* FREN 1100a, Elementary and Intermediate French I  Staff

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  1½ Course cr
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* FREN 1200b, Elementary and Intermediate French II  Staff

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  1½ Course cr
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* FREN 1210a, 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
MTWThF 10:30am-11:20am

* FREN 1250a, 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-11:15am

* FREN 1300a 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 1400a or b, Intermediate and Advanced French II  Staff

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 1450b, 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  2 Course cr
MTWThF 9:25am-11:15am

* FREN 1500a 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 1400, 1450, or a satisfactory placement test score.   L5
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* FREN 1600a 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 1700a 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 1820b, Advanced Writing Workshop  Ramla Bedoui

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 1830a, 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 1840b, 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 2330a, Contemporary French Literature in the Making  Morgane Cadieu

A survey of landmark contemporary novels coupled with a workshop. On the one hand, we read important twenty-first-century novels and narratives, discuss literary movements, genres, and trends, and explore contemporary literary life (media, prizes, publishing houses, literary quarrels). On the other hand, students are in charge of selecting and giving a presentation on a novel of their choice from the fall 2025 list of new releases. This way, we practice and compare different types of literary criticism, so as to acquire the tools to examine contemporary literature in the making. Seminar taught in French open to graduate students and to undergraduate students who completed at least one course in French in the 2000-4000 range  HU
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

* FREN 3001b, Home Alone in Contemporary French Literature  Morgane Cadieu

How do we inhabit space alone? How do writers portray home-loving protagonists? In this seminar, we read twenty-first-century fictions of confinement that represent various forms of isolation, whether temporary or permanent, constrained or self-imposed, gloomy or gleeful, indoors or outdoors. Novels depict housesitting, house moves, retreats in cabins, suburban hoardings, lockdowns in boats and spaceships, or even the experience of finding yourself accidentally trapped in a workplace restroom over the weekend. We examine our relationship to spaces, objects, bodies, and technologies, as well as the forms of attention generated by seclusion, from daydreaming to tracking. This is not a course on Covid quarantine, although our discussions will resonate with the memory of stay-at-home orders. The seminar doubles as an introduction to contemporary literature. Students learn how to acquire information on authors and novels in the absence of canonical criticism. The corpus includes some books written by established authors and many books from younger, lesser-known, but noteworthy voices. Taught in French.   HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 3012b, 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. L5 level required.  HU
W 9:25am-11:15am

* FREN 3090b, Fictions of Consumer Society  Morgane Cadieu

The seminar examines literary and cinematic versions of the consumer society—from the late nineteenth to the twenty-first century—by discussing: the aesthetics of everyday life; the representation of stores, supermarkets, and malls in rural and urban settings; consumerism and colonization; mythologies, commodities, and gender norms; labor and waste; and the attention to objects (still life, window displays). Works by Danticat, Ernaux, Houellebecq, NDiaye, Perec, Reza, and Zola. Films by Demy, Godard, Tati, and Varda. Short theoretical excerpts by Baudrillard, Barthes, and Moudileno. No knowledge of French required.  WR, HU
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

* FREN 3200a, The Existentialist Cafe  Alice Kaplan

The Existentialist Café examines a moment (post-war France), a condition (liberation from Nazi occupation), a school of thought (existentialism) and a group of writers in conversation with one another (Sartre, Beauvoir, Camus, Baldwin, Sagan, Fanon). Sarah Bakewell’s In the Existentialist Café provides a foundation for our exploration of existentialism as a movement. We read novels, plays, diaries, and essays from the postwar era in France, considering existentialism both as a form of critical engagement and a specific intellectual and cultural situation. This is a group B course and is conducted entirely in French. Students must have above FREN 1700-level language skills.  HU
F 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 3210b, Corneille and Racine: Passions and Politics on the French Classical Stage  Pierre Saint-Amand

This course consists of close readings of the major political tragedies of the classical period, from the famous dueling playwrights, Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine. We consider how the language of passions intersects with the language of politics, the dialectics of desire and violence, of Hero and State. Study of the recurring major passions: love, jealousy, hate, and how they are dealt with, sometimes repaired. We extend our study to the religious plays by the respective authors. Ability to read, write, and speak French.  L5, HU
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* FREN 3675a / AFAM 3675a / AMST 3355a / ER&M 3574a / LAST 2675a, Haiti Writes I  Marlene Daut and Kaiama Glover

