In this course students read masterpieces of French literature from the French Revolution to the end of the twentieth century. Works are considered from various historical, aesthetic and theoretical perspectives. Texts include: Le Père Goriot (Balzac); Madame Bovary (Flaubert); Les Faux-Monnayeurs (Gide); La Nausée (Sartre); Le Ravissement de Lol V. Stein (Duras), and Du côté de chez Swan I (Proust), which will be the subject of a final essay. Conducted in French.
Islam is the second most important religion in France (after Roman Catholicism) and France has the highest Muslim population in Europe. Complex events from the mid-20th century forward have led to continuous heated debate and controversy about the place of Muslim citizens within the secular Republic. France’s interwoven history with Islam dates back, however, to the first Umayyad conquests of the Iberian peninsula in the 8th century and then to the period of the Crusades. Through the use of primary sources, literary and filmic texts, and critical readings (notably in history, sociology and cultural studies), this course traces the complexity and heterogeneity of French perceptions of Islam within a broad historical perspective beginning with these early encounters and continuing up to the present day.
In this course we focus on four contemporary novels in which the world of the character, the narrator, or the author, is read through the lens of a literary classic. In each case, the reading and rewriting of the primary text involves temporal and spatial displacements (from the 18th to the 20th century, from Europe to the Caribbean and to the South Pacific) that generate shifting perspectives and a constant reshuffling of center and periphery. Between a reverential affiliation to the past and a creative misreading and rewriting of it, these intertextual encounters with « great » Western literary works insistently raise the questions of identity, originality, and “writing back”. Exploring these questions will therefore also involve drawing on comparative, translation, and postcolonial studies.
Study of the theatrical genre in France including the Golden Age playwrights (Corneille, Racine, and Moli?re); 18th-century irony and sentiment; and the 19th-century theatrical revolution. Topics: theories of comedy and tragedy, development of stagecraft, romanticism and realism, the theatre as a public genre, its relationship to taste and fashion, and its sociopolitical function.
Use of dramatic situations and readings to help students overcome inhibitions in their oral use of language. The graduated series of exercises and activities is designed to improve pronunciation, intonation, expression, and body language. These include phonetic practice, poetry recitation, skits, improvisation, and memorization of dramatic texts. Reading, discussion, and performance of scenes from plays by renowned dramatists. Extensive use of audio and video material.
Main expressions of existential thought in Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Albert Camus. Attention to the French existentialists? concern for commitment in political and social affairs of the times. Examines absurdist literature since the 1950?s in the ?theatre of the absurd,? in fiction, and in critical work of other contemporary French writers. Covers Ionesco, Beckett, Genet, Robbe-Grillet, and Barthes; precursors of the absurd such as Kafka and C?line; and practictioners of the absurd outside of France (e.g., Pinter, Albee, Barthelme).
When conducted in French, numbered V45.0778. Only counts toward the major if course work is done in French (permission of the director of undergraduate studies required). Offered every year. 4 points. For description, see History of French Cinema (V45.0778) above.
Designed for students who wish to learn the specialized language used in French business. Emphasis on oral and written communication and the acquisition of a business and commercial vocabulary dealing with the varied activities of a commercial firm (e.g., advertising, transportation, banking). Stresses group work in simulated business situations and exposure to authentic spoken materials.
Offered every year. 4 points. Examines literature from a network of French-speaking countries that form a Francophone space. Addresses the colonial past as well as the anticolonial and postcolonial situations in which French colonialism is replaced by more complex relationships and ideologies. Special attention is paid to language and the role of the writer in elaborating a postcolonial national identity. Writers studied may include Edouard Glissant and Patrick Chamoiseau of Martinique, Jacques Roumain of Haiti, Ahmadou Kourouma of the Ivory Coast, and Assia Djebar of Algeria.
This course is designed to help students to develop vocabulary, learn new idiomatic expressions, and improve fluency and pronunciation. The emphasis is on the understanding and production of contemporary spoken French through a study of authentic documents such as radio and television interviews, advertisements, and spontaneous oral productions.
Designed to improve the student’s written French and to provide advanced training in French and comparative grammar. Students are trained to express themselves in a variety of writing situations (for example, diaries, transcriptions, narrations, letters). Focuses on the distinction between spoken and written styles and the problem of contrastive grammar. Emphasis on accuracy and fluency of usage in the written language.
Deals with the various currents of ideas and the transformations in values, taste, and feeling that constitute the Enlightenment in France. Particular attention to the personality, writings, and influence of the following authors: Montaigne, Descartes, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, and Sartre. Significant works by these thinkers and others are closely read and interpreted.
Not equivalent to FREN-UA 20. Only by combining FREN-UA 11 with FREN-UA 12 can a student complete the equivalent of FREN-UA 20 and then continue on to the post-intermediate level. Offered every semester. 4 points.
Continuation of FREN-UA 11. In order to fulfill the MAP requirement and continue on to the post-intermediate level, a student must complete both FREN-UA 11 and FREN-UA 12. This sequence is equivalent to FREN-UA 20. Offered every semester. 4 points.
Open to students with no previous training in French and to others on assignment by placement test. Completes the equivalent of a year’s elementary level in one semester. Offered every semester. 6 points.
A site for IMA NY Students to find equivalent courses outside of IMA NY
For most students joining IMA in Fall 2022 and beyond, there is a new program structure that affects the categorization of courses on this site:
Any class in any IMA major elective category (ie "Art & Design") refers to the IMA program structure previous to those entering in Fall 2022. If you are in the class of 2026 (most entering Fall 2022 or later), any course in an IMA elective category are generic IMA electives in the new structure.