Romance Languages and Literatures Courses

RL 003 Elementary Italian I (Fall: 3)

Conducted in Italian
This course is for those who have not studied Italian previously.
Students with prior Italian experience admitted only by placement test.
The purpose of this course is to introduce the students to Italian language and culture. In the first semester students will learn the Italian sound system and the rudiments of vocabulary and grammar necessary for basic communication. The approach is communicative, and while memorization and mechanical practice is required, the greater part of class time will be dedicated to practicing acquired knowledge in a conversational and contextualized atmosphere.
Brian O'Connor (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 004 Elementary Italian II (Spring: 3)

Conducted in Italian
Admitted by placement test, consent of instructor, or completion of RL 003
This course is a continuation of RL 003 and further develops the goals of the first semester. Special attention is given this to the production of more complex speech, the expression of personal opinion, and a deeper knowledge of contemporary Italian culture. More formal writing exercises and reading of authentic texts aid students in reinforcing language skills. A group final project at the end of the course attempts to bring together the themes and experiences from previous study.
Brian O'Connor (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 009 Elementary French I (Fall: 3)

Classes are conducted primarily in French.
Students with prior French experience admitted only by placement test.
This beginning course is designed for students with no prior French experience and those who have studied French before and have placed into this level. True beginners should also sign up for RL 011, the Elementary French I Practicum. Emphasis is on building oral and written communication skills and exploring the cultural specificities of life in France. Elementary French I is a film-based course and is supplemented with web-based assignments and an online language lab.
Andrea Javel (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 010 Elementary French II (Spring: 3)

Classes are conducted primarily in French.
Students with prior French experience admitted only by placement test.
This course is a continuation of RL 009 (Elementary French I) and is also open to students who have placed into this course without having completed RL 009. Course goals include laying a foundation for Intermediate French, expanding vocabulary, and building oral proficiency. Elementary French II is a film-based course supplemented with web-based assignments and an online language lab. Students who need additional review and reinforcement should enroll in RL 012, the Elementary French II Practicum, concurrently.
Andrea Javel (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 011 Elementary French Practicum I (Fall: 1)

Required of students enrolled in RL 009 with no prior experience in French.
Open to other students of RL 009 only by permission of the coordinator.
Only open to students concurrently enrolled in RL 009.

This intensive, one-hour supplementary course gives "real beginners" the extra conversation, listening, and reading practice they need to maintain the pace of Elementary French. All concepts presented in this course review those covered in RL 009.
Andrea Javel (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 012 Elementary French Practicum II (Spring: 1)

This intensive, one-hour supplementary course gives students extra help in mastering concepts presented in RL 010 through review and recycling of material. It is open to all students concurrently enrolled in RL 010 that feel they need more "time on task" to help them get a solid grasp of the basics in French.
Andrea Javel (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 013 Intermediate French Practicum I (Fall: 1)

Offered Periodically
Only open to students concurrently enrolled in RL 109.
Open to students of RL 109 who feel they could benefit from additional instruction in a small group setting. This intensive, one-hour supplementary course gives students the extra conversation, listening, and reading practice they need to do succeed in Intermediate French and to build a solid base in the language. All concepts presented in this course review those covered in RL 109.
Andrea Javel (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 014 Intermediate French Practicum II (Spring: 1)

Offered Periodically
This intensive, one-hour supplementary course gives students extra help mastering concepts presented in RL 110 through review and recycling of material. It is open to all students concurrently enrolled in RL 110 that feel they need more "time on task" to help them get a solid grasp of the Intermediate French curriculum.
Andrea Javel (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 015 Elementary Spanish I (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: This course is for beginners. Students with prior Spanish experience are admitted only after taking the placement test.
Classes are conducted in Spanish.
May be taken concurrently with RL 017.
This beginning course is designed for students with no prior Spanish experience as well as those who have had some high school Spanish and are not sufficiently prepared for intermediate level work. Students with no prior Spanish experience should also sign up for RL 017. Emphasis is on building oral and written communication skills and acquiring a greater awareness of the Hispanic world. Class instruction is supplemented by videos and CD-ROM and web activities.
Debbie Rusch (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 016 Elementary Spanish II (Spring: 3)

Classes are conducted primarily in Spanish.
Students with prior Spanish experience admitted only by placement test.
This course is a continuation of RL 015. Course goals include readying students for Intermediate Spanish, expanding vocabulary, and building oral proficiency. Students will deepen their understanding of Hispanic culture through short literary and cultural readings, videos, and films. Emphasis is on building oral and written communication skills and on acquiring a greater awareness of the Spanish-speaking world.
Debbie Rusch (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 017 Elementary Spanish Practicum I (Fall: 1)

Required of students enrolled in RL 015 with no prior experience in Spanish.
Open to other students of RL 015 only by permission of the coordinator.
Only open to students concurrently enrolled in RL 015.
This intensive, one-hour supplementary course gives "real beginners" the extra conversation, listening, and reading practice they need to maintain the pace of Elementary Spanish. All concepts presented in this course review those covered in RL 015.
Debbie Rusch (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 018 Elementary Spanish Practicum II (Spring: 1)

This intensive, one-hour supplementary course gives students extra help mastering concepts presented in RL 016 through review and recycling of material. It is open to all students concurrently enrolled in RL 016 that feel they need more "time on task" to help them get a solid grasp of the basics in Spanish.
Debbie Rusch (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 023 Elementary Portuguese I (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Portuguese.
This beginning course is designed for students with little or no knowledge of the Portuguese language. It is an introduction to the language and cultures of the Portuguese-speaking world: Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor. Students will be engaged in basic activities and conversation, read simple texts, and study basic grammar structures and vocabulary (personal and family information, daily routines, food, housing, hobbies).
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 024 Elementary Portuguese II (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
This course is a continuation of RL 023.
Conducted in Portuguese.
This course is aimed at those who want to further their knowledge of Portuguese. It is expected that students can understand texts and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (personal and family information, shopping, local geography, health, past memories, and leisure); communicate in routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information; and describe aspects of his/her background, immediate environment, and matters in areas of immediate need.
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 041 Intensive Elementary Spanish for Proficiency (Spring: 6)

Classes are conducted in Spanish.
Open to students with no prior experience in Spanish
The course meets five days per week.
The aim of this six-credit course is to provide motivated beginning students an opportunity to study Spanish language and culture in an intensive oral environment. The course's materials are particularly suitable for students wishing to acquire listening comprehension and speaking skills that may be put to immediate use.
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 042 Intensive Elementary French for Proficiency (Spring: 6)

Conducted in French
Open to students with no prior experience in French.
The aim of this six-credit course is to provide motivated beginning students an opportunity to study French language and culture in an intensive oral environment. The course's video-based materials are particularly suitable for students wishing to acquire listening comprehension and speaking skills that may be put to immediate use. The course meets four days per week (75 minutes each class).
Margaret Flagg

