Trinity College Dublin


DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH

JUNIOR SOPHISTER HANDBOOK

2011 – 2012

TWO-SUBJECT MODERATORSHIP

School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies

Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

This Handbook should be read in conjunction with relevant entries in the

University Calendar. In case of any conflict between the Handbook and the Calendar, the provisions of the Calendar shall apply. Copies of the University Calendar can be purchased, consulted in the Library, or on the web:

http://www.tcd.ie/calendar/


GENERAL INFORMATION

Department of French Staff 2011-2012

NAME / EXT NO. / RM / EMAIL
Alyn-Stacey, Sarah Dr.
JS Yr COORDINATOR / 2686 / 4105 /
Arnold, Edward Dr. / 1836 / 4106 /
Ferré, Annick Ms / 1977 / 4104 /
Gratton, Johnnie Prof. / 2278 / 4090 /
Hanrahan, James Dr / 1841 / 4107 /
Hoare, Rachel Dr. / 1842 / 4103 /
Kinsella, Ciara / 1451 / 4112 /
Laudet, Claire Dr. / 2313 / 4108 /
Opelz, Dr Hannes / 1077 / 4111 /
Salerno-O'Shea, Paule Dr. / 1472 / 4113 /
Scott, David Prof.
HEAD OF DEPT / 1374 / 3136 /
Lecteurs/Lectrices / TBA
Le Bail, Marine
Souchet, Adrien
Tondeur, Sylvain

Language Assistants

/ 1248 / 4077

Hammoudi, Rafika

Le Clainche, Mathilde

Roubaud, Laure

Stark,Jessica

Deleuze, Marjorie

Postgrad Teaching
Assistants / TBA
Gubbins, Sarah /

Kilroy, Robert

/
MacLachlan, Rosie /
Canada-Smith, Donna /
Impens, Florence /

Departmental Offices

Doran, Sinead
Kelly, Mary / 1553 / 4109 /
Corbett, Tracy
Kerr, Lorraine (on leave) / 1333 / 4089 /

French Dept fax Number: 671711

Term Dates 2011-2012

Michaelmas Term:

Monday 26 September 2011 – Friday 16 December 2011

Study week: 07 November 2011 – 11 November 2011 inclusive

Hilary Term:

Monday 16 January 2012 – Thursday 5 April 2012*

(* Friday 6 April = Good Friday)

Study week: 27 February 2012 – 2 March 2012 inclusive

Exam Period:

Monday 30 April 2012 – Monday 21 May 2012

Overall Year Coordinator: Dr Sarah Alyn Stacey

JS PROGRAMME LEARNING OUTCOMES

On successful completion of the programme, students should be able to:

·  communicate clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing, in English and French, with native speakers in academic, professional and social settings,

·  organise and present ideas in English and French, within the framework of a structured and reasoned argument, oral or written,

·  demonstrate a broad knowledge of the historical, social and cultural development of France and French speaking countries,

·  analyse critically and independently, in English and French, a variety of texts and documents from different periods and sources,

·  demonstrate an ability to use specific disciplines such as linguistics, literature, ideas and culture to analyse and contextualise texts, other documents, concepts and theories,

·  translate a range of texts to and from French, with accuracy, consistency and appropriateness of register and expression,

·  identify original research questions in one of the fields of linguistics, literature, ideas and culture and select and use appropriate methodologies and relevant resources, leading to the writing of a dissertation

·  mobilise the knowledge, strategies and skills needed for further intellectual development and independent, life-long learning as well as for undertaking further, autonomous study.

JUNIOR SOPHISTER REQUIREMENTS

N.B. Students are reminded that they will be required to choose the subject that they intend to take in the Senior Sophister year by the end of the last day of Michaelmas term of the JS year. Prospective candidates for Moderatorship Part 1 (French as minor subject) are also reminded that they must have fulfilled the requirement of two months' residence in a French-speaking country before the examination.

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In terms of student input, the requirements for Junior Sophister students in TSM French are divided between LANGUAGE modules and optional coursework modules (hereafter abbreviated to OPTIONS).

