* FREN 012a / LITR 020a, World Literature After Empire  Jill Jarvis

An introduction to contemporary French fiction in a global perspective that will transform the way you think about the relationship between literature and politics. Together we read prizewinning novels by writers of the former French Empire—in Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean—alongside key manifestos and theoretical essays that define or defy the notion of world literature. Keeping our focus on questions of race, gender, imperialism, and translation, we ask: has literature gone global? What does that mean? What can we learn from writers whose texts cross and confound linguistic and national borders? Enrollment limited to first-year students. Preregistration required; see under First-Year Seminar Program. No previous knowledge of French is required.  WR, HU
TTh 1pm-2:15pm

* 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  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  RP  1½ Course cr
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* FREN 120b, 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  RP  1½ Course cr
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* FREN 121a, Intermediate French  Staff

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, MTWThF 10:30am-11:20am

* 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  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 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

* 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  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 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. May be taken concurrently with or after FREN 160 and FREN 170.    L5
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

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

An introduction to the practice and theory of literary translation, conducted in workshop format. Stress on close reading, with emphasis initially on grammatical structures and vocabulary, subsequently on stylistics and aesthetics. Translation as a means to understand and communicate cultural difference in the case of French, African, Caribbean, and Québécois authors. Texts by Benjamin, Beckett, Borges, Steiner, and others. Readings in French and in English. After FREN 150 or with permission of instructor.   HU
W 9:25am-11:15am

* FREN 192b, Intermediate Literary Translation  Nichole Gleisner

A continuation of FREN 191 for students who wish to work on a longer project and to deepen their reading in translation theory.
  Prerequisite: FREN 191.  HU
W 9:25am-11:15am

FREN 216a / ENGL 154a / HUMS 134a / LITR 194a, The Multicultural Middle Ages  Staff

Introduction to medieval English literature and culture in its European and Mediterranean context, before it became monolingual, canonical, or author-bound. Genres include travel writing, epic, dream visions, mysticism, the lyric, and autobiography, from the Crusades to the Hundred Years War, from the troubadours to Dante, from the Chanson de Roland to Chaucer. Formerly ENGL 189.  WR, HU  0 Course cr
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* FREN 220b, Nineteenth-Century French Poetry  Thomas Connolly

A study of nineteenth-century French poetry in verse, from the years following the French Revolution to the cusp of the First World War. Poets studied include Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, Alphonse de Lamartine, Victor Hugo, Gérard de Nerval, Alfred de Musset, Théophile Gautier, Leconte de Lisle, Charles Baudelaire, Théodore de Banville, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Verlaine, Judith Gautier, Arthur Rimbaud, Marie Krysinska, Jules Laforgue, and Guillaume Apollinaire. Secondary readings by Joris-Karl Huysmans, Marcel Proust, Émile Zola, Francis Vielé-Griffin, Friedrich Nietzsche, André Gide, Albert Thibaudet and others. Topics discussed include the role of poetry in Romanticism, Symbolism, Naturalism, and Realism, its presence in politics and the revolutions of 1830 and 1848, the war with Prussia in 1870, the Commune of 1871, as well as specifically poetic events such as the launch of Le parnasse contemporain and the birth of "vers libre." Readings and discussions in French. Ability to read, write, and speak in French is required.  HU
M 9:25am-11:15am

* FREN 233a, Novels of the Twenty-First Century  Morgane Cadieu

Exploration of twenty-first-century novels by Bernheim, Bouraoui, Darrieussecq, Garréta, NDiaye, Modiano, Pireyre, and Volodine. Emphasis on new literary movements and genres as well as on literary life (media, prizes, publishing houses, literary quarrels, digitalization). Topics of the novels include: description of urban and rural settings; memory, war, and migrations; queer and postcolonial subjectivities; ecology; global France and world-literature. Students will be invited to select and read a novel of their choice from the Fall 2023 list of new releases. Conducted in French.  HU
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

