French 311 Introduction To French Literature II

[A more detailed syllabus will be distributed in class.]

This course will present modern French texts in a survey approach.   The primordial objective is to grasp the basic structural relationships of a literary text in order to read critically and imaginatively.   I will continue to impress upon you the need to constantly question the literary text, to discuss different interpretations and to evaluate the ideas of specific critics.   The classroom discussions will be supplemented by pertinent background information as appropriate.   Essentially, the course will depend upon you to be up to date on the assigned reading to actively participate and facilitate the exchange of ideas in the classroom.

We will proceed chronologically, in keeping with literary periods; this avoids mixing generations whose main trends and ideas were different.   We will be mainly reading complete texts of substantial length, discussing them and writing about them.

Requirements :

1.            Active participation based on thorough preparation (20%)

2.            Two in-class written analyses (40%)

3.            Two term papers, and any other written work (40%)

-Participation in the context of this course is viewed not just responding to the professor’s questions but rather, and more importantly, developing and testing your ideas in oral discourse.   I view you not as passive receptacles into which information is transmitted, but as thinkers who can question, reflect and exchange ideas with others.   I look for interactions that evince your active listening as well as responsive speaking in order to engage higher order thinking and discourse skills to think and to write about French literature and culture.

-Paper I due at mid-term

-Paper II due Finals Week

Required Texts :

Littérature française: Textes et Contextes (anthologie)

Charles Baudelaire: Bi-lingual Selected Poems.

Effroyables jardins: Michel Quint.

La vie de ma mère!: Thierry Jonquet.

Numéro six: Véronique Olmi.

Une rivière verte et silencieuse: Hubert Mingarelli.

Oscar et la dame en rose: Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt.

Edouard Manet
Olympia
1863
Huile sur toile
H. 1,30 ; L. 1,90 m
Paris, musée d'Orsay, offert à l'Etat par souscription publique sur l'initiative de Claude Monet, 1890
(c) R.M.N. - Musée d'Orsay

TERM   PAPERS

Your papers are to be 3-5 double-spaced typed pages (250 words per page, for a minimum of 750 words total) and must be handed in on the due dates.   A late paper will be read but a grade of F will be assigned.   I will be glad to read drafts and offer some suggestions on the ideas and directions of the paper if you submit them to me no later than one week prior to the deadline.

The paper must be analytical in content and firmly grounded in a knowledge of the sources; at the same time, given the nature of the course, this paper will necessarily involve interpretation, speculation, and conjecture.   The evaluation of this paper will be based on coherence of argument, sophistication of approach, integrity of evidence, clarity of style, and success in treating fully your literary topic.

Your paper must be carefully and correctly written.   Consult a grammar-and-style manual if necessary.   Also, do not hand in a paper that you have not proofread.   In proofreading, read the paper slowly aloud to yourself .   You may very likely catch an error or infelicity that you would have missed if you had read silently or read aloud and quickly.   Write for the ear.

In your paper, observe the conventions for acknowledgment of sources.   Also, provide a bibliography.   Acknowledge the sources of any direct quotation.   And, except when it has already been made clear that you are summarizing a particular stretch of prose, any paraphrase of someone else's prose must be accompanied by a note acknowledging its source.   Furthermore, any point on which your paper has been significantly influenced by a source should carry with it an acknowledgment in a note.   Notes or parenthetical references and bibliography should follow standard format, as described in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations .