34 courses with the subject FREN BC, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
Basic elements of French grammar. Oral, writing, and reading skills. Students may take either or both of these courses at Columbia
Basic elements of French grammar. Oral, writing, and reading skills. Students may take either or both of these courses at Columbia
Prerequisites: Primarily for students who need further instruction to qualify for the intermediate course. Credit cannot be granted for both FREN BC1002 and BC1102 (or its equivalent). Enrollment limited to 20 students per section. Oral and written review of basic grammar and syntax. Readings in modern French and Francophone literature
Prerequisites: FREN BC1001, BC1002, BC1102, C1101 and C1102, or an appropriate score on the placement test. Further development of oral and written communication skills. Readings in French literature
Advanced work in language skills. Readings in French literature. Prerequisites: FREN BC1203 or an appropriate score on the placement test. NOTE: This course does not fulfill the Columbia College and GS language requirement
Further development of oral and written communication skills. Readings in French literature
Advanced work in language skills. Readings in French literature
The city of Paris, in the years between 1870 and 1914, was the scene of one of the most dynamic, progressive, and chaotic periods in French history. The era came to be fondly–and retrospectively–known as the Belle Époque. It is true that between the revolution of the Paris Commune in 1870 and the outbreak of World War I, Paris was the locus of successive waves of social and cultural discoveries and innovation at all levels of society, in all aspects of economic and political life, and in all fields of artistic creation and technological advance. But this time of dazzling advances was accompanied by social upheaval, political turmoil, inequality, poverty and discrimination. In our course, we will explore the period of 1870-1914 in Paris in its myriad aspects. We will give special attention to how artistic production, especially in the areas of literature, the visual arts and music, reflect rapid social change in a volatile political environment. Another focus point will be the evolving role of women in society and the visible questioning of gender and sexual identity. We will also examine French colonialism and specifically how it was represented and displayed in three successive Expositions Universelles (Worlds Fairs) held in Paris in 1878, 1889, and 1900. Throughout our exploration, we will consider not only the beauty and charm of the City of Light, but also the more complex and dark aspects of this moment of intense social and transformation. Finally, we will consider the fact that the term “Belle Époque” is itself a label, a retrospective reimagining in the mid-twentieth century of a privileged moment in the past, already distant and forever lost. This will lead us to consider collective memory as a cultural process that creates “periods” and “versions” of the past in an effort to better grapple with the present. This course is taught in English
Prerequisites: Completion of Intermediate French II or equivalent. Please contact Prof. Laurie Postlewate. Students will be placed on an automatic waitlist and admitted to the course individually after contacting Prof. Postlewate. The course combines: reading and watching plays in French, hands-on translation work (French to English), and study and discussion of theoretical and dramaturgical issues specific to translating theatre
Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 12 students. Prerequisites: Enrollment limited to 12 students. Discussions on contemporary issues and oral presentations. Creative writing assignments designed to improve writing skills and vocabulary development. FREN BC1204: French Intermediate II or the equivalent level is required
Prerequisites: Satisfaction of the language requirement or the equivalent. Translation of French texts--both critical and literary, focusing on particular questions or themes. FREN BC1204: French Intermediate II or the equivalent level is required
Prerequisites: At least one French course after completion of the language requirement and permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 12 students. Prerequisites: At least one French course after completion of FREN BC1204: Intermediate II or permission of the instructor. Oral presentations and discussions of French films aimed at increasing fluency, acquiring vocabulary, and perfecting pronunciation skills
Prerequisites: Satisfaction of the language requirement or the equivalent. Enrollment limited to 12 students.
Prerequisites: Satisfaction of the language requirement or the equivalent. An exploration of the early periods of French literary creation (Medieval-17th century) through works of fiction, poetry, and theatre. Special attention is given to texts that use tradition to bring about change, to provoke, to contest social norms, and to test the expected parameters of literary expression
Prerequisites: Satisfaction of the language requirement or the equivalent. FREN BC3021 may be taken for credit without completion of FREN BC3022. Prerequisites: FREN BC3021 may be taken for credit without completion of FREN BC3022. The Age of Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism, and Symbolism. FREN BC1204: French Intermediate II or the equivalent level is required
Prerequisites: Prerequisites: Satisfaction of French language requirement or permission of the instructor.