FREN 240b / HUMS 201b / LITR 214b, The Modern French Novel  Staff

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 307b / LITR 302b, France by Rail: Trains in French Literature, Film, and History  Morgane Cadieu

Exploration of the aesthetics of trains in French and Francophone literature and culture, from the end of the nineteenth-century and the first locomotives, to the automatically driven subway in twenty-first century Paris. Focus on the role of trains in industrialization, colonization, deportation, decolonization, and immigration. Corpus includes novels, poems, plays, films, paintings, graphic novels, as well as theoretical excerpts on urban spaces and public transportation. Activities include: building a train at the CEID and visiting the Beinecke collections and the Art Gallery. May not be taken after FREN 306.  WR, HU
MW 11:35am-12:50pm

* FREN 321a, 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
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm

* FREN 330a / HUMS 366a, The World of Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables"  Maurice Samuels

Considered one of the greatest novels of all time, Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (1862) offers more than a thrilling story, unforgettable characters, and powerful writing. It offers a window into history. Working from a new translation, this seminar studies Hugo's epic masterpiece in all its unabridged glory, but also uses it as a lens to explore the world of nineteenth-century France—including issues such as the criminal justice system, religion, poverty, social welfare, war, prostitution, industrialization, and revolution. Students gain the tools to work both as close readers and as cultural historians in order to illuminate the ways in which Hugo's text intersects with its context. Attention is also paid to famous stage and screen adaptations of the novel: what do they get right and what do they get wrong? Taught in English, no knowledge of French is required.   HU  0 Course cr
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 340a / GMAN 232a / HUMS 429a / JDST 286a / LITR 232a, Paul Celan  Thomas Connolly

An undergraduate seminar in English exploring the life and work of Paul Celan (1920-1970), survivor of the Shoah, and one of the foremost European poets of the second half of the twentieth century. We will read from his early poems in both Romanian and German, and his published collections including Der Sand aus den Urnen, Mohn und Gedächtnis, Von Schelle zu Schelle, Sprachgitter, Die Niemandsrose, Atemwende, Fadensonnen, Lichtzwang, and Schneepart. We will also read from his rare pieces in prose and his correspondence with family, friends, and other intellectuals and poets including Bachmann, Sachs, Heidegger, Char, du Bouchet, Michaux, Ungaretti. A special focus on his poetic translations from French, but also Russian, English, American, Italian, Romanian, Portuguese, and Hebrew. Critical readings draw from Szondi, Adorno, Derrida, Agamben, and others. Readings in English translation or in the original languages, as the student desires. Discussions in English. None.  WR, HU
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 355b / LITR 234b, Camus and the Postwar Era  Alice Kaplan

The literary and political career of French-Algerian writer Albert Camus (1913–60). His major novels and essays read both from a stylistic point of view and in the context of World War II, the Algerian War, and debates over terrorism, the death penalty, and humanitarianism.  HU  Tr
W 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 368a, 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 378a / AFAM 368a, Zombies, Witches, Goddesses: Disorderly Women in Francophone Fiction  Kaiama Glover

This course explores configurations of the feminine as a force of disorder in prose fiction works of the 20th-century French- and Creole-speaking Americas. How do certain kinds of women characters reflect the troubling realities of the communities in which they are embedded? What alternative modes of being might these women’s non– or even anticommunal practices of freedom suggest? How are matters of the erotic, the spiritual, and the maternal implicated in Caribbean women’s relationships to their communities? Through slow and careful readings of literary fiction and critical theory, we examine the ‘troubling’ heroines presented in prose fiction works by francophone Caribbean authors of both genders, considering the thematic intersections and common formal strategies that emerge in their writing. We consider in particular the symbolic value of the ‘zombie,’ the ‘witch,’ the ‘goddess,’ and other provocative characters as so many reflections on–and of–social phenomena that mark the region and its history.   WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 385b, Reading Rabelais's Gargantua  Dominique Brancher