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 043 Intensive Elementary Italian (Spring: 6)

Conducted in Italian.
This course is for beginners.
Students with prior Italian experience admitted only by placement test.
Meets five times per week.
The aim of this total immersion, six-credit course is to provide students with an opportunity to study Italian language and culture in an intensive oral environment. While reading and writing are important elements of the learning process, the main focus will be on oral expression in everyday situations. Successful completion of this course will qualify students for RL 113: Intermediate Italian I the following fall or participation in the Parma summer language program or the fall semester at Parma.
Brian O'Connor
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 065 Intensive Reading in French (Summer: 1)

The course objectives are (1) to develop the ability to read French readily and accurately through the study of grammatical structures and vocabulary; (2) to develop techniques for the reading of French-language material; and (3) to provide practice in the translation of French texts in general and of texts related to the students' major fields of study and research. This course may be taken for a grade, for pass/fail, or audited (as a registered auditor). Students desiring a pass/fail grade must file this grading preference with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 109 Intermediate French I (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: RL 010, RL 042, or admission by placement test.
Conducted in French.
The emphasis will be on building upon prior study and developing a practical knowledge of the French language, as spoken by native speakers in contemporary France. Our goal is to help students develop oral and written proficiency in the language. The emphasis is on contemporary French culture and history, vocabulary expansion, accuracy of expression, and interactive language use. Short literary and cultural readings will provide authentic insight. Classroom work will be supplemented with web-based assignments and an online audio program.
Andrea Javel (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 110 Intermediate French II (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: RL 109 or admission by placement test
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French
This course is a continuation of RL 109 (Intermediate French I) and is also open to students who have placed into this course. Students will continue to expand their vocabulary and develop their fluency, both written and oral. Emphasis is on active student participation and a broadening of historical and cultural knowledge. Francophone culture will be explored through literary excerpts by authors from France, Africa, and the Caribbean. Classroom work will be supplemented with film, web-based assignments and an online audio program.
Andrea Javel (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 113 Intermediate Italian I (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Admitted by placement test, consent of instructor, or completion of RL 004.
Conducted in Italian

The prime objective of the course is to improve reading and writing skills, to continue building oral proficiency, and to provide a lively and current cultural background of contemporary Italy. A review of the elements of language will be supplemented by the reading of selected texts, oral practice, and individual research, all presented within the context of contemporary Italian society and classic Italian culture. Students will develop their ability to satisfy basic survival needs and to engage in conversation on a fairly complex level.
Brian O'Connor (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 114 Intermediate Italian II (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Admitted by placement test, consent of instructor, or completion of RL 113.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in Italian
Elective for the Italian minor when taken as first course in language sequence

The prime objective of the course is to improve reading and writing skills, to continue building oral proficiency, and to provide a lively and current cultural background of contemporary Italy. A review of the elements of language will be supplemented by the reading of selected texts, oral practice, and individual research, all presented within the context of contemporary Italian society and classic Italian culture. Students will develop their ability to satisfy basic survival needs and to engage in conversation on a fairly complex level.
Brian O'Connor (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 115 Intermediate Spanish I (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: RL 016, RL 041, or admission by placement test.
Conducted in Spanish.
This course builds on previously acquired language skills and helps prepare students to interact with native speakers of Spanish. Emphasis is on vocabulary expansion, accuracy of expression, and interactive language use. Short literary and cultural readings will provide authentic insight into the Hispanic world. Students will have the opportunity to work with videos, films, the internet, and other multimedia materials.
Catherine Wood Lange (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 116 Intermediate Spanish II (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: RL 115 or admission by placement test
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in Spanish.
This course is a continuation of RL 115. Students will expand their vocabulary and develop written and oral fluency. Emphasis is on active student participation and broadening historical and cultural knowledge. Short literary and cultural readings will provide authentic insight into the Hispanic world. Students will have the opportunity to work with videos, films, the internet, and other multimedia materials.
Catherine Wood Lange
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 123 Intermediate Portuguese I (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
This course is a continuation of RL 024.
Conducted in Portuguese
This course builds on previously acquired language skills. Emphasis is on vocabulary expansion, accuracy of expression, and interactive language use. Students will improve written and oral fluency by studying more complex grammar structures, which will allow them to read and write texts on many subjects (e.g., personal and social background, debating ideas, professional world, celebrating culture and diversity). Students will be engaged in small projects and presentations and will be in touch with several cultural activities celebrating Portuguese culture.
Sofia Soares

Last Updated: 09-NOV-11

RL 124 Intermediate Portuguese II (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
This course is a continuation of RL 123.
Conducted in Portuguese
Students will develop written and oral fluency. Emphasis is on active student participation and broadening cultural knowledge. Students will improve written and oral fluency by studying more complex grammar structures and reading and writing texts on a diverse range of culture-related topics. Students will be engaged in research projects and presentations and will be in touch with cultural events celebrating Lusophone culture, thus acquiring a more nuanced understanding of how Portuguese operates within various socio-cultural contexts.
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 151 Italianissimo: Intermediate Italian II, Track 2 (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Admission by placement test, consent of instructor, or completion of RL 113.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in Italian
Elective for Italian minor when taken as first course in language sequence

This course is designed for motivated students interested in continuing the study of Italian language, culture, and literature beyond the intermediate level, and especially for those students who intend to major or minor in Italian or study at Parma. The development of oral proficiency is emphasized, but there is a new focus on reading and writing in accurate Italian. Readings include current newspaper and magazine articles and literary texts, including short stories, poems, and two short novels. Particular attention will be given to the development of consistency in grammatical accuracy, and to creating more complex and expressive speech.
Brian O'Connor

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 153 Adelante I (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: RL 016, RL 041, or admission by placement test.
Conducted in Spanish.
Adelante I can be taken in lieu of Intermediate Spanish I. It is especially targeted toward students who have a solid preparation in Spanish and a strong motivation to further expand their knowledge of the language and its cultures. It also provides excellent preparation for study abroad. Adelante I builds on previously acquired language skills. Emphasis is on vocabulary expansion, accuracy of expression, and interactive language use. Short literary and cultural readings will provide authentic insight into the Hispanic world. Students will have the opportunity to work with videos, films, the internet, and other multimedia materials.
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 154 Adelante II (Spring: 3)

Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in Spanish.
Adelante II is a continuation of RL 153 and can be taken in lieu of Intermediate Spanish II to fulfill the language requirement. It is targeted toward students who have a solid preparation in Spanish and a strong motivation to further expand their knowledge of the language and its cultures. It also provides excellent preparation for study abroad. Students will expand their vocabulary and develop written and oral fluency. Short literary and cultural readings will provide authentic insight into the Hispanic world. Students will have the opportunity to work with videos, films, the internet and other multimedia materials.
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 181 Intensive Intermediate Spanish for Proficiency (Fall: 6)