1. LANGUAGE: All students are required to attend language classes, and submit regular written work. Language teaching in the JS year takes up three hours weekly across both semesters. These hours are in turn divided into two modules, each focused on different language skills:

A) Written Language • FR3005 • 10 ECTS

Aims: Taught by full-time members of staff, this module aims to develop students’ skills in (a) translation from French to English, and (b) résumé, understood as both a receptive skill, requiring sound comprehension of texts written in French, and a productive skill, requiring students to produce an accurate contraction in correct French of a text written in French.

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

·  Translate a French literary or journalistic text into idiomatic English, retaining a high level of equivalence with the original;

·  Write in correct French a résumé of a text on an intellectually challenging topic.

Structure: One hour weekly in both Michaelmas Term and Hilary Term, with classes alternating between translation and résumé.

Prescribed Books:

iMary Wood, Thème anglais, filière classique, PUF, 1995

iPol Gaillard et Claude Launay, Le Résumé de texte, Hatier, 1998.

B) Oral and Written Language Skills • FR3006 • 10 ECTS

Aims: Taught by lecteurs/lectrices, this module aims to develop students’ skills in (a) production of spoken French, and (b) essay writing in French. Contemporary social and political issues will provide an important source of topics for both the oral and written French components. Teaching in the techniques of essay writing component will be included.

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

·  Communicate clearly and effectively, orally and in writing in French, in a formal, academic context, on contemporary social and political issues;

·  Organise and present ideas in French fluently, correctly and coherently, within the framework of a structured and reasoned oral argument, on an intellectually challenging topic and with only brief notes;

·  Mobilise their knowledge of French as one of the strategies and skills needed for further intellectual development and independent, life-long learning.

Structure: Two hours weekly in both Michaelmas Term and Hilary Term, with one hour focused on spoken French and the other on essay writing.

N.B. The following reference books, used in preceding years, will continue to be required for Junior Sophister Language classes:

Le Petit Robert or Le Micro Robert

Jacqueline Ollivier, Grammaire française (Québec: Editions Études vivantes, 1993)

Bescherelle: La Conjugaison pour tous (Paris: Hatier,1997)

Paul Humberstone, Mot à mot (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1996

2. OPTIONS: All students, whether taking Moderatorship Part 1 or Moderatorship Part 2 in French, select two options, one in each of the Michaelmas and Hilary terms.

In place of one (and only one) of these two options, students may select one of the options in theoretical and applied linguistics offered by the Centre for Language and Communication Studies. The rules governing courses taken in the CLCS will be published by the CLCS, and may differ in some particulars from regulations in force in the French Department.

All students submit an assessment exercise (which MUST BE WORD-PROCESSED) in respect of each option taken within the French Department (see CLCS regulations for CLCS courses). Except where otherwise specified in the course-description, this exercise will take the form of an essay of approximately 2,500 words, the first to be submitted to the departmental secretary in room 4109 by 12.00 noon on Monday 16 January 2012, and the second by 12.00 noon on Friday 23 March 2012. One of the two essays must be in French. Where an essay is submitted in French, 70% of the credit will be awarded on the basis of content, and 30% on the basis of language. CLCS essays may not be submitted in French, the corollary of which is that where courses in the CLCS are taken for part of the year, the essay submitted in conjunction with a French Department course must obligatorily be in French. Some courses include an obligatory exercise in French, and this requirement is in addition to the general requirement for one essay to be submitted in French.

Essay-titles are available in this document (see separate section, below). It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that s/he obtains a copy of these titles. Extensions to the deadline will be permitted only for exceptional reasons, and with the prior consent of the Head of Department. Failure to return the assessment exercise by the due date without prior permission will result in the award of a zero mark.

The copy of the essay submitted will be kept by the department for possible scrutiny by extern examiners, and students are advised to keep a photocopy.

MICHAELMAS TERM OPTIONS 2010

1. Modern Autobiography • FR3030 • 5 ECTS (Prof. Gratton)

______

Aims: Students will be invited to explore the set texts from three main perspectives:

1.  the question of autobiography as a genre (how to define autobiography? Does it have to be a ‘life-story’? How distinct is autobiography from fiction?);

2.  the question of the self or subject (what image of self/subjectivity/personal identity is offered by a given autobiographical work? How does the chosen manner of writing or narrative style affect the image of self projected by a given work? How does a given writer envisage the relation between self and other?);

3.  the key thematic question of family, as linked to portrayals of childhood and adolescence (areas covered will include the dysfunctional family, the missing parent, and family in the context of exile and displacement).

