This course is designed to fulfill the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement. The primary goal of this course is to develop students' reading and writing skills through a series of assignments that will provide them with the opportunity to formulate observations made in class discussions into coherent argumentative essays. Emphasis will be placed on the refinement of effective sentence, paragraph, and thesis formation, keeping in mind the notion of writing as a process. Other goals in this course are a familiarization with French literature and the specific questions that are relevant to this field. In addition, students will be introduced to different methods of literary and linguistic analysis in their nonliterary readings.

This course will be oriented toward the development of research skills and the production of literary analysis papers that engage with secondary sources. Its theme will focus broadly on how literature shapes the “nation” and mediates our relationship to it. Using concepts from Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities as a starting point, this class will focus on a variety of texts, principally from traditions of French expression, meant to consider various themes and questions literature helps to answer in creating and sustaining the imaginary of the nation: who belongs to the nation? how should the nation be represented? What is its genesis story? What versions of history should constitute the nation’s shared memory? Texts will range from Kourouma’s masterwork of disenchantment "The Suns of Independence" to Bégaudau’s fictionalized account of his experience as French teacher in a schoolroom in Paris in modern France. Beyond textual readings, students will develop practical skills involved in the research process including searching for secondary sources, note taking, bibliographical curation, as well as further improving analytic and argumentative writing skills. Please note that no-shows to the first four class sessions will result in an automatic drop to accommodate students on the waitlist. Required texts: Imagined Communities (excerpts) Ourika Sab The Suns of Independence Persepolis The Class The Stranger The Meursault Investigation

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills