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University of Washington

Courses in French Studies | Courses in Italian Studies

Courses in French Studies (click on course for details)

French 101: Elementary French
French 102: Elementary French
French 103: Elementary French
French 201, 202, 203: Intermediate French
French 214: The French Fairy Tale Tradition in English
French 301, 302: Advanced French
French 305: French Literature: 1600-1789
French 376: Culture, Politics and Society in France from the Religious Wars to Revolutions
French 390 A: Supervised Study
French 435: Topics in Non-Fiction
French 499 B: Special Topics - France and Islam
French 590B: Special Topics - Between Censors, Patrons, Markets, and Posterity: The Parameters of Old Regime Publication

Courses in Italian Studies (click on course for details)

Italian 102: Elementary Italian
Italian 111: Accelerated First-Year Italian
Italian 202: Intermediate Italian
Italian 260: Fashion, Nation, and Culture
Italian 302: Advanced Grammar
Italian 327: Advanced Conversation
Italian 405: Modern Italian Readings II
Italian 505: Modern Italian Readings II (for grad students)
Italian 590 B: Special Seminar & Conference

Course Descriptions

FRENCH 101, 102, 103: ELEMENTARY FRENCH
Daily, multiple sections and hours, 5 cr., Staff

A three-quarter introductory-level sequence. The four skills--listening, speaking, reading and writing--are stressed in a primarily oral-aural method of presentation. The course covers all major elements of French grammar. Conducted in French; language laboratory required in addition to daily class sessions. Offered quarterly.
Required texts: S. L. Difusion and H. Meyer, Rond Point (text, workbook & online materials - available as a set at UBookstore), Prentice Hall.
Prerequisite for French 101: No prior French, or placement
Prerequisite for French 102: French 101, or placement
Prerequisite for French 103: Frenfch 102, or placement

FRENCH 201, 202, 203: INTERMEDIATE FRENCH (VLPA)
Daily, multiple sections and hours, 5 cr., Staff

A three-quarter systematic review and expansion of French grammar, development of conversational skills (listening and speaking), reading literary and cultural materials, and writing compositions. Conducted in French, the intermediate sequence encourages students to use their language skills more actively and at a more sophisticated level than the elementary sequence.
Prerequisites: 103 for 201; 201 for 202; 202 for 203.
Required texts for 201 & 202: Schultz, Reseau (textbook, workbook, etc. - custom package available at UBookstore), Pearson Education.
NOTE: French 203 is not always offered winter quarter.
Required texts for 203: En Bonne Forme (this text is being phased out).

FRENCH 214: THE FRENCH FAIRY TALE TRADITION IN ENGLISH
Lecture: TTH 9:30-10:50, 5 cr., Denyse Delcourt
Discussion sections: WF 9:30-10:20 or 10:30-11:20

French fairy tales as a major trend in French literature and a continuing influence on modern fictions and films. Particular attention given to the numerous French women writers of fairy tales at the time of Charles Perrault (seventeenth century) and after. In English.
Required text: Zipes, Beauties, Beasts, And The Enchantment: Classic French Fairy Tales (at this time, not sure which publisher will be used).

FRENCH 301, 302, 303: ADVANCED FRENCH (VLPA)
Multiple sections and hours, 5 cr., Staff

French 301 allows students to review French grammar at an advanced level and to acquire the essentials of French composition, through the study of written and audiovisual authentic cultural material . French 302 is a continuation of French 301. French 303 is geared toward students planning to take literature classes and allows them to complete their studies of the techniques of French composition. These courses are conducted exclusively in French.
Prerequisites: 203 for 301; 302 for 303, 302 for 303, or placement.
Required texts for 301: Rochat, Denise, Contrastes (packaged set); William F. Edmiston, Annie Duménil, La France contemporaine (Heinle - 4th edition); Quignard, Pascal, Tous les matins du monde, Folio Gallimard.
Required texts for 302: Rochat, Denise, Contrastes (text and workbook); William F. Edmiston, Annie Duménil, La France contemporaine (Heinle - 3rd edition); Nemirovsky, Irene, Suite Française, Folio Gallimard.
Required texts for 303: William F. Edmiston, Annie Duménil, La France contemporaine (Heinle - 3rd edition).

FRENCH 305: FRENCH LITERATURE: 1600-1789 (VLPA)
MW 9:30-11:20, 5 cr., Louisa Mackenzie

Survey of French literature in the so-called "classical" and "Enlightenment" periods. We will learn the basics of social and political change in France during this time, and read sample texts as products of and as reactions to the processes of history. We will also work on composition skills in French. Discussions, readings, papers all in French, please. I will encourage group work as well as group discussions, and probably establish an online discussion for those who are not comfortable speaking up in class.
Recommended preparation: Willingness to participate orally or in other ways. Know how to listen to others with respect and to disagree with respect. Brushing up some written French skills would be a good idea.
Course conducted in French.
Required texts: Moliere, Dom Juan, Paris: Hatier, 2002; Voltaire, Candide, Paris: Hachette, 2005.
Prerequisite: FRENCH 302