Prerequisite: RL 016, RL 041, or permission of instructor
Conducted in Spanish. The course meets five days per week.
The aim of this six-credit course is to provide motivated students an opportunity to study Spanish language and culture in an intensive oral environment. The course's materials are particularly suitable for students wishing to strengthen previously acquired conversational skills. Reading and writing practice helps students develop greater accuracy in self-expression.
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 182 Intensive Intermediate French for Proficiency (Fall: 6)

Prerequisite: RL 010, RL 042, or permission of the instructor.
Conducted in French.
The aim of this six-credit course is to provide motivated students an opportunity to study French language and culture in an intensive oral environment. The course's video-based materials are particularly suitable for students wishing to strengthen previously acquired conversational skills. Reading and writing practice will help students develop greater accuracy in self-expression. The course meets four days per week (75 minutes each class).
Margaret Flagg

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 209 French Conversation, Composition, and Reading I (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: RL 110, RL 182, or admission by placement test.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French. An elective towards the French minor when taken as first course in sequence.
This course will focus on the further development of oral and written language skills. Films, videos, songs, selected literary and cultural readings, interviews, and internet activities will form the basis for classroom discussions and compositions. This course is especially recommended for students who intend to use French to increase their professional opportunities, to broaden the scope of their social interactions, and to enrich their travel and study experiences abroad.
Jeff Flagg (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 210 French Conversation, Composition, and Reading II (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: RL 110, RL 182, or admission by placement test
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French.
Counts as an elective towards the French major or minor when taken as first course in sequence.

This course will focus on the further development of oral and written language skills. Films, videos, songs, selected literary and cultural readings, interviews, and internet activities will form the basis for classroom discussions and compositions. This course is especially recommended for students who intend to use French to increase their professional opportunities, to broaden the scope of their social interactions, and to enrich their travel and study experiences abroad.
Jeff Flagg (Coordinator)
The Department

Last Updated: 23-JAN-12

RL 213 Italian Conversation, Composition, and Reading I (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Admitted by placement exam, consent of instructor, or completion of RL 114 or RL 151.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in Italian.
Elective for major and minor in Italian.
The course topic, "Italian through Fiction and Films", allows development of oral and written language skills. Centered on the analysis of short stories and films related to contemporary Italian society, attention will be paid to analytical and lexical enrichment. Other sources (articles from the Italian Press, audio-visual programs, and the Internet) will provide additional avenues of interpretation.
The Department

Last Updated: 24-JAN-12

RL 214 Italian Conversation, Composition, and Reading II (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Consent of instructor or completion of RL 213.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted In Italian.
Elective for Italian major or minor.
In this course students will continue to strengthen and expand their language skills through oral and written practice. The analysis of a contemporary novel and its cinematographic adaptation will be the basis for class discussion, written assignments, and oral presentations. Both RL 213 and 214 are strongly recommended for students who intend to use Italian to enrich their study experiences at home and abroad.
Carmen Merolla

Last Updated: 24-JAN-12

RL 215 Spanish Conversation, Composition, and Reading I (Fall/Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: RL 116 or admission by placement test or appropriate score on SAT II or AP Exam.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in Spanish.
This course will focus on the further development of oral and written language skills. Films, videos, and selected cultural and literary readings centering on contemporary Spain will form the basis for classroom discussions and compositions.
The Department

Last Updated: 24-JAN-12

RL 216 Spanish Conversation, Composition, and Reading II (Fall/Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: RL 215 or admission by placement test or appropriate score on SAT II/AP Exam.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in Spanish.
Hispanic Studies major or minor elective.
This course will focus on the further development of oral and written language skills. Films, videos, and selected cultural and literary readings centering on contemporary Mexico will form the basis for classroom discussions and compositions.
The Department

Last Updated: 24-JAN-12

RL 217 French CCR Practicum I (Fall: 1)

Students preparing to study in France or another Francophone country and students desiring extra conversation, listening, reading, and writing practice are invited to register for this one-credit, 50 minute weekly supplementary practicum.
The Department

Last Updated: 24-JAN-12

RL 218 French CCR Practicum II (Spring: 1)

Students preparing to study in France or another Francophone country and students desiring extra conversation, listening, reading, and writing practice are invited to register for this one-credit, 50 minute weekly supplementary practicum.
The Department

Last Updated: 24-JAN-12

RL 300 The French and the Peoples of America (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 210.
Satisfies Cultural Diversity Core Requirement
Satisfies Literature Core Requirement
Conducted in French.
Elective for French major or minor.
Fulfills A&S Literature & Cultural Diversity Core requirement.
From the early modern period to the present, letters, travel accounts, engravings, essays and narrative fiction have borne witness to attempts of the French to understand peoples different from themselves in the Americas. We will explore issues of cultural diversity and commonality as we analyze accounts of their encounters with Native Americans, descendants of African slaves, Colonial Boston's Puritans, New Yorkers of the 1940s, and New England's university students, politicians, and writers. Students will also work on topics of French grammar through guided exercises.
Jeff Flagg

Last Updated: 24-JAN-12

RL 302 Racism: French and American Perspectives (Spring: 3)

Cross Listed with BK 316
Satisfies Cultural Diversity Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in English.
Elective for French major or minor.
French visitors have been observing and commenting on race relations in the United States since before the Civil War. During the twentieth century, Paris became a magnet attracting disillusioned African-American artists, musicians, and writers in search of a home and an opportunity to express their talents. Today the French confront a history of colonialism and struggle to combat racism as they interact with immigrants from former colonies. What is racism? What are the influences that shape attitudes towards race relations? We will explore these issues in the writings of Tocqueville, Beauvoir, Wright, Baldwin, and Fanon, among others.
Jeff Flagg

Last Updated: 24-JAN-12

RL 304 Boston et Ses Rencontres Francaises (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in French.
Counts as an elective for the French major.