How should the modern man be educated? Which virtues should a Christian prince possess in times of war? Can you be serious and funny at the same time? Gargantua, the life-story of a giant born from his mother's ear, published two years after Pantagruel in 1534, has surprising answers to these questions and more. It is with this work of excess, in form as much as in content, in which giants consume material and spiritual goods with equal enthusiasm, and in which received ideas are subject to harsh critical and comic scrutiny, that Rabelais invents the modern novel. Students undertake a close reading of the text in its modern French translation, alongside relevant secondary sources. All readings, discussions, and assignments in French.  HU
Th 9:25am-11:15am

* FREN 403b / HUMS 409b / LITR 224b, Proust Interpretations: Reading Remembrance of Things Past  Pierre Saint-Amand and R Howard Bloch

A close reading (in English) of Marcel Proust’s masterpiece, Remembrance of Things Past, with emphasis upon major themes: time and memory, desire and jealousy, social life and artistic experience, sexual identity and personal authenticity, class and nation. Portions from Swann’s Way, Within a Budding Grove, Cities of the Plain, Time Regained considered from biographical, psychological/psychoanalytic, gender, sociological, historical, and philosophical perspectives.  WR, HU
M 3:30pm-5:20pm

* FREN 404a, Inventories and Inventions: "Cabinets de curiosité" and the Writing of Singularity  Dominique Brancher

A seminar on "cabinets de curiosités" and the stories told about the objects they contain, whether real or invented. We pay close attention to catalogues, as modes of exhibition in their own right, as products of a collection, as well as vectors for the dissemination of a given collection of objects. We see how the catalogue is a textual crossroads, able to absorb, integrate, and sometimes correct developments in scholarly or travel writing. The catalogue is often also the pre-text to parodic or fictional forms. For example, some might claim to present imaginary collections. Others present themselves as real catalogs while exhibiting the signs of fabrication. Catalogues include "Le Cabinet de M. de Scudéry" (1646), "Musaeum clausum" or "Bibliotheca abscondita" by Thomas Browne (1684), and the fictitious catalogue included in Francis Bacon's "La Nouvelle Atlantide" (1627). This course includes readings in relevant critical and theoretical literature, as well as visits to museums and libraries in New Haven. Readings and discussions in French. Ability to read, write, and speak French.  HU
T 9:25am-11:15am

* FREN 416a / ER&M 335a / WGSS 416a, 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
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 423a / HUMS 403a / LITR 410a, Interpretations: Simone Weil  Greg Ellermann

Intensive study of the life and work of Simone Weil, one of the twentieth century’s most important thinkers. We read the iconic works that shaped Weil’s posthumous reputation as “the patron saint of all outsiders,” including the mystical aphorisms Gravity and Grace and the utopian program for a new Europe The Need for Roots. But we also examine in detail the lesser-known writings Weil published in her lifetime–writings that powerfully intervene in some of the most pressing debates of her day. Reading Weil alongside contemporaries such as Trotsky, Heidegger, Arendt, Levinas, and Césaire, we see how her thought engages key philosophical, ethical, and aesthetic problems of the twentieth century: the relation between dictatorship and democracy; empire and the critique of colonialism; the ethics of attention and affliction; modern science, technology, and the human point of view; the responsibility of the writer in times of war; beauty and the possibility of transcendence; the practice of philosophy as a way of life.  HU
W 9:25am-11:15am

* FREN 425b / AFST 425b / MMES 360b, North African French Poetry  Thomas Connolly

Introduction to North African poetry composed in French during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Works explored within the broader context of metropolitan French, Arabic, and Berber cultures; juxtaposition with other modes of expression including oral poetry, painting, dance, music, the Internet, and film. The literary, aesthetic, political, religious, and philosophical significance of poetic discourse.  HU
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

* FREN 470a 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  Morgane Cadieu

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 Track  Morgane Cadieu

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 track 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  Morgane Cadieu

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 Track  Morgane Cadieu

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 track 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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