SPRING 2010 COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
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LOWER DIVISION
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FRENCH 1: Elementary French (5 Units)
Supervisor: Bruce Anderson, Assistant Professor (bcanderson
STAFF (sec. 1, M-F 9:00-9:50, 101 Wellman) CRN 64914
STAFF (sec. 2, M-F 8:00-8:50, 125 Wellman) CRN 83852 NEW SECTION
Prerequisite: No previous study of French is assumed. Students who have never studied French (or who have had fewer than two years of French in high school and do not place into French 2) should enroll in French 1. Students with two or more years of French in high school may only take this course for a Pass/ No Pass grade.
Description: Presentation of the basic grammar and vocabulary of French as well as cultural information about the French-speaking world (textbook chapters 1 to 6); in-class interactive exercises and out-of-class assignments for practice in using the language for listening and reading comprehension, writing, and speaking. French is the exclusive means of communication in class. The course meets five hours per week, with 20-25 students per section. Course materials (other than the textbook and workbook) and daily homework assignments are available at http://trc.ucdavis.edu/anderson.
Course Grade: The final grade for the course will be determined by daily preparation and participation (14%), homework (12%), three quizzes (15%), one major composition (10%), three in-class exams (30%), and a final exam (19%).
Textbooks:
- E. Amon, J. Muyskens, and A. Omaggio Hadley, Vis-a-vis: Beginning French, 4th Edition (Textbook)
- E. Amon, J. Muyskens, and A. Omaggio Hadley, Vis-a-vis: Beginning French, 4th Edition (Workbook/Laboratory Manual)
FRENCH 2: Elementary French (5 Units)
Supervisor: Bruce Anderson, Assistant Professor (bcanderson
STAFF (sec. 1, M-F 11:00-11:50, 101 Wellman) CRN 64916
STAFF (sec. 2, M-F 10:00-10:50, 101 Wellman) CRN 83674
Prerequisite:French 1 or placement test. Any student, regardless of previous experience studying French, may take this course for a letter or Pass/ No Pass grade.
Description: Presentation of the basic grammar and vocabulary of French as well as cultural information about the French-speaking world (textbook chapters 7 to 11); in-class interactive exercises and out-of-class assignments for practice in using the language for listening and reading comprehension, writing, and speaking. French is the exclusive means of communication in class. The course meets five hours per week, with 20-25 students per section. Course materials (other than the textbook and workbook) and daily homework assignments are available at http://trc.ucdavis.edu/anderson.
Course Grade: The final grade for the course will be determined by daily preparation and participation (14%), homework (10%), three quizzes (15%), one major composition (10%), two in-class exams (25%), a final oral exam (6%), and a final written exam (20%).
Textbooks:
- E. Amon, J. Muyskens, and A. Omaggio Hadley, Vis-a-vis: Beginning French, 4th Edition (Textbook)
- E. Amon, J. Muyskens, and A. Omaggio Hadley, Vis-a-vis: Beginning French, 4th Edition (Workbook/Laboratory Manual)
FRENCH 3: Elementary French (5 Units)
Supervisor: Bruce Anderson, Assistant Professor (bcanderson
STAFF (sec. 1, M-F 8:00-8:50, 1116 Hart) CRN 64918
STAFF (sec. 2, M-F 9:00-9:50, 1116 Hart) CRN 64919
STAFF (sec. 3, M-F 10:00-10:50, 227 Olson) CRN 64920
STAFF (sec. 4, M-F 11:00-11:50, 227 Olson) CRN 64921
STAFF (sec. 5, M-F 12:10-1:00, 1128 Hart) CRN 64922
Prerequisite: French 2 or placement test. Any student, regardless of previous experience studying French, may take this course for a letter or Pass/ No Pass grade.
Description: Presentation of the basic grammar and vocabulary of French as well as cultural information about the French-speaking world (textbook chapters 12 to 16); in-class interactive exercises and out-of-class assignments for practice in using the language for listening and reading comprehension, writing, and speaking. French is the exclusive means of communication in class. The course meets five hours per week, with 20-25 students per section. Course materials (other than the textbook and workbook) and daily homework assignments are available at http://trc.ucdavis.edu/anderson.
