Rice Course Schedule, Spring 2003
French (FREN)

See also: Building Codes | Registration Information

NOTE: Course web pages are available for some FREN courses.

FREN 101   ELEMENTARY FRENCH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE I Credits 5.00  Spring 03
Introductory French.  Concentration on all four language skills. Supplemented
by work in the Language Resource Center. Enrollment is limited to 20.
001 RH 304 - MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM      Staff                     Enr: 36 Max: 20

FREN 102   ELEMENTARY FRENCH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE I Credits 5.00  Spring 03
See Fren 101. Enrollment is limited to 20.
Prereq- Fren 101 or placement exam.
001 RH 202 - MWF 09:00AM - 09:50AM      Staff                     Enr: 5 Max: 20
002 TBA - MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM         Staff                     Enr: 0 Max: 20
003 FL 524 - MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM      Staff                     Enr: 11 Max: 20
004 RH 205 - MWF 11:00AM - 11:50AM      Staff                     Enr: 14 Max: 20

FREN 123   THE CREATIVITY OF FRANCOPHONE CINEMA: CH Credits 3.00  Spring 03
The dynamic film production of French-speaking countries forms a unified
artistic body still unadulterated by the Hollywood canon. A fundamentally
non-commercial conception of cinema inherited from France allows Francophone
directors to voice their otherwise silenced cultures. The 12 recent Francophone
movies selected expose students to unconventional Western or non-Western
images. Taught in English, all films subtitled in English and screened during
class. Also offered as FSEM 123. Enrollment is limited to 15.
001 FL 517 - W 01:00PM - 04:00PM        Robin, Jean Luc           Enr: 6 Max: NA

FREN 201   INTERMEDIATE FRENCH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE Credits 4.00  Spring 03
* DISTRIBUTION COURSE: GROUP I
Communication based course. Focuses on the functional use of the language
through linguistic, sociocultural and situational contexts. Develops all four
language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing). Students from the
College of Engineering enrolled in 201 will have the opportunity to take FREN
214 in May. See Fren 214.
001 RH 305 - MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM      Crull, Brigitte           Enr: 17 Max: 20

FREN 202   INTERMEDIATE FRENCH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE Credits 4.00  Spring 03
* DISTRIBUTION COURSE: GROUP I
See Fren 201. Students from the College of Engineering enrolled in 202 will
have the opportunity to take FREN 214 in May. See FREN 214.
Prereq- Fren 201 or placement exam.
001 RH 205 - MWF 09:00AM - 09:50AM      Bailar, Melissa           Enr: 7 Max: 20
002 RH 204 - MWF 11:00AM - 11:50AM      Crull, Brigitte           Enr: 16 Max: 20

FREN 214   INTERMEDIATE FRENCH FOR ENGR & SCIENCES  Credits 4.00  Spring 03
* DISTRIBUTION COURSE: GROUP I
Three week intensive course open to students enrolled in the College of
Engineering. Taught May 10-31 in Grenoble, France. Proficiency-based
instruction focused on further developing the four communicative skills
(reading, writing, speaking, listening) using original content relevant to the
engineering fields. Particular emphasis on development of technical vocabulary
and cultural competence in the engineering workplace. Includes plant and
company visits and cultural excursion to Paris. Additional Study Abroad program
fee. Prereq: At least French 201 or permission of instructor. Requires separate
registration with office of international programs. See
www.ruf.rice.edu/~abroad/.
001 TBA - MTWTHF 09:00AM - 12:00PM      Datta, Evelyne            Enr: 6 Max: 0

FREN 301   ADVANCED FRENCH FOR WRITTEN & ORAL COMMU Credits 3.00  Spring 03
* DISTRIBUTION COURSE: GROUP I
The objective of the course is to stimulate language production at the advanced
level through the examination of the lexical, syntactic, and stylistic
characteristics of contemporary French.  The course thus relates the contents
of descriptive, narrative, and argumentative texts to specific functional and
grammatical objectives.  The course also features an individual or group
research component through which students will be able to practice French in an
academic field of their choice.
Prereq- FREN 202 or placement exam.
001 HUM 120 - MWF 11:00AM - 11:50AM     Datta, Evelyne            Enr: 12 Max: NA

FREN 305   FRENCH FOR THE PROFESSIONS               Credits 3.00  Spring 03
* DISTRIBUTION COURSE: GROUP I
Focused on the development of language competencies (oral and written
comprehension, oral and written espression) through the use of articles and
audiovisual documents dealing with current issues in the areas of technology,
ecology, and medicine. Introduction to the business world (resume, job
interview, communication in the workplace, cross-cultural topics). Enrollment
is limited to 20.
Prereq- Fren 301 or 304.
001 RH 304 - MWF 09:00AM - 09:50AM      Datta, Evelyne            Enr: 8 Max: 0

FREN 312   MAJOR LITERARY WORKS AND ARTIFACTS OF PO Credits 3.00  Spring 03
* DISTRIBUTION COURSE: GROUP I
This course provides an introduction to French literature (drama, poetry,the
novel and cinema) from romanticism to existentialism and postmodernity.
Questions and themes addressed in the course: the rise of the kind of world
in
which we find ourselves today, and an attempt to understand it: thus, the
decline of the aristocracy, the rise of capitalism and the bourgeoisie,
imperialism, globalization, the emergence of the cults of romantic love and
sexual fulfilment as attempts to deal with the "death of God" etc.; religious,
artistic and sexual ecstasy; how do we distinguish (can we distinguish?) "great
literature" and "art" from mere entertainment?   Are
literature and art (as
many claim today) just "cultural constructions"? or is there such a thing as
beauty or greatness trans-culturally, trans-historically?
Prereq-  Fren 202 or placement exam.
001 RH 106 - MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM      Wood, Philip R.           Enr: 12 Max:

