Intermediate French I: The Figure of the Artist in 19th- and 20th-Century France

This course will offer a systematic review of French grammar and is designed to strengthen and deepen students’ mastery of grammatical structures and vocabulary. Students will develop their analytical and creative writing skills in French through essays and rewrites. The course will take as its thematic point de départ the literary representation of the figure of the artist (including the writer) in 19th- and 20th-century French texts. Authors, writing in a variety of genres, will be drawn from among the following: Chateaubriand, De Staël, Balzac, Nerval, Gautier, Baudelaire, the Goncourts, Huysmans, Zola, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Mallarmé, Colette, Apollinaire, and Breton. Critical and theoretical perspectives, as well as the viewing of art and film, will enrich our discussions and analyses. Intermediate I and II French courses are specially designed to help prepare students for studying in Paris with Sarah Lawrence College during their junior year. Course conducted in French. Admission by placement test to be taken during interview week at the beginning of the fall semester.