FREN353

Narratives of Social Crisis in Francophone Writing

Epic literature tells us about the birth of nations, war stories tell us about the lives of soldiers, historical novels represent people living through national events. But Francophone literatures also offer us another genre often overlooked: the narrative of social crisis shows us what happens when a whole community is suddenly confronted with life-altering conditions that no one had imagined a few weeks before their onset: great pandemics, the coming to power of a tyrant, a community decimated by the tidal wave of the slave-trade. How do we process a disaster that overwhelms our belief systems, our institutions and all our previous assumptions about our lives and the places we share with others? Yet such situations are not new to the history of peoples of the French-speaking world.

Based on three novels by French, Haitian and Cameroonian authors, we will work together as a class, through a series of participatory seminars, on several questions arising from narratives of social crisis : the historical context of such conditions in the Francophone world, the social conditions these narratives represent, the philosophical implications of the way that characters respond to these conditions individually and collectively, and the narrative strategies authors use to lead their readers to think about collective crisis.

Required readings:

Albert Camus, The Plague (1947)
René Dépestre, The Festival of the Greasy Pole (1979)
Léonora Miano, Saison of the Shadow (2013)

Recommended readings:

Key background readings will be made available through the Canvas site.

Prerequisite:
Second year standing or higher. 6 credits of English, or completion of the Arts Writing requirement, is recommended.

Language of Instruction: English

Note:
Not available for credit towards a Minor, Major or Honours program in French.
FREN 349 may be taken up to two times for a total of 6 credits with different content.

Course Registration

[Cross-listed with FREN 222]

French Language and Style I

In-depth grammatical analysis of the simple French sentence and its components, to enable students to understand the language better and to write it more clearly and idiomatically.  Written work will include both structural exercises and short writing assignments.

Recommended texts:
Le Petit Robert de la langue française (any recent edition)
Contrastes. Grammaire du français courant. Denise Rochat, Prentice Hall: 2nd edition, 2009

Prerequisite:
FREN 123 and at least third-year standing.
FREN 123 (or FREN 225 for students who have taken the entry-level courses for French immersion graduates, FREN 224 & 225, in place of 122 and 123).
As for other courses in French, the prerequisite for FREN 222 is soft, so students lacking it will see a warning screen, but will not be blocked from actually registering.
But take that warning seriously:  do not join FREN 222 without having written the FREN 222/223 Placement Test and earned a score of at least 66 points.

Equivalency:
Students specializing in French or Romance Studies may not earn upper-level credit for this course, which is part of the lower-level preparation for senior language courses in the Minor, Major and Honours programmes. They must register for FREN 222, an alternate code for the same course, graded to the same standards.

Language of instruction: French

Course Registration

Civilisation franco-canadienne

L’objectif de ce cours est de donner un aperçu de la culture et de l’histoire des francophones d’Amérique du Nord (des Québécois en particulier) depuis 1867 jusqu’à aujourd’hui. En étudiant les rapports complexes qui se tissent entre société, langue et culture, certaines questions liées aux concepts d’identité, d’épanouissement et d’autonomie (tant aux plans institutionnel et politique que linguistique et idéologique), nous réfléchirons sur le sort réservé au fait français en Amérique du Nord. La chanson, le théâtre, le cinéma, la télévision et la littérature seront mis à contribution, sans oublier l’origine des croyances religieuses, des valeurs sociales et du patrimoine culturel des Canadiens français de jadis, désormais appelés Acadiens, Québécois, Franco-Ontariens, Franco-Manitobains, etc.

Textes:
Des textes seront envoyés aux étudiant(e)s au cours du semestre.

