- For day, time, room, and TA information, see our Fall PDF schedule or the course search tool https://registrar-apps.ucdavis.edu/courses/search/index.cfm.
- For all courses not described below, please refer to the General Catalog course descriptions: https://catalog.ucdavis.edu/courses-subject-code/fre/
Language Courses
FRE 001-003: Elementary French
FRE 021-023: Intermediate French
See Placement Guide or Catalog Descriptions
Undergraduate Courses
FRE 100: Comp In French
Prof. Claire Goldstein
This quarter we will read memorable works of fiction in French: from novellas by Flaubert and Balzac, to Madame Leprince de Beaumont’s classic fairy tale, La Belle et la bête and Jean Cocteau’s surrealist film version of the same story, to Marjanne Satrapi’s humorous and poignant graphic novel exploring cultural norms regarding gender and sexuality. Students will work in a supportive workshop setting to develop critical reading strategies in French and hone their ability to present their ideas in French, orally and in writing.
- Gustave Flaubert, Un coeur simple. Nathan/Carrés classiques (2012). 978-2091885148
- Honoré de Balzac, Sarrasine. Le livre de poche/Libretti (2001). 978-2253193050
- Madame Leprince de Beaumont, La Belle et la bête. Larousse/ Petits Classiques (2011). 978-2035855701.
- Siskin, Krueger and Fauvel, Tâches d’encre, fourth ed, Heinle/Cenage (2017). 978-1-305-58028-2. **Also available as an eTextbook
- Optional book: Marjane Satrapi, Broderies. Association (2013). 978-2844140951
FRE 108: Modern French Culture
Prof. Jeff Fort
This course will provide a survey of modern French culture and history from the late nineteenth century (especially the Dreyfus affair) to the postwar era, with an emphasis on the cultural and political crises and shifts that marked this hundred year period. We will examine especially major historical conflicts including World War I, World War II and the German Occupation, the Algerian War, the advent of the Fifth Republic, and the student and worker uprisings of May 1968. Course material will include historical documents, journalism, essays, photography, paintings, and films. Course work will include multiple writing assignments, a research project, in-class presentations, and a final exam.
FRE 109: French Phonetics
Prof. Eric Russell
CRN 44280
Course Description: This course will introduce you to phonetic transcription using the International Phonetic Alphabet, familiarize you with how French sounds are produced alone and in context, and highlight common mistakes made by nonnative speakers of French. We will also discuss the correspondence between written and spoken French, some of the difficulties for Anglophone learners of French, and regional variation in the Francophone world.
This course is likely very different from others you have taken, and you'll be asked to look at language from a more scientific perspective. In additional to French, you should be prepared to discover a great deal about English, other languages and human linguistic production, in general; spoken forms and spelling; formal differences between the "Standard" and other varieties across the French-speaking world.
By the end of the quarter, you should:
- be able to transcribe, using the IPA, a spoken or written passage
- be able to describe the sound inventory of French using standard linguistic terminology
- recognize, understand and exemplify different phonological processes affecting the online ("real-time") production of French utterances
- recognize, evaluate and correct pronunciation flaws common to English speakers of French.
Prerequisite: French 023 or the equivalent.
GE credit (New): Social Sciences.
Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Laboratory - 1 hour.
Textbooks:
- Available on Canvas
Graduate Courses
FRE 200: Intro to Graduate Study
Prof. Jeff Fort
Seminar—2 hour(s). Prerequisite(s): Consent of Instructor. Graduate standing. Introduction to a range of methodologies and critical practices in the field of French Studies, including literature, culture, and linguistics. Covers basic principles of bibliographic research in the humanities. (S/U grading only.)
FRE 210: Miseducation and the Novel
Prof. Toby Warner
The Bildungsroman or novel of formation is one of the quintessential modern literary forms. Sometimes known as a sentimental education or simply as the coming-of-age novel, the genre typically follows a young protagonist from childhood through adulthood as they seek to make their way in the world and come to understand "what everyone else already knows." In this course we will explore how a wide range of authors have used coming-of-age plots to reflect on and refract colonial experiences of modernity. Specifically, we will consider how authors of colonial and postcolonial Bildungsromane often warp the arc of the genre's education plot into the story of the protagonist's miseducation. Across readings by authors such as Ferdinand Oyono, Maryse Condé, Abdellah Taïa and others, we will study how the coming-of-age novel has served as a ground from which to articulate critiques of coloniality, pose questions about identity and self-determination, and imagine new forms of happiness.
FRE 390A The Teaching of French in College
Prof. Julia Simon
Lecture/Discussion—2 hour(s). Prerequisite(s): Graduate standing or consent of instructor. Designed for graduate teaching assistants with emphasis on problems and procedures encountered by teachers of lower division classes at the university. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor. (S/U grading only.)