From nineteenth-century antislavery pamphleteering to accounts of ecological catastrophe in 21st-century fiction, Haitian literature has resounded across the globe since the nation's revolutionaries declared independence in 1804. Starting with pre-revolutionary writing, including the emergence of Haitian Creole letters, moving through a long, largely francophone nineteenth century, to present-day Haitian writing in the English language, this two-semester exploration of Haitian literature presents the political, cultural, and historical frameworks necessary to comprehend Haiti's vast literary output. Whether writing in Haiti or its wide-ranging diasporas, Haitian authors have boldly contributed to pressing conversations in global letters while reflecting Haiti's unique cultural and historical experiences. Considering an expansive array of poets, playwrights, and novelists - such as Baron de Vastey, Juste Chanlatte, Demesvar Delorme, Edwidge Danticat, René Depestre, Kettly Mars, Dany Laferrière, and Évelyne Trouillot – this course engages students in a fresh examination of Haiti’s richly polyglot and transnational literary tradition that spans more than two centuries.
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 3680b, Reasoning with Voltaire  Pierre Saint-Amand

An investigation of the French Enlightenment through its principal representative philosopher, Voltaire. An examination of Voltaire's preoccupations, including philosophy, religion, tolerance, freedom, and human rights. Readings include Voltaire's contes, major plays, entries from the Dictionnaire philosophique, treatises, and pamphlets. Conducted entirely in French.  L5
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* FREN 4160a / ER&M 3535a / WGSS 4416a, Social Mobility and Migration  Morgane Cadieu

The seminar examines the representation of upward mobility, social demotion, and interclass encounters in contemporary French literature and cinema, with an emphasis on the interaction between social class and literary style. Topics include emancipation and determinism; inequality, precarity, and class struggle; social mobility and migration; the intersectionality of class, race, gender, and sexuality; labor and the workplace; homecomings; mixed couples; and adoption. Works by Nobel Prize winner Annie Ernaux and her peers (Éribon, Gay, Harchi, Linhart, Louis, NDiaye, Taïa). Films by Cantet, Chou, and Diop. Theoretical excerpts by Berlant, Bourdieu, and Rancière. Students will have the option to put the French corpus in dialogue with the literature of other countries. Conducted in French.   HU
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 4180b, The Old French Fable and Fabliaux  R Howard Bloch

This seminar is designed to acquaint the student with the Fables of Marie de France and a substantial portion of the 170 fabliaux. We also consider the relevant secondary literature, the historical, cultural, social, religious, and critical background of the animal and the verse comic tales, which lie at the root core of didactic and of humorous and realistic literature in English, Italian, German, and Spanish. Both the Fables and the fabliaux are to be read in English, in the translations of Harriet Spiegel and Nathaniel Dubin. Both books, available at the World Language Center, contain the Old French originals and the translated texts.   WR, HU
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm

* FREN 4700a, Special Tutorial for Juniors and Seniors  Thomas Connolly

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 4910a, 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 4920a, The Senior Essay—Translation Concentration  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 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 4930a / FREN 4950a, The Senior Essay in the Intensive Major  Thomas Connolly

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 4950a / FREN 4930a, The Senior Essay in the Intensive Major—Translation Concentration  Thomas Connolly

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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* FREN 4980a, Fin-de-siècle France  Maurice Samuels

The last decades of the nineteenth century were a time of both social turmoil and artistic exuberance in France. This course examines major literary and artistic movements (Naturalism, Decadence, Symbolism, etc.) in their cultural context. Why was this productive period obsessed with its own doom?  Literary texts are paired with recent critical theory as well as nineteenth-century discourses on such topics as sociology, criminology, sexology, and technology. Some attention is paid to the visual arts and to fin-de-siècles in other times and places (particularly Austria, Germany, and England). Students should have advanced (L5) reading knowledge of French.  HU
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm