Fall 2023

French 3303: French Composition and Conversation
Professor: Dr. Moira Di Mauro-Jackson, md11@txstate.edu

Description: This course introduces students to the world of French for the professions. The main objective is to help students transition from the intermediate to the more advanced level of conversation and composition, while focusing on practical topics such as introducing oneself in a professional manner, communicating online, managing professional daily activities, finding an internship, and writing a career-oriented project, all in French! It will also prepare students for taking Business French (FR 3381) in spring 2024.

* Contact Dr. Jennifer Forrest (jf05@txstate.edu) if you encounter any registration obstacles.

French 3308: French Translation I
Professor: Dr. Gyongyi Pisak, g_p55@txstate.edu

Description: This course offers both a theoretical and a practical introduction to translation from French into English. You will learn about the basic concepts of translation, translation techniques, guidelines for the translation of literary and non-literary texts, translation tools and resources, and the continued importance of translators in a rapidly changing environment. We will be doing lots of hands-on translation of a variety of authentic French texts from poems to legal and business documents, and we will do a practice certification test for the American Translators Association. For your final project, you will translate a text that has never been translated before. Take this course to gain an understanding of what it takes to be a translator and to acquire confidence in your abilities to become one.

*Contact Dr. Jennifer Forrest (jf05@txstate.edu) if you encounter any registration obstacles.
 

French 3350: History of French Cinema, 1895-1960 
Professor: Dr. Jennifer Forrest, jf05@txstate.edu

Description: French filmmakers have made invaluable contributions to film style, technology, and criticism since the beginnings of the medium. This course will trace the evolution of French cinema from 1895, the year of the first demonstration of the Lumière cinématographe (camera and projector) to the eve of the Nouvelle vague in the late 1950s. Students will examine the primary stylistic movements (the magical trick films of Georges Méliès, silent genres like the comic chase movie from the first decade, the melo-mystery serials of Louis Feuillade of the 1910s, French Impressionism from the 1920s, Poetic Realism from the 1930s, French film under the German Occupation, and the Cinema of Quality associated with the late 1940s and 1950s). It will also prepare them for a course on French cinema from 1960 to the present and for the study of selected topics in French film.

*Contact Dr. Jennifer Forrest (jf05@txstate.edu) if you encounter any registration obstacles.

French 4304D: Iconic Figures of the French-Speaking World
Professor: Dr. Carole Martin, cm11@txstate.edu

Description: This course will introduce students to a major French historical period—the late 18th century as it leads up to the 1789 Revolution—through the examination of an iconic figure, Queen Marie-Antoinette.  A catalyst of events and cultural productions during her reign, as well as a continued source of discussion in works by contemporary scholars, artists, and writers, Marie-Antoinette will serve as a case-study for us to analyze the persistence, in France, of some of the Ancien Regime’s structural features, ideological values, and creative references.   We will dive into the interface between Marie-Antoinette’s iconic status and private life, the material context of her existence at Versailles, her historical and imaginary role during the French Revolution, her reification into a style, and her influence on contemporary iterations of celebrity.  
  

* Contact Dr. Jennifer Forrest (jf05@txstate.edu) if you encounter any registration obstacles.