Course Grade: The final grade for the course will be determined by daily preparation and participation (14%), homework (10%), three quizzes (15%), one major composition (10%), two in-class exams (25%), a final oral exam (6%), and a final written exam (20%).
Textbooks:
- E. Amon, J. Muyskens, and A. Omaggio Hadley, Vis-a-vis: Beginning French, 4th Edition (Textbook)
- E. Amon, J. Muyskens, and A. Omaggio Hadley, Vis-a-vis: Beginning French, 4th Edition (Workbook/Laboratory Manual)
FRENCH 21: Intermediate French (5 Units)
Supervisor: Eric Russell Webb, Assistant Professor (erussell
STAFF (M-F 1:10-2:00, 103 Wellman) CRN 64923
Prerequisite: French 3 or placement test. Any student, regardless of previous experience studying French, may take this course for a letter or Pass/ No Pass grade.
Description: Presentation and analysis of the cultures of the French-speaking world (Paris, Quebec, Tahiti, Lyon, Northern Africa) and comparison to home culture; review of the basic grammar presented in first-year French; expansion of vocabulary related to city living, history/geography, the arts, food/cooking, and family life (textbook chapters 1 to 5). In-class presentations and activities, as well as out-of-class assignments, are conducted solely in French and focus on the development of listening and reading comprehension, writing, and speaking skills. The course meets four hours per week, plus an additional hour of independent web-based work, with 20-25 students per section. Course materials (other than the textbook and workbook) and daily homework assignments are available at http://trc.ucdavis.edu/anderson.
Course Grade: The final grade for the course will be determined by daily preparation and participation, homework, and one in-class composition per chapter (5 x 13% = 85%), an oral final exam (5%), and a written final exam (10%).
Textbook:
- M. Oates and J. Dubois, Personnages: An Intermediate Course in French Language and Francophone Culture (4th Edition)
FRENCH 22: Intermediate French (5 Units)
Supervisor: Eric Russell Webb, Assistant Professor (erussell
STAFF (sec. 2, M-F 9:00-9:50, 129 Wellman) CRN 64924
STAFF (sec. 1, M-F, 10:00-10:50, 129 Wellman) CRN 64925
Prerequisite: French 21 or placement test. Any student, regardless of previous experience studying French, may take this course for a letter or Pass/ No Pass grade.
Description: Presentation and analysis of the cultures of the French-speaking world (Senegal, Martinique, Geneva, Strasbourg, Brussels) and comparison to home culture; review of the basic grammar presented in first-year French; expansion of vocabulary related to commerce, tourism, sports and leisure, politics, and modern technology (textbook chapters 6 to10). In-class presentations and activities, as well as out-of-class assignments, are conducted solely in French and focus on the development of listening and reading comprehension, writing, and speaking skills. The course meets four hours per week, plus an additional hour of independent web-based work, with 25 students per section. Course materials (other than the textbook and workbook) and daily homework assignments are available at http://trc.ucdavis.edu/anderson.
Course Grade: The final grade for the course will be determined by daily preparation and participation, homework, and one in-class composition per chapter (5 x 13% = 85%), an oral final exam (5%), and a written final exam (10%).
Textbook:
- M. Oates and J. Dubois, Personnages: An Intermediate Course in French Language and Francophone Culture (4th Edition).
FRENCH 23: Intermediate French (5 Units)
Supervisor: Nicole Asquith, Assistant Professor (nvasquith
STAFF (sec. 1, M-F 11:00-11:50, 163 Olson) CRN 64926
STAFF (sec. 2, M-F 12:10-1:00, 163 Olson) CRN 64927
Prerequisite: French 22 or placement test. Any student, regardless of previous experience studying French, may take this course for a letter or Pass/ No Pass grade.
Description: Rigorous concentration on writing skills in French in preparation for the major/minor; course assignments relate to the cultural topic of la lacité (the issue of church and state in modern France, religious freedom/tolerance, secularism in French schools). A variety of materials, including written texts, videos, and songs will be analyzed and used as sources in the preparation of a dissertation (major course paper). In-class presentations and activities, as well as out-of-class assignments, are conducted solely in French. The course meets four hours per week, plus an additional hour of independent web-based work, with 20-25 students per section.
