Fall 2015
PLACEMENT GUIDELINES:
For basic information about the foreign language requirement and placement guidelines for FREN 101-202, see here.
For students in more advanced courses:
If you are currently in French 202 or 206, take French 210 or 212 next.
If you are currently in French 210 or 212, take French 303, 304, 305, or 306 next. If you don't feel ready to move up, you can take French 212 or 210.
If your most recent course was French 290 or 303, take 304, 305, or 306 next.
If you are currently in French 305, take French 304, 306, 314 or 315 next. You should not take any more 200-level courses.
After you have taken 314 or 315, you may take any course above 305 in any order, regardless of specific course numbers. IMPORTANT: there is no difference in level between, say, 321 and 392.
The senior seminar French 450 is usually only offered in the spring. And yes: you may take a 300-level course after having taken 450.
Here follow course descriptions for this fall's topics courses (please consult the W&M course catalog for all other descriptions):
FREN 100/COLL 100 Fictions of Nature
Prof. Pacini
By analyzing key eighteenth-century texts and their adaptations in contemporary European literature, "Fictions of Nature" will interrogate the mythical dimensions of the concept of "Nature," its ideological force, and the early modern roots of our contemporary enviornmental consciousness. Taught in English.
FREN 385 Writing Violence, Writing Resistance
Prof. Compan
This course offers students a study of the colonial and post-colonial Francophone world through the theme of violence whether it is thematic, stylistic, or linguistic. Students will examine the forms and uses of violence in French-language literature and films from sub-sahara Africa, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean. Taught in French.
FREN 362: Culture in Context 2/The Republic
Prof. Leruth
This course will examine French political culture from the Revolution of 1789 through the present. It will focus on the development of French republican identity, the basic structures of government and political life in France today, varying viewpoints on major political issues, and recent examples of French presidential electoral politics. Taught in French.
FREN 391- L’écriture des secrets et révélations
Prof. Fauvel
Secrets de famille, secrets de communautés et de nations dans des films et des textes littéraires français/francophones contemporains. Qu’est-ce qui définit un secret ? Qui définit le secret ? Et selon quelles lignes genrées, ethniques, socio-culturelles, politiques, artistiques et autres se dessine-t-il ? Quelles techniques littéraires/filmiques sont-elles utilisées pour évoquer le secret ? Taught in French.