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:

·  Discuss the three set texts in terms of the theory and practice of autobiography as a genre;

·  Compare and contrast the implicit or explicit representations of the self offered by the three set texts;

·  Explain the importance and significance of the representation of family in each of the three set texts;

·  Write essays in both English and French demonstrating their ability to construct an argument and to make discriminating use of relevant secondary materials.

Structure: Two hours weekly, lecture + seminar.

Prescribed texts:

Patrick Modiano, Livret de famille (Folio, 1977)

Nathalie Sarraute, Enfance (Folio, 1983)

Marguerite Duras, L’Amant (Minuit, 1984)

Assessment Essay Titles:

1. ‘L’histoire de ma vie n’existe pas’ (L’Amant). Discuss the applicability of this assertion by Duras to one or more of the works on your course.

2. ‘More often than not, the self of modern autobiography is—literally or figuratively—an exiled self.’ Discuss with reference to one or more of the works on your course.

3. ‘The self’s story is frequently viewed through the lens of its relation with some other key person, sometimes a sibling, friend, lover, but most often a parent.’ Discuss the importance of such key persons, or ‘proximate others’, for the representation of self in one or more of the works on your course.

(NB Each of the above essays corresponds basically, though not without overlaps, to the same topic, topic B (where A = autobiography as genre, B = the question of self/subject, and C = the theme of family/childhood). Since the examination will contain questions geared towards the remaining two topics (A and C), there will be no requirement in the exam to avoid the author(s) you have chosen for your assessment essay.)

2. Love and Desire in the Renaissance • FR3027 • 5 ECTS (Dr Alyn-Stacey)

______

Aims: By focusing on the representation of love and desire in a number of key Renaissance texts, this course aims to give students an insight into the Renaissance view of Man’s place in society and the cosmos. It aims also to introduce students to ‘heritage’ film and to the cinematic reproduction/rewriting of the past.

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of the course students should be able to:

·  Analyse critically and independently, in English and French, a variety of primary and secondary texts, films and documents ranging from the 16th century to the 21st century;

·  Demonstrate a broad knowledge of the historical, social and cultural development of France during the 16th century;

·  Organise and present ideas in English and French, in writing and orally, within the framework of a structured and reasoned critical argument;

·  Use the specific disciplines of literature, ideas, history and film to analyse the historical, social and cultural development of France in the 16th century;

·  Use the appropriate methodologies and relevant resources for the presentation of their research.

Course Structure: Teaching will be by lecture, student papers and discussion. The course is structured as follows:

Presribed Texts

Marguerite de Navarre, L’Heptaméron (Paris: Garnier Flammarion), prologue and first two days only

Pierre de Ronsard, Les Amours (Paris: Gallimard)

Michel de Montaigne, ‘De l’amitié’ and ‘Sur des vers de Virgile’ (Essais I, 28; Essais III, 5)

Prescribed Film

Le Retour de Martin Guerre (Daniel Vigne, 1982)

Assessment Essay Titles / Commentaries:

1. Either

Supporting your answer with precise reference to the text, discuss the conflict between reason and appetite in the Heptaméron.

Or

Discuss the role of the storytellers in the Heptaméron.

2. Either

Write a detailed commentary on the following sonnet, drawing attention to themes, style, and literary techniques:

Marie, en me tançant vous me venez reprendre

Que je suis trop léger, et me dites toujours,

Quand j’approche de vous, que j’aille à ma Cassandre,

4. Et toujours m’appelez inconstant en amours.

L’inconstance me plaît; les hommes sont bien lourds

Qui de nouvelle amour ne se laissent surprendre;

Qui veut opiniâtre une seule prétendre

8.  N’est digne que Vénus lui fasse de bons tours.

Celui qui n’ose faire une amitié nouvelle,

A faute de courage, ou faute de cervelle,

11. Se défiant de soi que ne peut avoir mieux.

Les hommes maladifs ou matés de vieillesse

Doivent être constants, mais sotte est la jeunesse

14. Qui n’est point éveillée et qui n’aime en cent lieux.

(Amours à Marie: Second Livre, sonnet 10)

Or

‘Malheureux est qui aime, / Malheureux qui se laisse à l’Amour décevoir’ (Ronsard). Making precise reference to Ronsard’s poetry to Cassandre, Marie and Hélène, discuss his view of love in light of this quotation.