolition of slavery in the French colony of Saint-Domingue and its subsequent independence and rebirth in January of 1804 as Haiti, the first independent and slavery-free nation of the American hemisphere. Considering Haiti's war of independence in the broader context of the Age of Revolutions, we cover topics such as enlightenment thought, natural history, the workings and politics of the printing press, and representations of the Haitian Revolution in art, literature, music, and in various kinds of historical writings and archival documents. Students develop an understanding of the relevant scholarship on the Haitian Revolution as they consider the relationship of this important event to the way it was written about both as it unfolded and in its long wake leading up to the present day.  WR, HU
W 9:25am-11:15am

* FREN 370a / AFAM 371a / AFST 377a, Caribbean Poetry in French  Thomas Connolly

An introduction to Caribbean poetry in French from the turn of the twentieth century to the present day. Topics covered will include literary, social, and political movements including surrealism, colonization, decolonization, immigration, the relation of French to other languages of the Caribbean including Créole, Spanish, and English, and points of contact between poetry, music, theater, and the visual arts. Students will learn how to read, comment on, and write about poetry. Primary authors will include Étienne Léro, Aimé Césaire, Saint-John Perse, Magloire-Saint-Aude, Édouard Glissant, René Depestre, Davertige, Jean Métellus, Raphaël Confiant, Suzanne Dracius, and Patrick Chamoiseau. Readings, assignments, and discussions in French. Ability to read, write, and discuss in French.
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 382a / AFAM 382a / AMST 482a / ENGL 273a / LITR 424a, Zombies, Witches, Gods, and Spirits in Caribbean Literature  Marlene Daut

This course delves into the rich tapestry of Caribbean literature through the lens of the seemingly supernatural, such as zombies, witches, gods, and spirits. Throughout the semester, students critically analyze a diverse range of texts by authors as varied as Edwidge Danticat, René Depestre, Derek Walcott, Alejo Carpentier, Jean Rhys, and Aimé Césaire, and others, to explore how Caribbean authors have employed other worldly elements as powerful metaphors for colonialism and resistance, trauma and cultural memory.  Tr
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

FREN 384a / FILM 362a / ITAL 384a / JDST 289a / LITR 338a, Representing the Holocaust  Maurice Samuels and Millicent Marcus

The Holocaust as it has been depicted in books and films, and as written and recorded by survivors in different languages including French and Italian. Questions of aesthetics and authority, language and its limits, ethical engagement, metaphors and memory, and narrative adequacy to record historical truth. Interactive discussions about films (Life Is Beautiful, Schindler's List, Shoah), novels, memoirs (Primo Levi, Charlotte Delbo, Art Spiegelman), commentaries, theoretical writings, and testimonies from Yale's Fortunoff Video Archive.  WR, HU
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm

* FREN 396b / FILM 474b, World War II in French Cinema  Alice Kaplan

A study of French films dealing with everyday life in France during the Nazi occupation (1940–44). Close analysis of scenes and cinematic techniques, historical readings, and film criticism.  HU
W 1:30pm-3:20pm, T 7pm-9pm

* FREN 470a or b and FREN 471b, Special Tutorial for Juniors and Seniors  Morgane Cadieu

Special projects set up by the student in an area of individual interest with the help of a faculty adviser and the director of undergraduate studies. Intended to enable the student to cover material not offered by the department. The project must terminate with at least a term paper or its equivalent and must have the approval of the director of undergraduate studies. Only one term may be offered toward the major, but two terms may be offered toward the bachelor's degree. For additional information, consult the director of undergraduate studies.
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* FREN 481a / AFAM 457a / AFST 457a / AMST 470a / ER&M 467a, Racial Republic: African Diasporic Literature and Culture in Postcolonial France  Fadila Habchi

This is an interdisciplinary seminar on French cultural history from the 1930s to the present. We focus on issues concerning race and gender in the context of colonialism, postcolonialism, and migration. The course investigates how the silencing of colonial history has been made possible culturally and ideologically, and how this silencing has in turn been central to the reorganizing of French culture and society from the period of decolonization to the present. We ask how racial regimes and spaces have been constructed in French colonial discourses and how these constructions have evolved in postcolonial France. We examine postcolonial African diasporic literary writings, films, and other cultural productions that have explored the complex relations between race, colonialism, historical silences, republican universalism, and color-blindness. Topics include the 1931 Colonial Exposition, Black Paris, decolonization, universalism, the Trente Glorieuses, the Paris massacre of 1961, anti-racist movements, the "beur" author, memory, the 2005 riots, and contemporary afro-feminist and decolonial movements.  HU
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 491a or b, The Senior Essay  Thomas Connolly

A one-term research project completed under the direction of a ladder faculty member in the Department of French and resulting in a substantial paper in French or English. For additional information, consult the director of undergraduate studies.
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FREN 492a or b, The Senior Essay—Translation Concentration  Staff

A one-term research project completed under the direction of a ladder faculty member in the Department of French and resulting in a substantial translation (roughly 30 pages) from French to English, with a critical introduction of a length to be determined by the student in consultation with the advising ladder faculty member. Materials submitted for the translation concentration cannot be the same as the materials submitted for the translation courses. For additional information, consult the director of undergraduate studies.
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* FREN 493a and FREN 494b / FREN 495a and FREN 496b, The Senior Essay in the Intensive Major  Staff

A yearlong research project completed under the direction of a ladder faculty member in the Department of French and resulting in a paper of considerable length, in French or English. For additional information, consult the director of undergraduate studies.
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FREN 495a and FREN 496b / FREN 493a and FREN 494b, The Senior Essay in the Intensive Major—Translation Concentration  Staff

First term of a yearlong research project completed under the direction of a ladder faculty member in the Department of French and resulting in a translation of considerable length (roughly 60 pages), from French to English, with a critical introduction of a length to be determined by the student in consultation with the advising ladder faculty member. Materials submitted for the translation concentration cannot be the same as the materials submitted for the translation courses. For additional information, consult the director of undergraduate studies.
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