This is the non-credit option for FREN 2026.

Reading

Introductory survey of French Cinema. Invites students to examine the history of filmmaking in France, from the invention of the medium to the present, all while developing an appreciation for film form. Class taught entirely in English (all films will be subtitled) and open to students from all schools across grounds.

An introductory survey of French and Francophone cultural production representing a variety of periods, genres, approaches, and media. Students will read, view, discuss, and practice interpreting and writing critically about a range of works that may include poetry, painting, prose, music, theater, films, graphic novels, photographs, essays, television shows, podcasts, and historical documents.

Werewolves, vampires, phantoms, and fairies inhabit French fables, legends, fairy tales, short stories, novels, and film. The course studies supernatural fictional creatures in relation to concepts of physical and moral beauty, animality, good, evil, comfort, fear, kindness, familiarity and the uncanny.

An exploration of a selection of poetry and prose works by Baudelaire to gain an in-depth understanding of one of the most celebrated poets in Western literature. Through close readings, we will examine poetry¿s relation to beauty and suffering, the structuring and de-structuring of poetic form, and the ethics of poetic modernity in Baudelaire in order to reflect more generally on what poetry affords us in life.

What is the good life, and what is a good life? Saints seem to live perfectly good lives, but stories about them often grapple with this question, encouraging audiences to think deeply about their own lives in ways that go beyond any one ethical system. Looking at old and new stories of parent-child struggles, spectacular sinning and redemption, gender transformation, and daily moral predicaments, we will explore what it means to live well.

This course is about imagining life and sensory experiences of colonized subjects witnessing a changing urban environment. For some cities, imagining its past is naturally inscribed in a continuation meticulously informed. For cities that have been victim of a colonial experience, this haunted past needs to be revived to recreate a perception of historical continuity in the space and a sense of spatial belonging.

A global city, Paris is more than the capital of France; it holds meaning the world over. How did Paris achieve such iconic status? To answer that question, this course explores a variety of cultural and geographic forms (maps, paintings, architecture, cinema, literature, and music) that illustrate key features of the "city of light" and invite students to "read" the city, unlock its codes, and discover its many nuances.

Normally, only French majors may enroll in this course and only by written permission from the department chair prior to the end of the first week of classes.