FREN 355   MODERN SHORT FICTION: BALZAC TO BORGES I Credits 3.00  Spring 03
* DISTRIBUTION COURSE: GROUP I
Discussion course devoted entirely to the modern American and European short
story with readings from such writers as Balzac, Melville, Flaubert, Mann,
Maupassant, Gogol, Chekhov, Gilman, Kafka, O'Connor, Nabokov, Carver,
Cortazar,
Garcia-Márquez, and Borges.  Emphasis on close reading as we talk about
alienation and the modern period, the "ethics" of telling, and about death,
violence, and sexuality.   Selected essays from Freud, Benjamin,
Kermode, and
Ortega y Gasset will complement our readings in fiction. Also offered as ENGL
355.
001 HUM 117 - TTH 02:30PM - 03:45PM     Harter, Deborah A.        Enr: 5 Max: NA

FREN 408   TOPICS IN FRENCH FILM                    Credits 3.00  Spring 03
This course will deal with the screen adaptations of XVIII-XXth century French
novels. The readings will include theoretical works.
Prerequisites: FREN 301 or 302, and 312 or equivalent.
001 RH 204 - TH 01:00PM - 04:00PM       Alcover, Madeleine        Enr: 3 Max: 0

FREN 410   THE LITERARY AND HISTORICAL IMAGE OF THE Credits 3.00  Spring 03
The Literary and Historical Image of the Medieval Woman Comparison and contrast
of the presentation of the medieval woman in literature with extant evidence of
historical women from contemporary documents and records. Also offfered as MDST
410 and WGST 410.
Prerequisites: FREN 301 and 311.
001 RH 204 - TTH 09:25AM - 10:40AM      Nelson, Deborah H.        Enr: 7 Max: 0

FREN 423   MODERN FRENCH PAINTERS AND THEIR WRITERS Credits 3.00  Spring 03
* DISTRIBUTION COURSE: GROUP I
Fascinated by painting, modern and contemporary French writers have produced
significant literary commentaries that reveal affinities with painters whose
artistic "questioning" they shared. Those commentaries in turn enlightened
their own aesthetic concerns as well as the painters' own creative visions. The
purpose of this course is to study some of the encounters between these
painters and their writers. Among them: Picasso  (commented by Apollinaire,
Cocteau, Breton, Sollers, etc.), Braque (commented by Ponge, Paulhan, Malraux,
Saint John Perse), Matisse (commented by Aragon, Pleynet), Magritte (analyzed
by Foucault, and Butor), and Rébeyrolle (by Sartre, Foucault).
Prerequisites: FREN 302 and 312.
001 RH 121 - TTH 10:50AM - 12:05PM      Goux, Jean-Joseph C.      Enr: 8 Max: 0

FREN 434   FRENCH FEMINIST THEORY                   Credits 3.00  Spring 03
The purpose of this course is to gain a broad understanding of the important
problems of contemporary feminist theories in French.  We will focus on the
interrelated issues of gender, sexuality, race, ethics, language, and power by
exploring in depth primary texts in feminst theory.  Readings (in English) will
include Beauvoir, Irigaray, Djebar, and Brossard. This course specifically
intends to expose the fundamentals of French feminist theory as they apply to
the broader spectrum of contemporary feminist thought and philosophy. Course
will be offered in translation. Also offered as WGST 434.
Prereq- Rcommend one course in SWG, Philosophy, or  Literary Theory.
001 TBA - W 01:00PM - 04:00PM           Huffer, Lynne             Enr: 3 Max: NA

FREN 565   SURREALIST AND AVANT-GARDE NARRATIVES    Credits 3.00  Spring 03
Close readings of surrealist and avant-garde narratives (Breton, Aragon,
Artaud, Bataille). Analysis of the aesthetic, political, social, and sometimes
explicitly "sacred" (i.e. mystical) components of these texts within the
trajectory or modernity and modernism. Consideration of predecessors
(Baudelaire, de Nerval, Lautreamont) and themes of death, sex, "amour fou" and
sacred horror. Taught in French or English according to student requirements.
001 RH 202 - M 01:00PM - 04:00PM        Wood, Philip R.           Enr: 9 Max: NA

FREN 578   CONTEMPORARY FRENCH THOUGHT: TOWARD A SY Credits 3.00  Spring 03
Exploration of the idea of a "symbolic economy" that widens and transforms
notions of production, exchange, and consumption in anthropology, semiotics,
psychoanalysis, and literature. Includes Mauss and Levi-Strauss (on "exchange
of goods," "exchange of words," and "exchange of women"), later developments of
Bataille, Lacan, Baudrillard, Irigaray, and others, and the theory and practice
of "economic criticism" (e.g., Balzac, Zola, Gide, and others).
001 RH 202 - T 01:00PM - 04:00PM        Goux, Jean-Joseph C.      Enr: 7 Max: 0

FREN 600   INDEPENDENT STUDY                        Credits   Spring 03
No Descrition
001 TBA - TBA                           Harter, Deborah A.        Enr: 2 Max:
002 TBA - TBA                           Nelson, Deborah H.        Enr: 2 Max:
003 TBA - TBA                           Achard, Michel J.         Enr: 1 Max:
004 TBA - TBA                           Goux, Jean-Joseph C.      Enr: 1 Max:
005 TBA - TBA                           Wood, Philip R.           Enr: 1 Max:

FREN 800   THESIS RESEARCH (PhD)                    Credits   Spring 03
No description.
001 TBA - TBA                           Staff                     Enr: 9 Max: NA