Meeting times: Monday/Wednesday 10:10-12:05 Room 2S-215

Instructor: Professor K. Talarico
Office: 2S-109 Office Hours: Mon/Wed. 12:10-1:30 and by appointment
Telephone (with voice mail) 718-982-3701
talarico@postbox.csi.cuny.edu or talarico@scholar.chem.nyu.edu

General links and other information (including the syllabus and links for this course) may be accessed at my home page.

Description, Objectives, and Student Responsibilities:

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the early literature of France, from the Middle Ages through the 18^th centuries. We will study a variety of texts and genres. Some of the texts will be read in their entirety, some in excerpts.

Atendance is required and will be taken at each class session. Make sure that you have the telephone number of at least one other person in class so that if you are absent, you know what went on. Absence is not an excuse for not being prepared for class. You can also call me or e-mail me. If you know ahead of time that you will be absent, it would be a polite gesture on your part to let me know. In other words, there is no excuse for coming to class and saying that you didn't know what was going to go on or what was required for that particular day.

It is the responsibility of all students to read all the material before coming to class. While there are not hundreds of pages to read for any given session, there is, nonetheless, much work involved. Since this is reading in a foreign language, you are responsible for studying the vocabulary in each text. A good dictionary (such as Harrap's or Larousse) is a necessity. This is the most fundamental part of your reading, since, unless you understand the vocabulary, you will not be able to discuss the more sophisticated literary concepts exemplified by the texts you will be reading. A more detailed discussion of instructions to facilitate your reading can be found on the Tips for Reading page.

To help improve your reading skills, in addition to preparing the readings ahead of class, students are required to prepare a reading journal which will contain questions about the text read, reactions, important quotations and citations. You must come to each class with your journal questions prepared. They will be colllected each week and returned with corrections and suggestions for working on you reading (and your French!). The questions in your journal will form the basis of our discussions in class. Since these journals will be collected on a regular basis, it is strongly suggested that you use individual sheets of paper and keep your returned journals together in a folder or looseleaf binder. Class participation will be extremely important (and an integral part of your grade), so the joiurnals will help to organize your thoughts about the texts we will be reading.

In addition to the journals and the readings in the textbook.`students are required to do the readings on the weblinks that are indicated on the syllabus. We will also do some work on finding other sites about the literature we are reading. Further information on this will be given in class and as the semester progresses.

You will notice that for each of the literary periods covered, there is a list of videos (and audio tapes) at the beginning of the reading list. It is your responsibility to view these videos in the lab by the time we finish each period. In some instances, we may view the portions of the videos together in class. Written reports (in French and in English) will be required. The videos are available in the Multi-Media Language Center, 2S-114.

There will be a mid-term and a final examination. Both of these exams will be take-home exams and will be typed and handed in on the dates specified on the syllabus. This is a literature course and I am less interested in your memorizing facts than your ability to analyze and think about in detail the literature you are reading. The final examination will be handed in during the final exam period and will include the recitation of one (memorized!) poem and the enactment of a scene from one of the plays we will have read. (You will be able to read the scene-whew!!)

All written assignments (other than exams and journals) will be given to students during regularly scheduled class periods.

Required Textbook:

Anthologie de la littérature française, tome I ed. Robert Leggewie (Oxford University Press: 1990) and is available at the CSI Bookstore.

Grade Calculation:

Mid-Term and Final Examinations: 50%

Video and Web Reports: 30%

Participation, progress: 20%

Le Moyen Âge:

 
 Le Seizième Siècle: La Renaissance:

 
 Le 17ème Siècle:

 Le 18ème Siècle:

 The Final Exam period is May 20-May 31. The date of our exam will be announced in class.