FRENCH 376: CULTURE, POLITICS AND SOCIETY IN FRANCE FROM THE RELIGIOUS WARS TO REVOLUTIONS (VLPA/I&S)
TTH 1:30-3:20, 5 cr., Geoff Turnovsky

This course focuses on key political, social, and cultural evolutions from
the Religious Wars through the Revolution in France, offering historical
backdrop to subsequent departmental courses for majors. We explore the
development of France as a rising modern state with special attention to
ensuing social upheavals, to an emerging culture of high finance and its
cycles of bubbles, busts, and crises, and to colonial expansion, among other topics. Readings from both primary and secondary sources; literary and historical readings. Taught in English.
Prerequisite: FRENCH 203
Required texts: Corneille, The Cid, Cinna, And Theatrical Illusion, (Penguin Classics); Voltaire, Philosophical Letters, (Hackett); Collins, James, The State in Early Modern France.

FRENCH 435: TOPICS IN NON-FICTION: 20TH CENTURY (VLPA)
MW 11:30-1:20, 5 cr., Doug Collins

A survey of the major currents in the intellectual history of modern France. Topics to be covered include Bergsonian vitalism, the Personalism of Mounier, the "Collge de sociologie" of Bataille and Caillois, Sartrean Existentialism and Marxism, Situationism, Structuralism, the Post-structuralism of Lyotard, Foucault and Deleuze, Deconstruction, "the New Right" of Alain de Benost, and "the Deconstruction of Christianity" of Nancy.
Course conducted in English; texts in French.
Prerequisite: FRENCH 303; either FRENCH 304, FRENCH 305, FRENCH 306, FRENCH 307.
Required texts: Simone Weil, L'enracinement (Gallimard/Folio);Sartre, Réflexions sur la question juive (Gallimard/Folio);Jean Baudrillard, Les Strategies fatales (Livre de poche);René Girard, Je vois Satan tomber comme l'éclair (Livre de poche); Michel Serres, La Legende des anges (Flammarion); Claude Levi-Strauss, Tristes tropiques (Pocket).

FRENCH 499B: FRANCE AND ISLAM
MW 1:30-3:20, 5 cr, Doug Collins

A brief review of the features of the faith of Islam and its world history will be followed by study of the roles of Muslim peoples and their views--and the perceptions of them--in contemporary France. France, historically, culturally Catholic, but in its Fifth Republic embracing of the principle of la laïcité has been summoned because of its colonial past, and the labor needs of its present--to productively interact with between five and seven million Muslims who have emerged from backgrounds that are often characterized by different views of the relation between religion and state, between man and woman, and between God and men and women. The resulting compatibilities and incompatibilities, the tensions and reciprocal enriching experiences that result will be our topics.

Issues of class focus will include: the colonial experience, the demographics of social change, women’s and children’s rights, foreign policy (especially in relation to its interaction with domestic concerns, and the questions of Israel and Palestine), comparative Islamophobias, the availability and financing of places of worship, the education of Imans.

Notice to students: Although familiarity with this topic is imperative for the understanding of contemporary France, the instructor pretends to no mastery of the area. And thus the project will be one of a public self education, to be approached with all appropriate modesty and respect.

Course conducted in English; some texts in French.

Texts: Malise Ruthven, Islam in the World (third edition); Jonathan Laurence and Justin Vaisse, Integrating Islam. Political and Religious Challenges in Contemporary France; Régis Debray, Ce que nous voile le voile; Olivier Roy, La Sainte ignorance; Yves Charles Zarka, L’islam in France
Film: Yves Boisset, Dupont Lajoie

FRENCH 590B SPECIAL TOPICS: BETWEEN CENSORS, PATRONS, MARKETS, AND POSTERITY: THE PARAMETERS OF OLD REGIME PUBLICATION
W 2:30-5:20, 5 cr., Geoff Turnovsky

This course studies key works of the Old Regime in their cultural, political
and social contexts, focusing on their often fraught publication histories
as defined by court and religious politics, censorship, commerce, social
appropriations of "letters," as well as geographical displacements (i.e. the
importance of mobility as an authorial strategy and the broader European
framework within which "French Literature?" takes shape as a recognized corpus). Topics of interest include patronage; ownership; professionalization; and the importance of anti-commercial sensibility. We'll read from Descartes, Pascal, Moliére, Lafayette, Bayle, Voltaire, Charriére, and/or others, as well as from secondary works. Texts in French and English; discussion and papers will be in English.
Required texts: TBA
GRADUATE STUDENTS ONLY

ITALIAN 102: ELEMENTARY ITALIAN
Daily, multiple hours and sections, 5 cr., Staff

The second and third quarters of a three-quarter introductory-level sequence. The four skills -- listening, speaking, reading and writing -- are stressed in a primarily oral-aural method of presentation. The three course series covers all major elements of Italian grammar. Conducted in Italian; language laboratory required in addition to daily class sessions. Offered sequentially (Autumn-101, Winter-102 & 103, Spring-103).
Prerequisite: 101 for 102, 102 for 103.
Required texts (for the sequence 101-102-103): Parliamo Italiano! Textbook/Workbook/CD (Houghton Mifflin Company).

No more than 15 credits are allowed for any combination of 101, 102, 103, and 134.

ITALIAN 111: ACCELERATED FIRST-YEAR ITALIAN
Daily, 2 sections, 10 cr., Staff
Intensive version of 101 and 102. Designed for highly motivated students.
Required texts: Parliamo Italiano! Textbook/Workbook/CD (Houghton Mifflin Company).

ITALIAN 202: INTERMEDIATE ITALIAN (VLPA)
Daily, 2 sections, 5 cr., Staff

The second part of a three-quarter, systematic review of Italian grammar and development of conversational skills (comprehension and speaking) as well as reading literary and cultural materials and writing compositions. Conducted in Italian, the intermediate sequence encourages students to use their language skills more actively and at a more sophisticated level than the elementary sequence. ITAL 201, 202 & 203 offered sequentially- Autumn, Winter and Spring quarters, respectively.
Prerequisites: 201 or college equivalent or placement.
Required texts (for the sequence 201-202-203): Monetti, Da Capo (6th edition).

ITALIAN 260: FASHION, NATION, AND CULTURE (VLPA/I&S)
MW 1:30-2:50, 5 cr., Susan Gaylard
discussion sections on Fridays, 12:30-1:20 or 1:30-2:20

An introduction to the culture of Italy through fashion, from the middle ages to today. We will start with late medieval emblems and livery, and the Renaissance idea on adapting one’s clothes, speech and personal style to the occasion. The early modern emphasis on manners and correct behavior corresponded with a growing identification of “dressing up” with effeminacy. We will examine the problem of disguise, with particular reference to gender and consumption, and contextualize the three-piece suit as modest masculine attire. We will also consider the role of clothing in constructing Italian, French, English, and American national identity. Using resources from the Henry Art Gallery and the Library’s Special Collections, students will study both the post-war Italian idealization of American culture, and American idealization of European fashion. The significance of the Made in Italy label, introduced in the 1980s, will be addressed in relation to questions of national identity, immigrant labor, and xenophobia. In closing, we will consider questions of nationhood and gender consumption raised by beauty pageants. In analyzing literature, images, films, and material objects, we will focus on a series of questions: How can clothes constitute identity? And can clothes constitute national identity? What is the role of gender in the production and consumption of “beauty”? Which early modern elements of style and behavior remain current today, and why? What is “Italian” about Italian style? How does present-day advertising exploit conceptions of “Italian-ness”? And what is “Italian” about clothes produced by Asian workers in a sweatshop in Tuscany?
All coursework is in English.
Offered: jointly with ART H 260/EURO 260
Required texts: Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, (Cambridge UP); Gundle, Bellissima: Feminine Beauty and the Idea of Italy (Yale UP); Moliere (trans. Bernard Sahlins), The Bourgeois Gentleman (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee).

ITALIAN 302: ADVANCED ITALIAN (VLPA)
Multiple sections & times, 5 cr., Staff

The second part of a three-quarter perfection-level sequence of syntax, composition and stylistics. Offered sequentially, autumn 301, Winter 302, Spring 303.
Prerequisite: 301 or college equivalent or placement.
Required texts: Sciascia, A Ciascuno Il Suo (Adelphi).

ITALIAN 327 A: ADVANCED CONVERSATION (VLPA)
TTH, 10:30-11:20, 2 cr., Staff

Focus on developing advanced conversational skills--listening and speaking--to fluency and increasing vocabulary in varying situations. May be taken up to four different times (2 cr. each time, 8 maximum) for credit. Discussions are based on contemporary Italian current event articles, fiction, and essay. Conducted in Italian. Not open to students whose native language is Italian.
Prerequisite: ITAL 203

ITALIAN 405: MODERN ITALIAN READINGS II (VLPA)
MW 2:30-4:20, 5 cr., Claudio Mazzola

Readings in Italian Novecento, covering the work of major Italian twentieth-century authors.
Required texts: Guglielmino-Grosser, Il Sistema Letterario, Il Novecento, Vol. 5; (Principato); Pirandello, Luigi, Cosi e' se vi pare, (Mondadori or Einaudi).
Note: Course offered jointly with Italian 505.

ITALIAN 505: MODERN ITALIAN READINGS II
MW 2:30-4:20, 5 cr., Claudio Mazzola

Readings in Italian Novecento, covering the work of major Italian twentieth-century authors.
Required texts: Guglielmino-Grosser, Il Sistema Letterario, Il Novecento, Vol. 5; (Principato); Pirandello, Luigi, Cosi e' se vi pare, (Mondadori or Einaudi).
Note: Course offered jointly with Italian 405.
GRADUATE STUDENTS ONLY

ITALIAN 590B: AN INCONVENIENT PAST: FASCISM AND THE HOLOCAUST IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE AND SOCIETY IN ITALY
TH 130-420, 5 cr., Ruggero Taradel

Course description not yet available.

Required texts: Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz, Classic House Books, New Yorkm NY, 2008; Millicent Marcus, Italian Film In the Shadow of Auschwitz. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007; Course pack.
GRADUATE STUDENTS ONLY

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