Course Grade: The final grade for the course will be determined by daily preparation and participation, homework, and a major course paper. Percentages have yet to be determined.
Textbook: Course materials will be available for downloading in PDF format on SmartSite.
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UPPER DIVISION
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FRENCH 100: Composition in French (4 Units) CANCELLED COURSE
Nicole Asquith, Assistant Professor (nvasquith
FRENCH 107: Survey of French Culture and Institutions (4 Units)
Julia Simon, Professor (jsimon
@ucdavis.edu)
(MWF 11:00-11:50, 1342 Storer) CRN 83194
Description: The course will examine the history of state formation and centralization in France from the late Middle Ages through the nineteenth century. Through readings of cultural and historical documents we will trace the emergence of France as a unified nation with a particular identity. Topics to be explored will include the consolidation of the territory, the development of the monarchy, centralization, the formation of state bureaucracy, the development of democracy and the character of the citizenry.
Work for the course will consist of daily readings from either the textbooks or supplementary readings. Students will be expected to have read the assigned texts before coming to class and be ready to discuss them. Written work for the course will include short quizzes and two in-class exams.
Prerequisite: course 100 or Consent of Instructor.
Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Textbook: A Course Reader
FRENCH 117B: The Classical Moment (4 Units)
Noah Guynn, Associate Professor (ndguynn
@ucdavis.edu)
(TR 1:40-3:00, 27 Wellman) CRN 83195
Description: This course will be devoted to the career of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, otherwise known as Molière. We will read representative plays from all of the major phases of Molière’s career, including the early farces, the mid-career comédies morales, and the late comédies-ballets. The course will be structured around clips from Ariane Mnouchkine’s celebrated film-biography Molière (1978). Wherever possible, we will also view clips from film productions of the plays. Our emphasis throughout the term will be on dramatic representations of political power and dissidence, social order and disorder, convention and eccentricity.
Prerequisite: course 100.
Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Textbooks:
- Moliere, Le Tartuffe
- Moliere, Les Fourberies de Scapin
- Moliere, Les Femmes Savantes
- Moliere, Le Malade Imaginaire
- Moliere, Les Precieuses Ridicules
- Moliere, L'Ecole des Femmes
- Moliere, Le Misanthrope
FRENCH 124: The Post-Colonist and Francophone Literature - La Négritude (4 Units)
Nicole Asquith, Assistant Professor (nvasquith
@ucdavis.edu)
(TR 12:10-1:30, 1120 Hart) CRN 83196
Description: Just like black nationalists in the U.S. who championed black power and informed the world that "black is beautiful," the founders of the Négritude movement - artists and intellectuals from French colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and South America who met in Paris in the 1930s - appropriated the French word "nègre," previously used as a racist epithet, to create a new term they used to affirm black identity and reject French colonial racism.
The Négritude movement, which rethought the legacy of European modernism in light of the crisis of colonialism in the mid-twentieth century, was at once a political and an artistic movement, based in part on the need to find a new language and a new poetics to express these writers' unusual place in the world, as colonized individuals exiled from their homes, as black people stigmatized by racism and as politically engaged intellectuals.
This course will serve as an introduction to the Négritude movement, its antecedents and its critics, and will interrogate the unusual relationship between politics and cultural expression - particularly through poetry - that it represents. We will read works by Aimé Césaire, Léopold Senghor, Léon Damas, Jean-Paul Sartre, Franz Fanon and others.
Prerequisite: course 100.
Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Textbooks:
- Hérge, Tintin au Congo
- A Course Reader (Available on SmartSite)
FRENCH 130: From Page to Stage - Theatre & Theatricality (4 Units)
Guillaume Peureux, Associate Professor (gpeureux
@ucdavis.edu)
(MWF 12:10-1:00, 129 Wellman NEW LOCATION) CRN 83197
Description: This course will focus on French Theater from 17th to 20th century. It is designed to help students develop an appreciation of the art form by understanding the relationship of page and stage, and by analyzing the meaning of a mise-en-scene, the way it makes sense as a whole system. We will examine playwrights (Ionesco, Rhinoceros; Racine, Phedre; Moliere, L'Impromptu de Versailles and Dom Juan; Diderot, Le Fils naturel; Genet, Les Paravents) and their adaptations (DVDs - drama productions and films). Students will be asked to compare and analyze mises-en-scene. They will also be asked to propose their own mises-en-scene.
