Spring 2025 Courses
for meeting times and locations please consult yale course search
GROUP A: LANGUAGE COURSES (L1-L5)
Conducted entirely in French
GROUP A: LANGUAGE COURSES (L1-L5)
Conducted entirely in French
fren 120: elementary and intermediate french ii
Continuation of FREN 110. Open only to students who took FREN 110 (L1) at Yale.
Please note: FREN 110 and FREN 121 is only offered in the Fall.
french 130: intermediate and advanced french i
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.
french 140: intermediate and advanced french ii
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.
french 145: intensive intermediate and advanced french
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.
french 150: advanced language practice
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.
GROUP B & C: ADVANCED AND LITERATURE COURSES IN FRENCH
Gateway courses
fren 160: advanced conversation through culture, film, and media
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. Prerequisites: FREN 150, or a satisfactory placement test score, or with permission of the course director. May be taken concurrently with or after FREN 170. Conducted in French.
fren 170: introduction to the study of literature in french (constance sherak and lauren pinzka)
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. Conducted in French.
Advanced Language Courses
fren 182: Advanced Writing Workshop (ramla bédoui)
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.
fren 184: business french: communication and culture (léo tertrain)
An advanced language course emphasizing verbal communication and culture. Designed to foster the acquisition of the linguistic and cultural skills required to evolve within a French business environment. Discussions, in-class activities and group projects in simulated professional situations. Topics such as the liberalization of the French economy, trading in the European Union, new forms of business organizations, globalization are explored through a business textbook, articles, video clips, radio shows, films, documentaries, and excerpts from essays and literary texts. Conducted in French.
fren 192: 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. Conducted in English, readings in French.
General Fields Courses
fren 240: The modern french novel (alice kaplan and maurice samuels)
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.
fren 247: Experimental Literature, Theory, and Manifestoes(morgane cadieu)
A survey of the French experimental prose of the 20th and 21st centuries. Corpus includes novels and plays, literary and political manifestoes, and landmark articles on literary theory, structuralism, and poststructuralism. Topics include: inspiration and creativity; the aesthetics of manifestoes and the politics of literature; automatic writing and constrained prose; feminist and queer writings; urban spaces in avant-garde literary movements. Works by: Bataille, Beauvoir, Beckett, Breton, Perec, Sarraute, Wittig. Theoretical excerpts by: Barthes, Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault, Glissant, Malabou.
fren 262: black france (marlene daut)
This course offers an in-depth exploration of the complex history of Black France, tracing its roots from the era of French colonization in the Caribbean and the transatlantic slave trade to its contemporary manifestations across France and its overseas territories. Beginning with an examination of French colonialism in the Caribbean, particularly focusing on the brutal system of slavery and the development of the Code Noir under the reign of Louis XIV, students gain a comprehensive understanding of the origins of race-thinking in France. Students also read about the pivotal role of French colonies like Saint-Domingue, Martinique, and Guadeloupe in the resistance against slavery, highlighting the Haitian Revolution as a watershed moment in the struggle for freedom and self-determination. Through the lens of this historic event, students analyze the complexities of slave rebellion, the quest for abolition, and the enduring legacy of resistance in Black (francophone) communities. By highlighting the socio-political relationship of the colonial and revolutionary era to the present, students explore the interconnectedness of slavery, colonialism, and power dynamics within the French empire and the enduring impact of this tumultuous history on contemporary conceptions of Blackness in France. Using an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses history, sociology, literary, and cultural studies, students analyze the formation of Black identity, racial ideologies, and the ongoing struggle for recognition and equality within French society.
fren 323: Moliere: French Comedy, Laughter, and Society (pierre saint-amand)
In this course we study the major comedies written by Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known as Molière (1622-1673), considered the greatest playwright of the French language (his plays are the most seen and read of all French writers). We analyze the plays in the context of the principal themes that have emerged out his theater and that made Molière the consecrated author he is: the critique of society, of the court, of religion; the education of women, the pervasiveness of money are other issues that will be discussed. Conducted in French.
Special Topics Courses
fren 396: World War II in French Cinema (alice kaplan)
A study of French films dealing with everyday life in France during the Nazi occupation (1940–44). Close analysis of scenes and cinematic techniques, historical readings, and film criticism. Conducted in French.
fren 405: Notre-Dame de Paris (r. howard bloch & paul freedman)
Against the background of Gothic cathedral building in the High Middle Ages, we study from multiple perspectives the building of Notre-Dame within the teaching and preaching culture of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, with special focus on medieval Paris. Interdisciplinary materials include religious, literary, historical, and philosophic works alongside of music and the visuals—stained glass and sculpture—that are such an integral part of Gothic architecture. We also consider the history of Notre-Dame de Paris since the Middle Ages, especially Viollet-le-Duc’s nineteenth-century restoration, to be read alongside Victor Hugo’s Notre-Dame of Paris, and in the context of the rebuilding and reopening after the fire of 2019.
fren 440: Derrida Among The Poets (thomas c. Connolly)
Despite becoming one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, Jacques Derrida always dreamed of being a writer, perhaps even a poet. This course examines the poetic in Derrida’s own oeuvre by focusing on his work at the intersection of philosophy and literary criticism. Beyond reading majors works by Derrida, students read works by Friedrich Hölderlin, Charles Baudelaire, Le Comte de Lautréamont, Stéphane Mallarmé, James Joyce, Edmond Jabès, Paul Celan, Francis Ponge, Édouard Glissant, and Abdelkébir Khatibi. Readings of Derrida and other French-language authors in French. Readings of non-French authors either in original languages or in translation, as the student desires. Discussions and assignments in French.