Prerequisite:
One of FREN 220, FREN 221, FREN 223 or permission of the instructor

Language of Instruction: French

Course Registration

Selected Works of African and Caribbean Literature

Ce cours invite les étudiants à découvrir les littératures antillaise et africaine d’expression française. Notre itinéraire transocéanique nous amène en Afrique de l’Ouest, en Haïti et en Algérie. La première partie du cours sera consacrée à une épopée africaine du Moyen Âge et sa représentation de la fondation de l’Empire du Mali. Ensuite, nous étudierons un roman qui se veut autant une critique du régime des Duvalier (1957-1986) que du colorisme virulent en Haïti. La dernière partie du cours porte sur une nouvelle dont le fil conducteur est la guerre d’Algérie (1954-62). Quoique les œuvres littéraires se distinguent par leur genre littéraire, leur contexte historique et origine géographique, elles nous permettront d’explorer plusieurs thèmes récurrents parmi lesquels figurent la nation, le colonialisme, la religion, l’altérité, le racisme, le patriarcat et le langage. L’analyse du corpus éclairera également la question de la transposition d’un texte oral à l’écrit, les différents types de narration, les marqueurs génériques tout en donnant un aperçu des concepts-clé de la théorie postcoloniale. Afin de mieux appréhender la littérature et les sociétés dont elle émane, le cours propose de convier d’autres artéfacts culturels tels que le cinéma, la peinture et la musique.

Required readings:

Djibril Tamsir Niane. Soundjata ou l’épopée mandingue

Marie Vieux-Chauvet. Amour, Colère et Folie

Assia Djebar. « Femmes d’Alger dans leur appartement » (disponible sur Canvas)

Textes et vidéos complémentaires disponibles sur Canvas

Prerequisite: One of FREN 220, FREN 221

Language of Instruction: French

Course Registration

The Department of FHIS offers a series of eight courses designed to build students’ skills progressively in the four basic communicative functions of listening, reading, speaking, and writing. FREN 224 is the first of a pair of intermediate II courses—224 and 225—aligned with level B2 objectives of the Common European Framework of Reference.

Upper-Intermediate French I

The course is devoted to providing students with tools for interacting with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers possible without strain for either party.

With an approach that is communicative and collaborative, inductive and interactive, the course aims to refine the skills acquired in Intermediate French I & II or equivalent courses and to enhance students’ knowledge of French and the Francophone world. Students will be able to consolidate and expand their comprehension, speaking, reading and writing skills in French.

The course uses an interactive approach to the review of French grammar, stressing communicative competence and is focused on:

• the understanding of concrete or abstract topics in a complex text (oral or written);
• the production of clear and detailed oral and written communication on a number of subjects (construction of arguments to defend one’s opinion, explain one’s viewpoint);
• the ability to correct one’s own mistakes (when speaking or writing);
• vocabulary building, grammatical accuracy and socio-cultural competency using a wide variety of contemporary authentic documents of the French-Speaking world.

Students will share ideas in collaborative small groups and whole class discussion, oral presentation, debates, or other assignments. French grammatical structures such as relative pronouns, the passive form, and the subjunctive, will be studied within a task-based approach.

Lectures and class discussions are all conducted in French.

Required texts:

Entre nous 4, Éditions Maison des langues. (This textbook is used for both FREN 224 and FREN 225.)

• 2 options:

• • Digital Textbook: Entre nous 4 (with Premium Access) **RECOMMENDED**
    • If you purchase premium access directly through the Espace Virtuel website, you have the option to purchase an annual subscription for 24.90 EUR or a one-semester subscription for 18.90 EUR. Espace Virtuel: https://espacevirtuel.emdl.fr/
    • You will have access to the digital textbooks, all audio files, extra online exercises and activities.

• • or
  • Print Textbook: Entre nous 4, Paris: Éditions Maison des langues, 2016. ISBN: 9788416347940
    • If you buy the printed textbook, you can access the audio files on the free version of the Espace Virtuel or on the provided CD or get Premium access with additional resources and online activities (ISBN: 9788417249762)

Recommended readings:

Suggestion to practice grammar: Grammaire essentielle du français B2, (Paris: Éditions Didier, 2015). Suggested for both FREN 224 and FREN 225.

Prerequisite: FREN 123, French Immersion 12 or assignment based on placement test.

Language of instruction: French

Note: Not available for credit to anyone who has received credit for FREN 222.

Course Registration

The sequence of French language courses FREN101/102, 111/112, 122/123, 224/225 is designed for non native speakers.

The Department of FHIS reserves the right to refuse enrollment to any of its language courses to a student who has, in the view of the Department, a level of competence unsuited to that course. Enrollment at or below the level the student has already attained is not permitted.