In this course, we will examine French documents bearing witness to encounters between Bostonians and peoples from France and the Francophone world from the colonial period to the present. We will explore evidences of the impact of these encounters on Boston's political, literary, and artistic life. Students will collaborate on a writing project culminating in the composition of a collection of essays reflecting on the significance of these encounters.
Jeff Flagg

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 305 Introduction to Drama and Poetry (Fall/Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French.
Fulfills one of the 300 level requirements for the French major.
This course is open to any students interested in expanding their linguistic and cultural horizons while developing their literary skills through writing in French. Guided compositions will help students to gain precision and sophistication in their written French and in their writing in general. Selected poems and plays explore a chosen theme and allow students to learn the basics of literary analysis in each genre. Grammar review is tied to the readings. This course will prepare students for 400-level courses in literature and culture.
Anne Linton

Last Updated: 24-JAN-12

RL 306 Introduction to Narrative Forms (Fall/Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French.
Fulfills one of the 300-level requirements for the French major.
This course is designed to help students with a good background in French to progress to the next level. Students in this course will continue to solidify their mastery of French grammar through structural exercises tied to readings, discussion, and written analysis of selected short stories, novels, and narrative film. The stories have been chosen and presented to allow students to progress substantially both in their basic reading skills in French and in their awareness of critical aspects of storytelling such as narrative voice, point of view, and plot structure.
Joseph Breines (S)

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 306.01 Introduction to Narrative Forms ¿Nineteenth-Century Narrative Voice¿ (Spring 2011-2012: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
This introductory literature seminar provides students with the tools and vocabulary of literary analysis through an examination narrative voice in Romantic, Realist, and Decadent texts through readings from Chateaubriand, Flaubert, Balzac, Zola, and Huysmans. Discover writings by some of the most famous nineteenth-century authors while reviewing key grammar concepts in a seminar-style setting that will prepare you for advanced 400-level courses in literature and culture. This course fulfills one of the four 300-level requirements for the French major.
Anne Linton

Last Updated: 20-DEC-11

RL 307 Masterpieces of French Literature (Fall/Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French.
Fulfills one of the 300-level requirements for the French major.
This course allows students to proceed to a more advanced level of study in French through the reading and discussion of a selection of important works of French literature. It will provide an introduction to the history of the French literary tradition through the study of a specific theme. The selected works will be studied from a variety of literary, historical, and cultural perspectives. This course is designed as an important part of the French major and is also open to all students who want to continue to strengthen and deepen their skills as readers, writers, and speakers of French.
Stephen Bold (F)

Last Updated: 24-JAN-12

RL 307.01 Masterpieces of French Literature (Fall 2011-2012: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French.
In order to explore the wide spectrum of French literary traditions across the centuries, from a variety of literary, historical and cultural perspectives, this course focuses on a specific theme as guiding thread through great works chosen from many different genres, from tales of Tristan and Iseut to plays by Racine and Beckett, from Montaigne¿s essays to Rousseau's rêveries, from lyric poetry to the poetic prose of Proust. "Qui suis-je?": our topic this spring invites questions about the relationship between identity, memory, and imagination, for characters, writers and readers. RL307 is designed to prepare students for 400-level courses in literature and culture. It fulfils one of the required 300-level courses for majors and is also open to non-majors.
Matilda Bruckner

Last Updated: 30-MAR-11

RL 307.01 Masterpieces: The Body and Literature (Spring 2011-2012: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
This interdisciplinary survey course explores how French and Francophone authors and artists from the medieval period to the present teach us to read the body. Examining both visual and literary representations of the body, we study how social and cultural forces inscribe the body and how it signifies differently across time. In addition, we consider the text itself as an evolving body of cultural production¿from the manuscript culture of the middle ages to the digital culture of modern times. We pay special attention to the body in relation to issues of sex and gender, agency, identity, belonging, nationalism, the colonial encounter, and postcolonialism. This course fulfills one of the four 300-level requirements for the French major.
Anne Linton

Last Updated: 20-DEC-11

RL 308 Advanced Language Studies: French (Fall/Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French
Fulfills one of the 300-level requirements for the French major
Fall topic: Translation, Spring topic: Phonetics
This course will help you deepen your mastery of the structures of written French, develop your appreciation of style, and enrich your vocabulary. Selected topics of advanced grammar and stylistics will be examined in context in order to help you prepare for a wide range of exercises in written composition. Special attention will also be given to the enrichment of your active vocabulary. As you develop your analytical reading skills, you will use a wide variety of textual models for your own writing.
Ourida Mostefai (Fall), Stephen Bold (Spring)

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 308.01 Advanced Language Studies in French: Writing (Spring 2008-2009: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French.
TNE Course
This course is an advanced introduction to the study of the sounds, intonational patterns, and phonological structure of the French language. Basic principles of phonetics and phonology will provide the basis for our largely comparative study of French and English sound systems. The course will allow students to monitor and build their own skills in pronunciation and should be of special use for those who plan to teach French in the schools, where phonetic accuracy is an important and often elusive goal. This course is a TNE course which means it has been designed to address issues of teacher training in the language as mandated for certification by the Massachusetts Department of Education and it also fulfills a major/minor foundation course requirement.
Stephen Bold

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 308.01 Advanced Language Studies in French-Writing (Fall 2009-2010: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French.
This course will help you deepen your mastery of the structures of written French, develop your appreciation of style and enrich your vocabulary. Selected topics of advanced grammar and stylistics will be examined in context in order to help you prepare for a wide range of exercises in written composition. Special attention will also be given to the enrichment of your active vocabulary. As you develop your analytical reading skills, you will use a wide variety of textual models for your own writing.
Ourida Mostefai

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 308.01 Advanced Language Studies in French-Phonetics (Spring 2009-2010: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement

Stephen Bold

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 308.02 Advanced Language Studies in French: Comparative Stylistics & Translation (Spring 2008-2009: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
The main objective of this course is to help students gain advanced proficiency in speaking and writing French. Through the comparative study of French and English students will consolidate and expand their vocabulary and learn to analyze the linguistic and cultural characteristics of both languages. The major problems and techniques of translation will be explored through exercises in comparative stylistics and translation.
Ourida Mostefai

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 308.02 Advanced Language Studies: Translation (Spring 2009-2010: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French.
This course will help you deepen your mastery of the structures of written French develop your appreciation of style and enrich your vocabulary. Selected topics of advanced grammar and stylistics will be examined in context in order to help you prepare for a wide range of exercises in written composition. Special attention will also be given to the enrichment of your active vocabulary. As you develop your analytical reading skills, you will use a wide variety of textual models for your own writing.
Ourida Mostefai

Last Updated: 03-FEB-09

RL 309 Topics in French Culture and Civilization (Fall/Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French.
Fulfills one of the 300-level requirements for the French major.
Fall topic: Childhood in France, Spring topic: Artists and their Writings
This course introduces students to the study of French culture and its tradition by exploring questions related to contemporary France, its cultural history, monuments, and institutions. Discussions and students' work focus on a selection of relevant documents chosen from a variety of print and audio-visual documents. Students also continue to work on advanced topics of French grammar through structural exercises and guided written compositions. This course prepares students for 400-level courses in culture and civilization.
Joseph Breines (F), Anne Kearney (S)

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 309.01 Topics in French Culture and Civilization: World War II (Fall 2006-2007: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
This course focuses on the artistic, intellectual, political, and social life of France during the period of the Second World War. We will be reading poetry and short stories published during the Occupation, recent magazine articles on the clandestine press, an anti-war play from the immediate pre-war period, essays published just after the Liberation, and very short selections on the history of the period. We will see a number of recent French films whose stories draw on the dynamics and psychology of resistance and collaboration, as well as a French documentary film on the propaganda newsreels produced by the Vichy government, and another of interviews conducted during the 60s. We will hear recollections of the Liberation of Paris and interviews with men who joined the Charlemagne division of the German "SS," songs of resistance and songs of collaboration, poetry read by some of the great voices of French theater, and classical music by French composers of the period. All students will be responsible for two short class presentations and will gain precision in their written French through a number of compositions which will be submitted, corrected, and resubmitted.
Joseph Breines

