Global Arc

The course will explore the creation, production, and management of pioneering international festivals from France's main historic festivals, such as Festival d'Avignon and Festival d'Automne, to more recent and emerging ones worldwide. It will use Le Festival de Princeton, Princeton French Theater Festival's sixth annual edition, as a case study, and closely follow its offerings at the onset of the fall semester. Leaders in the field will visit the seminar to share their experiences on festival management and missions, and discuss the true role of a festival nowadays.

Race in French Theater will investigate the question of race and diversity on the French stages. We will study efforts made in recent years to diversify representations both on stage and in the audience, and examine the concrete steps taken by major institutions, subsidized national theaters, festivals, drama schools, and commercial theaters. We will compare similar current undertakings in the world of dance and at the Paris Opera, and broaden the scope of our inquiries by looking at representation and inclusion in French cinema. Theater artists will join us from France and share their experience creating in and for the present times.

Major movements and directors in French and French-language cinema. Topics may include: early history of the cinematographe; the Golden Age of French film; Renoir, Bresson, Tati; the "New-Wave"; French women directors of the 1980s; adaptation of literary works.

This course studies the history, theory, and aesthetics of "new media" in France and beyond between 1400 and 1900. We look closely at moments when textual and visual media that are now "old" were first emerging, from the printing press in the Renaissance to the Lumière brothers' cinématographe in 1895. How did early users perceive, adopt, and shape these new media technologies? How did each medium transform the existing cultural landscape? What can this history tell us about contemporary new media? Course integrates regular visits to libraries and archives on campus for hands-on interaction with historical media objects and technologies.

This course dives into the richness of French-language, literature, and culture from different genres and time periods. The focus will be on textual analysis and translation, with additional forays in "reading" other cultural material such as film. In addition to close and far reading, students will receive practical training in translation, archival research, and digital humanities. We will also explore a variety of theoretical frameworks students may apply to their own research projects, such as semiotics, media studies, postcolonial studies and environmental humanities. Prerequisite: FRE 207, 208, or permission of instructor.

Issues pertaining to French literature and/or culture that transcend chronological boundaries. The specific content of the course will change each time it is offered. Possible topics include: French Autobiographical Writings, The Idea of Nationhood in France, The French Intellectual, Satire and Humor in France. Prerequisite: a 200-level course in French or instructor's permission. One three-hour seminar.

This course will study the interrelation of slavery and capitalism in the francophone Caribbean, from the Haitian Revolution to the present. The course will examine a series of classic works that contest French Caribbean colonialism and slavery, from the perspective of the historical transition from late imperialist feudalism to industrial and post-industrial capitalism. Writers addressed will include CLR James, Karl Marx, Aimé Césaire, Suzanne Césaire, Eric Williams, Edouard Glissant, and Maryse Condé. Prerequisites: 200-level FRE course or permission of instructor.

A practical investigation of the issues affecting translation between English and French. Weekly exercises will offer experience of literary, technical, journalistic and other registers of language. Discussion will focus on the linguistic, cultural and intellectual lessons of translation seen as a practical discipline in its own right. Prerequisite: FRE 307 or equivalent level of proficiency in French.

Combines a general introduction to literary theory with the in-depth study of a small number of representative original texts. The first element will be taught via a survey of the field and the second via the focused study of works on a central theme, such as "melancholy and spectrality" or "others and alterity," using authors such as Levinas, Derrida, and Kristeva. Prerequisite: 200-level French course or permission of instructor. Two 90-minute seminars.

This course focuses on the ways literature, film, but also cultural events and spaces (circus, zoo, museum) present animals as objects of admiration and subjects of performance. We will consider the fascination that animals inspire in humans, which might lead to question the distinction between "us" and "them". What is at stake, what are the consequences, for us and for them, when animals are seen or shown as an elusive Other who still beckons a closer encounter? How do the poetic power of language, or the evocative nature of images, affect their agency and our empathy, and eventually our mutual relationship?