Prerequisites: FREN BC3021, BC3022, BC3023, BC3024, or the equivalent.
Dans ce cours, nous examinerons le phénomène qui domine—et révolutionne—le discours philosophique, religieux, sociologique et politique au 18e siècle en Occident: les Lumières. Visant les dogmes jusque-là incontestables d'un Etat monarchique et d'une Eglise catholique autoritaires, ce mouvement réclame la liberté de la pensée et du culte; condamne l'intolérance religieuse, l’iniquité politique et le préjugé culturel; expose et déplore l’inégalité sociale; examine les bases de l’autorité politique; et subvertit par ses propos l'idéo. A l'exception d'un texte de l'Allemand Immanuel Kant, nous nous bornerons à lire des écrits des principaux philosophes francophones des Lumières (Voltaire, Diderot, et Rousseau), aussi bien que deux romans "dystopiques” (Charrière et de Sade), et deux textes politiques parus durant la Révolution française
Prerequisites: (FREN BC1204) Satisfaction of the language requirement or permission of the instructor. Through close readings of majors texts, an examination of how these 19th-century poets brought about a "revolution" in language and thought that gave rise to the Modernism that transformed literature and the arts and whose influence is still with us today
Prerequisites: FREN BC3021, BC3022, BC3023, BC3024, or the equivalent. Close reading and occasional screening of major plays associated with the Theater of the Absurd. Philosophical and literary origins of the concept of the absurd; social and political context of its emergence; theatrical conventions of early performances; popular and critical reception. Authors include: Adamov, Artaud, Beckett, Camus, Ionesco, Jarry, Maeterlinck
Prerequisites: Prerequisites: Satisfaction of French language requirement or permission of the instructor. Reading ability in French required for all students. French majors must write their papers in French.
This seminar explores the cultural production emanating from the court of Louis XIV (1638-1715), including the social, economic and historical context that led to the construction of Versailles. We also examine colonization as a social reality contemporary to the creation of Versailles. The reading of literary texts is combined with consideration of the arts, architecture, dance and music. Special focus on the court as spectacle, women writers of the court, and the classical period as preparation for the Enlightenment. Work in developing skills in HTML, CSS and TImeline JS culminates in a final digital project allowing completion of the Mode of Thinking Technologically and Digitally
This course takes jealousy-in its psychosexual, socio-political, ontological dimensions, and in its formal implications-as a lens through which to view a series of seminal works of French literature from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. These works include: 12th-century Arthurian legend (Béroul); a late-medieval, proto-feminist short story (Navarre); 17th-century neo-classical tragedy (Corneille); 12th and 17th-century folkloric forms (Marie de France's lai and Perrault's fairy tale, respectively); the Enlightenment "philosophical" novel (Montesquieu); the 19th-century realist novel (Balzac); the early 20th-century modernist novel (Proust); and the nouveau roman (Robbe-Grillet). Two contemporary adaptations (Singer's 2008 novel based on the Navarre story, and Chabrol's 1996 film based on Proust's novel) will also be studied. In addition, a selection of highly condensed, relevant secondary readings (excerpts of 10 pages of less) will provide students with an introduction to an array of theoretical approaches to literary study: most notably, psychoanalysis, political philosophy, and literary theory. FREN BC1204: French Intermediate II or the equivalent level is required.
This seminar examines the history of the French language, both in France and in the many areas of the world in which French is a primary language. In the first part of the semester we engage in a chronological study of how the language emerged from a fusion of late medieval Latin with Germanic dialects to become a strong national institution. The development of the language is contextualized by consideration of the social and political history of France. We also devote two weeks of discussion to the situation of the French language today, with topics such as linguistic legislation, regional languages and dialects today, and gender inclusivity. This diachronic approach is carried over into the second part of the semester in which we concentrate on French in several regions outside of France including the Caribbean, North Africa, Central Africa, and North America. Here we examine how the language was first introduced, what it represented at different moments in history, the relation of French to other languages, and the situation of French in the region today. Work for the course includes a digital project (digital timeline and map, and website) to document visually the presence of French in the world, across history and in the 21st century
In depth study of the life and works of Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880). Exploration of ‘literary realism’ and the novelist's representation of money, marriage, ambition, class, sex, stupidity, and sainthood. While you will be expected to read all of Flaubert’s major works, we will concentrate in class on Madame Bovary (1857),L’Education sentimentale (1869), Trois Contes (1877), Bouvard et Pécuchet (1881), and the Correspondance. We will consider also cinematic adaptations of Madame Bovary and Un Coeur simple. FREN BC1204: French Intermediate II or the equivalent level is required.