Last Updated: 13-MAR-06

RL 309.01 Topics in French Culture and Civilization: Artists and Their Writings (Spring 2006-2007: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French
In this course, students will study French culture through some key artists of the turn of the century. The course will explore the rapport between their visual work, their writings (or writings about them) and their lives. The central artists studied will be Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, Rodin, Camille Claudel and Cézanne. We will look at the evolution of their work in conjunction with their biographies, reading extracts from their letters or pronouncements on art and life.
Anne Bernard Kearney

Last Updated: 17-DEC-08

RL 309.01 Topics in French Culture and Civilization (Fall 2009-2010: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement

Last Updated: 07-JAN-09

RL 309.01 Topics in French Culture and Civilization (Spring 2009-2010: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement

Last Updated: 07-JAN-09

RL 309.01 Topics in French Culture and Civilization: (Fall 2011-2012: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French.
In this course, we will be looking at aspects of French culture through French song. We will study first six major 20th century song writers, who also wrote their music and are major performers. We will then study popular and ancient music learnt in childhood, traditional folk music, poetry into music which is an important part of the French tradition. We will also look at songs from the French revolution and other political causes, study an opera, ¿Carmen¿, and watch a film: ¿On connaît la chanson¿. Our course will focus on lyrics and try to improve our capacity for understanding language through music, introducing more familiar French. Each student will do a presentation on a song or a singer of their choice. There will be short papers, two quizzes, a mid-term, presentations, and a final paper.
Anne Bernard Kearney

Last Updated: 03-FEB-11

RL 314 Businessmen in Literature (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Consent of instructor or completion of RL 214.
Cross Listed with EN084.01
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in English
Elective for Italian major and minor

The course looks at businessmen as they are portrayed in short stories, plays, a novel, and films from the Middle Ages to the present. It takes as a premise the revolutionary nature of the businessman, and literature will serve as the microcosm to explore society's evolving ideas about business. Questions include the role of businessmen in urban development, the arts and philanthropy, business and meritocracy, reputation and the need for privacy/secrecy, price vs. value, the ambivalent symbolism of currency, the commodification of the human body/nature, the anxiety of poverty and of wealth, and inherited vs. earned money.
Laurie Shepard

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 320 Le Francaise des Affaires (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Four years of high school French or RL 209 or RL 210.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French.
Elective for French major or minor.

This course offers an introduction to the French vocabulary and syntax specific to business and politics. Students will learn advanced French language communication skills, study the functioning of the French business world, and review the essential grammatical structures of the French language. This course prepares students for the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry examinations. Students will obtain an official certificate attesting to their proficiency in French for Business. This course is especially designed for students interested in international business affairs or those who intend to work in French speaking countries.
Nelly Rosenberg

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 331 Writing Tutorial I (Fall: 0)

Offered in conjunction with RL courses beyond the 300-level and by arrangement only. Includes individual work with a writing tutor for students whose written French is in need of improvement.
The Department

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 332 Writing Tutorial II (Spring: 0)

Offered in conjunction with RL courses beyond the 300-level and by arrangement only. Includes individual work with a writing tutor for students whose written French is in need of improvement.
The Department

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 360 Literature et Culture Francophones (Fall: 3)

Satisfies Cultural Diversity Core Requirement
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in French.
Elective for French major or minor.

Reading works by Francophone writers from North Africa, the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Quebec. This course explores the variety of voices, groups, and societies in Francophone literatures. Intended as an introduction to the literary personality of each area, the course considers issues of history, resistance, identities, and race as a response to the legacy of colonial France. The the following writers' works will be discussed: Tahar Ben Jelloun, Assia Djebar, Leila Sebbar, Aimé Césaire, Leopold Senghor, Aminata Sow Fall, and Anne Hébert.
Nelly Rosenberg

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 370 History, Literature, and Art of Early Modern Rome (Fall: 3)

Cross Listed with FA 480, HS 480
Offered Periodically
Conducted in English
Not open to students who have already taken HS 232
Elective for Italian major and minor

This course focuses on early modern Rome from the interdisciplinary perspectives of history, art, architecture, and literature. Jointly taught by professors from the history, fine arts, and Romance Languages departments, the course will consider the connections between society and culture in the Renaissance and the Baroque. Rome will be discussed as an urban environment, as the artistic capital of Europe, and as a center of Italian culture. The city will also be explored as the world center of Roman Catholicism, with attention to the importance of historical, literary, and artistic developments for the shaping of culture and piety.
Franco Mormando, Sarah Ross, Stephanie Leone

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 373 Love, Sexuality, and Gender (Spring: 3)

Satisfies Literature Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted entirely in English. Elective for Italian major and minor.
This course explores the modern conception of "romantic love" by examining its birth and development in prominent literary works (by men and women) of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. We will also investigate allied notions of sexuality, gender, and marriage, in both a heterosexual and same-sex ("homosexual") context. For contrast and comparison, the course begins with a study of the Bible and ancient Greek and Roman texts and ends with a look at the depiction of our themes in contemporary cinema as well as a discussion of the current debate in American society over the nature and purpose of marriage.
Franco Mormando

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 376 Conversational Approach to Contemporary France (Spring: 3)

Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in French.
Counts as an elective towards the French major or minor.
This course is designed to familiarize students with the political and social features of contemporary France while helping them to develop oral communication skills in French. Using authentic documents (television, videos, films, songs, newspapers, and magazines), we will discuss current events and socio-political issues. Students will develop their vocabulary, increase their knowledge of idiomatic expressions, and further their command of spoken French by engaging in structured dialogues based upon real-life situations.
The Department

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 386 Critical Reading and Writing (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted In Italian
The Narrative Text: Analysis and Interpretation. Through in-depth readings of short narrative texts by modern and contemporary Italian writers, this course aims to examine some of the constitutive elements that define literary works, such as events, characters, plot, time and space. Practice includes textual analysis, discussion of selected critical sources and guided short essay writing.
Cecilia Mattii

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 389 Italian for Business and Travel (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: RL 214 or equivalent, or by permission of instructor.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
Elective for Italian major or minor
Italy is one of the leading economic powers of Europe and most popular tourist destinations. This course is designed to help those contemplating a visit to Italy or a career involving the Italian business world to develop the necessary skills (reading, writing, and oral communication) and cultural background. The course will also be useful to those who simply seek to improve their command of Italian and acquaint themselves better with the culture of contemporary Italy, especially the practicalities of daily life: traveling by train or air, using banks, making hotel reservations, reading newspapers, etc.
Franco Mormando

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 390 From Reader to Author (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: RL 213 and RL 214 or by permission of the instructor.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian.
Strongly recommended for Italian majors and minors.
May be taken concurrently with 500-level courses.