Prerequisite: course 100.
Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Textbooks:
- Racine, Phedre
- Ionesco, Rhinoceros
- Moliere, Dom Juan
- Diderot, Entretiens Sur Le Fils Naturel
- Diderot, Le Fils Naturel
- Genet, Les Paravents
FRENCH 141: Selected Topics in French Literature - Narration and death / La narration et la mort (4 Units)
Jeff Fort, Assistant Professor (jpfort
@ucdavis.edu)
(TR 9:00-10:20, 262 Olson) CRN 64957
Description: This course will deal with narratives told from the perspective of the protagonist's (or the writer's) death, whether impending or in some sense past. Thematically, these stories, mostly from the 20th century, revolve around events such as: an accident that almost kills the writer (Montaigne, Rousseau); a wartime threat of death that circles back to the protagonist as a compulsion to tell, to repeat, what happened (Blanchot, Marker); a sudden incapacitation or illness that heightens experience and makes every second count (Bauby, Schnabel, Varda). Formally, these are autobiographical and self-referential narratives that not only attempt to tell of an extreme experience, but that reveal something about the structure of narration and the impulse toward autobiography, partly by attempting to relate within the story the process and difficulties of its own construction. One of our main questions will thus be: What does death have to do with the drive or necessity to tell a story? How is the end inscribed in the beginning? How does an ultimate closure become a kind of opening?
Coursework will consist of brief written responses to each reading and viewing assignment, three formal essays, and a final.
List of readings and films:
- Michel de Montaigne, "De l'exercitation"
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, selection from Rêveries d'un promeneur solitaire
- Maurice Blanchot, L'instant de ma mort; L'arrêt de mort
- Chris Marker, La jetée (film and text)
- Jean-Dominque Bauby, Le scaphandre et le papillon (text)
- Julian Schnabel, Le scaphandre et le papillon (film)
- Agnès Varda, Cléo de 5 à 7 (film)
Prerequisite: course 100.
Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Textbooks:
- Blanchot, L'arrêt de mort (Gallimard)
- Bauby, Le scaphandre et le papillon (Robert Laffont)
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GRADUATE COURSES
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FRENCH 206C: 17th Century Literature and Poetry - Lyricism (4 Units)
Guillaume Peureux, Associate Professor (gpeureux
@ucdavis.edu)
(M 2:10-5:00, 1106 Hart) CRN 83198
Description: This seminar will focus on a key notion of poetic discourse: Lyricism. We will first (shortly) discuss the very notion of lyricism and examine its history (from Aristotle through today). We will try to understand in what its elusive dimension consists. Then we will ask ourselves: is it possible to consider some seventeenth-century French poets as lyric poets? Is it a relevant question? If not, what does this say about the strategies and goals of seventeenth-century poetry? If so, we have to consider what makes possible the rise of a singular or personal voice in this Poetry. Students will be asked to read most of the major poets of the period (Malherbe, Theophile de Viau, Saint-Amant, La Fontaine...).
Prerequisite: Graduate Standing or Consent of Instructor.
Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Extensive Writing.
Textbooks:
- De Viau, Oeuvres Poetiques
- Delafontaine, Contes et Nouvelles En Vers
FRENCH 390B: The Teaching of French in College (4 Units)
Bruce Anderson, Assistant Professor (bcanderson
@ucdavis.edu)
(W 2:10-4:00, 1106 Hart) CRN 65082
Description: TBA.
Prerequisite: Graduate Standing or Consent of Instructor.
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 2 hours.
Textbook: A Course Reader
FRENCH 396: Teaching Assistant Practicum (1-4 Units)
Eric Russell Webb (sec. 1, TBA) CRN 65084
Bruce Anderson (sec. 2, TBA) CRN 65085
Nicole Asquith (sec. 3, TBA) CRN 65086
Description: TBA.
Prerequisite: Graduate Standing.
Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Extensive Writing.
Textbook: None.