FRN 100-102.  Basic French Sequence

FRN 200-201.  Intermediate French Sequence

FRN 300. Modern France/La France actuelle. Studies of contemporary French culture through authentic material — texts, films, radio, and television broadcasts dealing with current historical, political, sociological, and aesthetic issues.

FRN 306T. Readings in French and Francophone Culture (Fall term in Rennes).  France and the French of today as reflected in selected texts from various genres and periods.

FRN 311. Studies in Francophone North America: Quebec. Exploration of the cultural, literary, and linguistic expressions from the province of Quebec, situating it in the historical and social context of the French-speaking Americas. Focusing on artistic expression from novels to film, we  examine the multiplicities of identities at play in the spaces of Francophone North America as we explore such themes as colonialism, bilingualism, and culturally informed demonstrations of self-determination, revolt, and accommodation.

FRN 403. Studies in the French Theater.  Amours et amitiés. Studies of French-language theatrical texts and performances from the classical period to the present

FRN 411. The 20th Century Novel. Scandale! Exploration of significant writings from twentieth-century France that have been considered scandalous and scandal-making. Examination of these novels, particular blendings of content and form, and interrogation of the various re-evaluations of identity and expression that they ask their reader to engage in. Explorations of these novels, questions of class, race, nationality, species, sex, and gender. Representative authors: Gide, Proust, Colette, Vian, Darieussecq

FRN 489. Senior Project. The seminar provides a forum in which a French or Francophone topic of current interest and importance is explored in depth. Students  gain experience in giving oral presentations and critically evaluating the written work of both established scholars and fellow students, and they  submit a paper to fulfill the senior writing requirement.

ADA 150.  Staging Explorations in Theater and Dance. This course is based on the close examination of a particular period of theme of multidisciplinary artistic production that will offer students an immersion into important developments in per formative expressions. This course explores dynamic movements in the artistic avant-garde, its historical background, and its principal creators in theater, dance and associated performing arts, through discussions, lectures, studio work, and collaborative creation. The resulting collaboration is produced and performed at Yulman Theater.

ADA 143. Introduction to the Circus Arts: Culture, Imagination, and Marvel.  Circus has long had the power to incite marvel, to elicit gasps of wonder, to shout out its own magical place in our imagination, and to inspire both Wanderlust and belonging: it is, after all, an art that calls for us to run away with it. This course offers a close examination of some of this power. We will come to understand circus more fully as an art, with its own histories, forms, and practices, even as we look carefully at its role as a cultural phenomenon across time and places. Indeed, a principal focus of the course will be grasping and employing critical and analytical frameworks that will help us see circus’s multiple creative impulses alongside its particular strength in our cultural imaginary.

SCH 400.  Senior Scholars Colloquium. Performance.  Organized around a series of invited speakers mostly from the Union community, we  explore the notion of performance – and its related ideas of performativity, (re)presentation, form, function, and accomplishment – through readings, discussions, and response papers.

FYP 100.  Preceptorial.  Dangerous Liaisons.  In this course, we look closely at several of the troubling, if fascinating, creations that present what have been called “dangerous liaisons.” Some of the world’s most striking and provocative explorations of such themes come from writers, directors, and artists in France and other French-speaking cultures, whose work we will examine through their English translation. From the highly celebrated scandalous novel Les Liaisons dangereuses to the still-shocking short stories of the strip-tease-artist-turned-writer Colette, these works put into play questions of power, appearance, gender, control, and agency that call for our attention. In our discussions, we examine notions of what is dangerous and what composes a liaison as we seek to understand what these artists tell us about desires that mark and make particular relationships.  Our readings and viewings, including a close look at the recent award-winning Québécois film Mommy, should guide us to expanded notions of such categories and impulses.