In this course, designed as a bridge between RL 213, RL 214 and the 500-level courses, we will read a small number of stories by Italian contemporary authors. Our purpose is twofold: to examine and analyze the theme, structure, and syntax and style of the text, and to subsequently have the students write, through guided activities, original short stories modeled on the stories they have studied. In brief, the course aims at strengthening Italian writing and communication skills.
The Department

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 392 Naturalmente (Fall/Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: RL 216: Spanish CCR II, or a score of 5 on the AP Spanish Language Exam, or proficiency equivalent to students completing RL 216, to be determined by the Department.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Conducted in Spanish.
Elective for the Hispanic Studies major and minor.
In this one-semester intensive course, the students will assimilate, at an advanced proficiency level, the communicative functions of narration and description in past, present, and future time frames, as well as of hypothesis, analysis, and the defense of opinions on topics relevant to contemporary Spanish speaking cultures. Students will participate in intensive and structured practice, including reading, writing, listening comprehension, and speaking in formal and informal situations. The goal is to make the accurate use of the past tenses and the subjunctive mood part of the student's spontaneous use of spoken Spanish.
The Department

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 393 Literatures of the World: Life Stories (Fall: 3)

Cross Listed with EN 084.03
Satisfies Literature Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in English.
Elective for the French major.
This course will concentrate on texts following the path of a person on his/her journey from alienation, loss, hardship, through a turning point. We will read stories of people who were caught in a major life crisis but who managed to keep a deep connection with themselves and the world: people who survived to share their experience with others. We will read 3 books and a play, as well as letters, book extracts, and Nobel Prize addresses in a coursepack. Some films will be discussed. The course will be discussion based. Each student will do two presentations.
Anne Bernard Kearney

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 395 Contextos: Introduction to Literary Analysis in Spanish (Fall/Spring: 3)

Satisfies Literature Core Requirement
Conducted in Spanish.
Required for Hispanic Studies majors and minors.
Contextos introduces students to the analysis of a wide range of Hispanic texts, including genres such as poetry, narrative, drama, essay, and film. Special attention to written work and discussion allows them to become familiar with the concepts and terminology essential for original critical thinking.
The Department

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 399 Readings and Research (Fall/Spring: 3)

By arrangement

The Department

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 430 French Poetry of the Renaissance (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, and RL 309.
Offered Periodically
Conducted in French.
Fulfills one of the 400-level requirements for the French major or minor.
This course will focus on the poetic revolution undertaken by Joachim du Bellay and Pierre Ronsard, leaders of the group known as the Pléiade. Their return to classic Greek and Roman sources paradoxically established the standards for modern French poetry through to the twentieth century. Most importantly, we will read some of the most beautiful and most intriguing poems ever written in French.
Stephen Bold

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 431 Classicism in Seventeenth Century French Literature (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in French.
This course offers an advanced introduction to the literature of France's classical age. We will conduct a close reading of some of the century's greatest works by its greatest writers (Corneille, Descartes, Racine, Pascal, Lafayette, et al.) and covering the major genres (tragedy comedy, philosophical essay, novel). Along the way we will come to understand better the meaning of Classicism in French literature, the complex and delicate doctrine of simplicity that tries to capture light not in a bottle but in a text.
Stephen Bold

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 432 Faith and Reason (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, and RL 309.
Offered Periodically
Conducted in French.
Fulfills one of the 300-level requirements for the French major or minor.
The French seventeenth century, commonly referred to as France's "grand siecle," is also known as both the century of saints and the beginning of the age of reason. The double impetus of faith and reason brought about enormous creativity and, at times, considerable conflict. In this course we will explore these fundamental poles of French classical literature in thought through the study of major authors, including Saint Francois de Sales, Descartes, Pascal, and Cyrano de Bergerac, as well as selections from Bossuet, Malebranche, Bayle, and Leibniz.
Stephen Bold

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 436 Moliére (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, RL 309
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in French
This course will offer an in-depth survey of all aspects of Molière's work, from his farces to the "grandes comédies" and the "comédies ballets."
Stephen Bold

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 438 La Fontaine and Perrault (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in French
Fulfills one of the 400-level requirements for the French major or minor
Jean de La Fontaine and Charles Perrault occupy special places in the history of 17th-century French literature: though they practiced forms apparently aimed at a young audience (fables and fairy tales) they also played crucial roles in cultural and political debates that divided intellectual of the times. We will rediscover these "minor" classics with new eyes and multiple perspectives.
Stephen Bold

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 443 Eighteenth-Century French Theater: Staging Philosophy (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, and RL 309
Offered Periodically
Conducted in French.
This course examines the controversy surrounding the question of the theater in eighteenth century France. We will focus on the role of the stage in the eighteenth century as a major instrument of philosophical and political propaganda for both the Enlightenment and its adversaries. The dramatic theories of Diderot and Beaumarchais as well as Rousseau's critique of dramatic representation will be studied in the context of the reform of the theater. Plays by Lesage, Voltaire, Marivaux, Diderot, Sedaine, and Beaumarchais will be read.
Ourida Mostefai

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 445 Rousseau's Legacies (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in French.
This course will be devoted to the study of the reception of Rousseau's writings since the eighteenth century. Modern interpretations of Rousseau's thought will be examined in order to analyze the myth surrounding the person and the writer. The major texts of Rousseau will be read, including the two Discours, La Lettre à d'Alembert, Julie, ou La Nouvelle Héloïse, Du Contrat Social, Emile, Les Confessions, and Les Rêveries.
Ourida Mostefai

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 448 The French Revolution (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, RL 309
Offered Periodically
This course will study the literature and culture of the revolutionary period in France. Through a variety of media (books, pamphlets, songs, plays, films, and art) we will analyze some of the most profound changes in French society during the period: the abolition of privileges, the declaration of rights, freedom of the press, and national festivals. We will also examine the contradictions of the French Revolution, including the failure of the anti-slavery movement, the exclusion of women from citizenship, and the suppression of regional languages. Works by Rousseau, Sade, Mercier, Robespierre, Danton, Olympe de Gouges, as well as contemporary films.
Ourida Mostefai

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 453 Paris: Capital of the Nineteenth Century (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, and RL 309.
Offered Periodically
All readings, assignments, and discussions will be in French.
Victor Hugo called Paris the "focal point of civilization," and Walter Benjamin labeled it the "capital of the nineteenth century." This course investigates the significance of the French metropolis's rise to preeminence in the century following the French Revolution. Examining nineteenth-century literary and visual representations of Paris alongside histories of the city, we will explore how culture intersects with the urban environment. How did writers and artists map urban space? How did the city shape cultural trends?
Anne Linton

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 454 Contemporary Francophone Women Writers (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, RL 309
Offered Periodically
Conducted in French.
Elective for French major or minor.

