French

This literature course, taught in French, will examine major works as well as literary and cultural trends from the Middle Ages to the end of the 17th century. Topics include Arthurian romance, courtly love, the Anglo-Norman influence, the impact of oral literature, the French Renaissance, classic tragedy and comedy as genres, literary precursors to the modern novel. The course will focus on authors such as Marie de France, Rabelais, Montaigne, Molière and Racine.

This course will examine the major literary currents in French literature from the Belle Époque to World War II, as well as the historical and cultural events connected with them. After an introduction to the popular bourgeois farces, the roman fleuve, and detective fiction, this course will focus on the emergence of new literary movements, such as naturalism, symbolism, dadaism, surrealism, and existentialism. Students will analyze these movements through the study of prose, poetry, theatre and theoretical texts.

This course presents Quebec and French-Canadian literature from the beginning of the twentieth century until the end of the Quiet Revolution. Students will consider the aesthetic originality, the critical reception and socio-historical context of representative works by authors such as Emile Nelligan, Gabrielle Roy, Anne Hébert, Antonine Maillet, and Michel Tremblay. Topics will include the roman de la terre, surrealism, automatism, the literary use of joual and the Parti pris movement.

This course, taught in French, will examine major works of French literature from a variety of genres as well as literary and cultural trends from the 18th and 19th centuries. Topics include the French Enlightenment, philosophical tales, the literature of the French Revolution, Realism, Naturalism, Romanticism, Symbolism and fin-de-siècle decadence. The course will focus on authors such as Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Staël, Balzac, Sand, Flaubert, Zola, Maupassant, and Baudelaire.

This course presents Quebec and French-Canadian literature from the 1970s until present-day. Students will consider the aesthetic originality, the critical reception and socio-historical context of representative works by authors such as Normand Chaurette, Marie Laberge, Jean-Marc Dalpé, Daniel Poliquin, Nancy Huston, Dany Laferrière and Robert Lepage. Topics include the Francophone diaspora in Canada, minority and immigrant literatures, exile and marginalization, and autobiographical writing.

This course offers a survey of French theatre from the 17th to 19th centuries. Students read and analyze famous plays presenting various themes: tragic love with Racine and Corneille, farcical comedy with Molière, libertine marivaudage and romantic drama with Musset. Close textual analysis will be complemented by a theatrical-performance oriented approach using multimedia and examining issues of stage production.

This course introduces students to Franco-Canadian cultures outside Quebec. Cultural contrasts and continuity between Quebec, Acadian, Franco-Ontarian and Western French-Canadian communities will be emphasized. Students will examine forms of cultural expression such as cinema, television, visual arts, literature, music and popular culture. Topics include the French-Canadian diaspora, the Acadians and the Cajuns, bilingualism and language legislation as well as the cultural contributions of recent immigrants and the Métis.