French majors will write their senior thesis under the supervision of the instructor
In this advanced French conversation class we will use podcasts to generate discussion, debate, and creative work focusing on current events and cultural trends. Participants will use existing podcasts to build listening and speaking skills in French, and to develop the ability to converse and debate on important topics in the world today; these will include questions of identity (gender, race, sexuality), feminism, civil unrest, the U.S. elections, and the French language. Work for the course culminates in the creation by each participant of a short podcast on a topic of their choice; in-class sessions on podcast production and editing, as well as open digital lab hours will be held by IMATS to assist in the final project. Reflection on the evolution and place of podcasting as a digital medium will also be included in our discussions
Prerequisites: Completion of Intermediate 2 level French or the equivalent This course offers an in-depth study of love as it has been treated in a variety of French literary texts. These texts will be related to a number of important philosophical and theological approaches to love, particularly in respect of certain ideas concerning ethical love, erotic love, and religious faith as an act of loving God. The first objective of this class is to show how one can relate literature to philosophy and theology; the second is to gain a broad, but thematically focused familiarity with French literature, and with some literary works beyond the French tradition. FREN BC1204: French Intermediate II or the equivalent level is required
Prerequisites: Course is conducted in French. Language requirement must be satisfied before enrollment. This course will group together the women who shaped and epitomized Left Bank culture in Paris from the Belle Époque to the mid-twentieth century; it will also situate these women in relation to their male peers whose works went on to establish the canons of Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, and Existentialism. We will focus primarily on the realms of literature, philosophy, and art, but we will also examine how some of these women advanced cultural production more broadly—by starting publishing presses, opening bookshops, holding salons, etc. Readings will be primarily in French (Colette, Anna de Noailles, Renée Vivien, Simone de Beauvoir; Breton, Valéry, Aragon, Sartre) but will also include some English-language authors (Gertrude Stein, Djuna Barnes, Anaïs Nin). All discussions, coursework, and examinations will be in French
When thinking of 17th Century France, we tend to focus on the all-encompassing figure of Louis XIV, Roi Soleil. However, the 17th Century was also the century of women: women writers, women philanthropists, and women intellectuals who led some of the most influential literary salons of their time. The presence and agency of women during that period had a major influence on the representation of women in literature. Between heroic idealizations and caricatural portrayals, this course will attempt to discern between these two extremes to form an image of the real contribution of women to the literature of this period
Since the last decades of the twentieth century there has been a dramatic increase in the number of women writers from the Middle East and North Africa. This advanced course, which will be taught mainly in French, provides a window into this rich and largely neglected branch of world literature. Students will encounter the breadth and creativity of contemporary Middle Eastern and North African women’s literature by reading a range of twentieth- and twenty-first-century novels, short stories, memoirs and poetry available in French or in translation, and by viewing films that are from or about Iran, Lebanon, Algeria, and Egypt. How do Middle Eastern women authors address women’s oppression – both social and physical – and enunciate issues such as the tension between tradition and modernity, sexuality, identity and class from a female perspective? What literary traditions and models do they draw on? How different are those texts written in French for a global audience, as opposed to those written in Persian or Arabic? What are the effects of reading them in translation? Authors will include Marjane Satrapi, Shahrnush Parsipur, Assia Djebar, Maïssa Bey and Nawal El Saadawi
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Intermediate II French or the equivalent.
A workshop in which students from the BC/CU community collaborate with a team of students from the École Normale Supérieure-Lyon on two translation projects. In addition to video-conferenced group sessions, students will work virtually with their translation partner in France, and consult in-person with their Barnard instructor. Prerequisite: completion of at least Intermediate II level of French
This course traces the emergence and development of “New Wave” cinema in France in the 60s. Through a detailed analysis of some of its most iconic films: 400 Blows, Breathless, Hiroshima mon amour… the course will examine the radical artistic and social innovations of its major “auteurs”; Truffaut, Godard, Resnais et al. FREN BC1204: French Intermediate II or the equivalent level is required
Source: Barnard College's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 61