Borrowing from Hélène Cixous' model of Ecriture feminine, this course explores the specificity of francophone women's writing in a contemporary context, examining narratives from a wide variety of geographic locations including the Caribbean, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. The question of genealogy is central to this course as we attempt to delineate a matrilineal francophone literary tradition. As such we will also consider these narratives in relation to feminist theory, history, socio-cultural politics, culture and ethnicity. Some of the themes we will study include silence and voice, the female body, mother-daughter relationships, migration and immigration, and canon formation.
Régine Michelle Jean-Charles

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 456 Monsters of the Nineteenth Century: Vampires, Hermaphrodites, and Inverts (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, and RL 309
Offered Periodically
Conducted in French
Through close readings of fiction by Nodier, Gautier, Balzac, Hugo, Zola, and Rachilde, as well as other cultural documents (popular fiction, contemporary reviews, medical case studies, films, legal documents, and the memoirs of nineteenth-century intersexual Herculine Barbin) by less well remembered authors and artists, this literature seminar will investigate the pervasive nineteenth-century fascination with monstrosity. In readings spanning a variety of genres, we will explore otherness in nineteenth-century France. What is the relationship between alterity and modernity, and what can these literary "monsters" tell us about ourselves?
Anne Linton

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 460 Poetry in Prose (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, and RL 309
Offered Periodically
Conducted in French.
This course explores the nature and meaning of prose poetry in French from the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries. It begins with the necessary question of definition, asking whether any objective criteria for making distinctions between prose and poetry exists. A first emphasis on the act of writing will subsequently lead to a consideration of the way reading and interpretation intervene in any determination of form. Readings focus on the way prose poetry tends to arise where reflection upon nature, the city, intersubjective consciousness, and language itself becomes particularly acute. Authors include Rousseau, Nerval, Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Michaux, and Ponge.
Kevin Newmark

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 464 Existentialism from A to Z (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, and RL 309
Offered Periodically
Conducted in French
This course will examine some of the fundamental literary, philosophical, and historical components of French Existentialism. It will examine the way that the major writers of this movement in twentieth-century thought developed their ideas against the backdrop of Surrealism in literature, existential phenomenology in philosophy, and the historical upheavals of World War II. Of primary concern will be the manner in which the themes, concepts, and experiences of Meaninglessness, Engagement, Occupation, Resistance, and Liberation are confronted and rearticulated in the texts considered. Authors will include Sartre, Camus, Malraux, de Beauvoir, Duras, Ponge, and Blanchot.
Kevin Newmark

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 466 Francophone Sub-Saharan Cinema (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, and RL 309
Offered Periodically
Conducted in French
This course proposes to explore Francophone Sub-Saharan cinema—from its birth until the present day—as a means of reflecting, depicting and constructing national and personal identity. We will investigate the works of major representatives of Sub-Saharan cinema, placing them in their historical, cultural and aesthetic contexts and analyzing them from the following perspectives: colonialism, post-colonialism, modernity vs. traditions, personal alienation and quest for self, African women's identity, and African cinematographic identity.
Larysa Smirnova

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 469 Literature and Liberty (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, RL 309
Offered Periodically
This course asks what literature has to do with the concept and practice of liberty. Freedom of thought and freedom of speech imply the possibility of imagining and writing things independently of criteria that govern other aspects of human behavior. In fact, this possibility can be taken as one sense of the word "fiction." How do literary texts interrogate and exemplify individual acts of freedom? What sort of promise and/or pitfalls do such acts hold out to us? Readings will be taken from texts by Diderot, Sade, Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Lautréamont, Gide, Breton, Sartre, Beckett, and Duras.
Kevin Newmark

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 470 Paris Noir (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, and RL 309
Offered Periodically
Conducted in French
Since the Negritude movement of the 1930s, Africans and the diaspora have been making their mark on Paris. This course explores Black Paris through the different manifestations of the French fascination with Blackness, the presence of African-Americans during the Harlem Renaissance, and in various forms of cultural expression (literature, film, autobiography and music) by Black Parisians themselves. Taking on subjects as different as the "Venus Hottentot," Negritude poetry, performances by Josephine Baker, French rap, and "banlieue" films and novels by Calixthe Beyala and Bernard Dadie, among others. We will consider different ways of imagining Blackness in the Parisian context.
Régine Michelle Jean-Charles

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 473 Haiti Chérie: Haitian Literature and Culture (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Two courses from the following: RL 305, RL 306, RL 307, RL 308, and RL 309
Cross Listed with BK322
Offered Periodically
Conducted in French
This course will focus on the formation of a Haitian literary tradition, along with the historic and cultural factors that have influenced them. We will consider the major movements and themes, such as the 19th century literary movements, the politics of literature, and the role of the Haitian diaspora. How has Haitian literature developed over the years? How have socioeconomic, historical, and political factors been represented? How have Haitian writers taken on the question of language in their writing? Using a chronological approach to chart a timeline of Haitian literature, we will observe various cultural trends in relation to history.
Régine Jean-Charles

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 495 Second Language Acquisition (Fall: 3)

Cross Listed with SL 378
Offered Periodically
The course focuses on research carried out since the development of the "interlanguage hypothesis;" the role of the learner's native language, Krashen's Monitor Model; application of Greenbergian language universals in the analysis of learner language; generative grammar-based proposals; debate about the role of input and interaction; and research on the social and psychological factors that bear on second language learning. Emphasis is on the acquisition of second-language morphology, grammar, and vocabulary by adults, with some treatment of child language acquisition.
Margaret Thomas

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 507 Impossible Love in Italian Literature (Fall: 3)

Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
Required for Major
Through the analysis of "impossible love" in selected works by Foscolo, Leopardi, Verga, D'Annunzio, Tozzi, and Gozzano, the cultural and intellectual forces underlying the protagonists' drama will be examined. We will also examine literary genres and the modes of expression chosen by the authors in order to understand better their originality and the literary trends within which they worked. The shifting dynamic of adverse forces in love relationships as presented in the texts analyzed in class will also be discussed in comparison to selected video-stories situated in diverse cultural periods.
Rena A. Lamparska

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 511 Manzoni's I Promessi Sposi (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
Elective for Italian major or minor
Admitted by placement test, consent of instructor, or completion of RL 214 (CCR II)
A critical reading of Alessandro Manzoni's nineteenth-century novel, I Promessi Sposi, the fascinating story of simple but star-crossed peasant lovers seen against the turbulent historical backdrop of the Spanish domination of seventeenth-century Lombardy. Universally acclaimed as the greatest and most important novel of Italian literature as well as one of the foundational texts of post-unification Italian national identity, the novel will be analyzed from a multiplicity of interdisciplinary perspectives (literary, political, theological, psychological, etc.). Accompanying our reading of the text will be a study of the two film versions of the novel produced in the 1940s and 1960s.
Franco Mormando

