FRIT-F 300 – Introduction to French Literature

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Sections offered FALL 2021:

#20199

ERIC MACPHAIL

TR 1:10-2:25pm

BH 221

CLASS NOTES: COLL (CASE) A&H Breadth of Inquiry credit

Above class meets In Person. For more information visit https://covid.iu.edu/learning-modes/index.html

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This course serves as an introduction to the study of French literature. We will begin by reading a selection of lyric poems from the Middle Ages to the 20^th century. Each student will select one poem from the reader on which to give a class presentation and write a short essay, which will be revised according to the professor’s comments. Next we will read the 17^th-century tragedy Andromaque by Jean Racine. Students will take an essay exam on the play after preparing the essay questions together in class. Then we will read Madame de Graffigny’s 18^th-century epistolary novel Lettres d’une Péruvienne, and students will write and rewrite an essay on the story of their choice. To conclude we will read Françoise Sagan’s 1954 novel Bonjour tristesse, which will be the subject of the final exam. Grades are based on tests, papers, and participation in class discussion. The students will learn how to read and interpret literary texts and how to write an essay in French.