1. teach a disciplinary mode of inquiry (e.g. literary analysis, statistical analysis, historical interpretation, philosophical reasoning, aesthetic judgment, the scientific method) and provide students with practice in applying their disciplinary mode of inquiry, critical thinking, or problem solving strategies.

The mode of inquiry of French 342 is literary analysis.  Students learn what questions to ask and the terminology to use in answering them when considering poems (24 January), plays (7 February), and narrative (14 February) in French.  They apply these ideas and terms in class discussion, on examinations, and in essays.

2. provide examples of how disciplinary knowledge changes through creative applications of the chosen mode of inquiry.

During first day discussion, students answer the question, why write and why read literature.  The class discusses the different answers people have given over time and the different approaches to literary analysis that have resulted.

3. consider questions of ethical values.

What is driving Balzac’s characters in Le curé de Tours?  In what ways are the actions of the priests incompatible with the religious principles they represent?  (14–26 February)

4. explore past, current, and future implications (e.g. social, political, economic, psychological or philosophical) of disciplinary knowledge.

Discuss the relationship in France between artists and the public as it evolved during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  What were, are, and will be the implications of the changing role of art and the artist or writer? (seriatim)

5. encourage consideration of course content from diverse perspectives.

Exam question: Discuss the portrayal of women in a poem by Vigny, in a poem by Baudelaire, and in the novel Les Mandarins by De Beauvoir.  How does the portrayal change?  How is it related to the historical period?  How is it related to the sex of the writer?

6. provide opportunities for students to increase information literacy through contemporary techniques of gathering, manipulating, and analyzing information and data.

Students will use the library, databases available on-line (MLA Bibliography), and the Internet in finding and evaluating sources for their papers and oral report.

7. require at least one substantive written paper, oral report, or course journal and also require students to articulate information or ideas in their own words on tests and exams.

Students will write three essays and make a least one oral report.  They will articulate information and ideas in their own words.  

8. foster awareness of the common elements among disciplines and the interconnectedness of disciplines.

Students consider the links among literature, history, politics, art, and sociology.  They relate the claims and themes of literary texts to the historical, political, artistic, and social circumstances of their period: for example, the role of “mage” or social prophet that poets assumed during the romantic period is related to anticlericalism and the decline of the church, associated with the monarchy, during the period of the Revolution  (24 January-5 February).

9. provide a rationale as to why knowledge of this discipline is important to the development of an educated citizen.

Knowledge of literature and of the techniques and vocabulary of literary analysis is important to the development of all educated citizens because it allows them to ponder the universal values and experiences embodied in literary texts; to explore the particular social and cultural perspectives and practices--those of the past as well as the present--reflected in literary texts; to analyze and interpret the subtleties of human emotions and relationships as represented in literary texts; and to study the aesthetic and stylistic uses of language.

Required Outcomes for this Goal (list below)

Students will:

Relevant Course/Institutional Components (refer specifically to course syllabus)

Specific Assessment Method for Outcome

Understand major movements, themes, and values in one or more cultures as revealed in literature.

The class will identify and trace the development of the theme of the “romantic hero” in French poems, plays, and narratives from 1800-1850 (22 January-12 February).

Exam question: Write an essay on the following subject, referring precisely to the texts you discuss: The poet as “héros romantique.” (Define the romantic hero in contrast to the traditional or epic hero.  In what ways does the image of the poet—his life, goals, characteristics—in the poems we’ve read resemble your definition?)
Reporting: percentage of students who write a satisfactory essay.

Analyze particular literary texts as reflections of cultural movements, themes, and values.

The class reads and discusses Sartre’s Huis clos as an allegory of existentialism (4-11 April).

Exam question: Identify the following passage.  Situate it in the work from which it is drawn.  Analyze it with respect to ideas, themes, images, and language, and relate it to the author’s thought.  [The passage is from Huis-clos.]
Reporting: percentage of students who respond satisfactorily.

Develop and defend interpretations of literary texts through written discourse.

In an essay, students will analyze a poem of Lamartine, Vigny, or Hugo (12 February).  To whom is the poem addressed? Who speaks?  What is the importance of description (places, people, etc.)? Identify and analyze the central themes and principle motifs.  How are they related to the author’s ideas?  Appreciate the technical and stylistic aspects—tone, vocabulary (concrete or abstract?  from what domain?, etc.), figurative language.

Essays will be evaluated on how well students develop and defend their interpretation of the poem.
Reporting: percentage of students who receive a passing grade.

15 janvier

“Introduction: le pré-romantisme, le romantisme, le réalisme et le naturalisme, le symbolisme,” pp. 3-6

17 janvier

Staël, De l'Allemagne (extrait), pp. 8-10

22 janvier

Chateaubriand, René (extrait), pp. 11-12; pp. 16-24

24 janvier

“Les Poètes romantiques,” pp. 26-27; Lamartine, poésies, pp. 27-31

29 janvier

Vigny, poésies, pp. 34-38

31 janvier

Vigny (suite), pp. 38-40

5 février

Hugo, poésies, pp. 40-41; pp. 43-48

7 février

“Le Théâtre romantique,” pp. 57-58; Musset, Fantasio, Acte I, pp. 70-77

12 février

Musset, Fantasio, Acte II, pp. 77-88*

14 février

Balzac, Le Curé de Tours, pp. 119-25

19 février

Balzac, Le Curé de Tours, pp. 125-40

21 février

EXAMEN PARTIEL

26 février

Balzac, Le Curé de Tours, pp. 140-56

28 février

Flaubert, Madame Bovary (extrait), pp. 176-83

5 mars

Zola, Germinal (extrait), pp. 183-92

7 mars

Leconte de Lisle, poésies, pp. 193-97

11-15 mars

VACANCES DE PRINTEMPS

19 mars

Baudelaire, poésies, pp. 197-201

21 mars

Baudelaire, poésies, pp. 201-02*

26 mars

Verlaine, poésies, pp. 202-07; Mallarmé, poésies, pp. 207-11

28 mars

Proust, Du côté de chez Swann (extrait), pp. 371-78

2 avril

Proust, Du côté de chez Swann (extrait), pp. 378-87

4 avril

Sartre, Huis-clos, pp. 302-14

9 avril

EXAMEN PARTIEL

11 avril

Sartre, Huis-clos, pp. 315-24

16 avril

Ionesco, La Leçon (extrait), pp. 351-58

18 avril

Beauvoir, Les Mandarins (extrait), pp. 419-33

23 avril

Camus, "L'Hôte," pp. 433-42

25 avril

Révision