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 522 The Most Beautiful Pages of Italian Literature (Spring: 3)

Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian.
The course is for undergraduates only.
Fulfills the requirements for Italian major and minor.
In our itinerary through selected texts of Italian literature (from Marino to Calvino) we will be exploring the most compelling and profound thoughts, ideas and feelings. The analysis and the discussion of their significance, of their modes of expression and impact on the reader will be the focus of class meetings.
Rena A. Lamparska

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 526 Dante's Divine Comedy in Translation (Fall: 3)

Cross Listed with PL 508, TH 559, EN 696
Offered Periodically
Conducted in English
Elective for Italian major or minor
An introduction to and critical reading of the Divine Comedy (in English translation), one of the world's greatest epic poems, produced by "the chief imagination of Christendom" (Yeats). Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise will be analyzed at its multiple levels of interpretation: literal and allegorical, theological, philosophical, political, and literary. Compendium of an entire epoch of European civilization, the Comedy will also be interrogated for its responses to the fundamental questions of human existence: God, the Cosmos, the Self, Good and Evil, Right and Wrong, Suffering, and Happiness.
Laurie Shepard

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 550 In Search of the Meaning of Life (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
The course focuses on choices of identity and the meaning of life in existential, social, and religious situations. We will start with a discussion on the origin and essence of values as presented in selected writings. The nature of human passions and behavior will be explored in texts by modern Italian novelists and poets. Questions include a protagonist's alienation in modern society, the search for ones place in family and society, sacrifice as the ultimate confirmation and defense of one's values, apathy as a response to life's problems, and determination in the pursuit of a goal.
Rena A. Lamparska

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 560 The Image of Women in Italian Drama (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
We will examine various images of women as represented in modern and contemporary Italian plays by male and female authors, and we will discuss these representations in relation to the place and role of woman in the social landscape and intellectual life of the times. Special attention will be brought to the questions of freedom, love, and women's positions in the family and in the society. Topics include the question of dramatic form and means of dramatizing individual identity through stylistic strategies. In some cases discussion will be complemented with video.
Rena A. Lamparska

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 569 Twentieth-Century Italy in Fiction and Film (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
Elective for the Italian major or minor
The class presents a panorama of twentieth-century Italy. Focusing on four distinct historical periods, we will explore the ways in which some of Italy's greatest authors and film directors interpret specific historical events and, more generally, the spirit of the times. The first objective of the class is to introduce the history of the Italian people in the twentieth century. The second is to explore the interpretive functions of literature and film. The final objective is to improve the Italian-language competency of all students.
Laurie Shepard

Last Updated: 30-JAN-12

RL 570 Immigrant Voices in Contemporary Italy (Fall: 3)

Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
This course serves as an elective for the Italian major or minor
The class will examine the new reality of Italy as a nation with a significant population of immigrants. Focusing on the evolving meaning cultural identity in Italy today, we will read short works by four immigrant Italian writers of Italian: Amara Lakhous, originally from Algeria; Laila Wadia, from India; Gabriella Ghermandi, from Ethiopia; and Igiaba Scego, from Madagascar. The class is also designed to improve the oral and written linguistic competency of all students.
Laurie Shepard

Last Updated: 09-FEB-12

RL 572 The Comparative Development of the Romance Languages (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Knowledge of one Romance language or Latin
Offered Periodically
Conducted in English
Fulfills a requirement for Ph.D. in French when RL 705 is not offered.
Why do the French say "pied," the Italians "piede," and the Spanish "pie"? The class, an introduction to Romance Philology, explores the common and distinctive linguistic features of Spanish, French, and Italian, as well as the historical and cultural contexts in which each language developed. The second part of the course is dedicated to an examination of three early texts, one from each of the languages.
Laurie Shepard

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 597 Foreign Language Pedagogy (Fall: 3)

Cross Listed with ED 303, SL430
Offered Periodically
Conducted in English
This course can count as an elective for the French, Italian, or Hispanic Studies majors, but not for the minors.
This course introduces students to research in second-language acquisition and assessment while providing ample opportunity to put into practice what is taught. Emphasis is placed on developing classroom techniques and lesson plans for teaching to meet the five standards of communication, culture, connections, comparison, and community. Students are introduced to professional organizations, observe actual classes, and evaluate materials (electronic, audio, video, and print). Students learn about the Massachusetts State Frameworks for foreign language education. This course is particularly recommended for students who plan to teach a foreign language and fulfills the Massachusetts licensure requirement methods in foreign language education.
Mariela Dakova

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 601 Books of Reflection: Introduction to Spanish Empire (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: RL395, Contextos
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Fulfills pre-1800 Peninsular major requirement
For sophomores and juniors only

This course studies important texts of early modern Spain of several genres that not only enable but require a response from their readers, asking us to examine important questions: what is love, what makes a good friend, how important is money, what is honor and how important is public reputation versus private behavior and who decides these things?
Elizabeth Rhodes

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 614 The Colonial Imagination: History and Identity in Spanish America (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos or permission of instructor
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Fulfills Latin American pre-1800 major requirement
This course provides an overview of texts written from the colonial period to the nineteenth century and their connections to contemporary works. We will focus on the representation of historical actors (conquerors, captives, others) as well as geographical spaces (city, jungle, pampa) as imaginary regions where history and identity are forged. Readings will be drawn from a variety of genres (historiography, novel, short story, essay, poetry) and will include selections by authors such as Bernal Díaz, Cabeza de Vaca, El Inca Garcilaso, Rodriguez Freile, Sarmiento, Palma, Gorriti, Paz, Borges, and Garro.
Sarah H. Beckjord

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 615 Latin American Writers of the Twentieth Century (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos, concurrent enrollment in Contextos, or permission of instructor
Satisfies Cultural Diversity Core Requirement
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Fulfills Latin American post-1800 major requirement
Selected texts from various genres (short story, theater, novel, poetry and essay) are read and discussed for the key insights their authors offer into the Latin American mind and heart regarding human relationships, society, the environment, and cultural issues in general.
Harry L. Rosser

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 627 Passion at Play (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos or equivalent
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish.
Fulfills the pre-1900 Peninsular requirement for majors.
In this course, students interrogate the relationship between love and passion, using early modern theater and love poetry as tools. The themes uniting the dramas examined will be love, honor, and death, with particular attention paid to those works in which violence is represented. What would lead a society to sanction such violent behavior in the name of love? To what extent is that definition still ingrained in Hispanic culture and in our own culture today?
Elizabeth Rhodes

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 629 Latin American Novels (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos or permission of instructor.
Satisfies Cultural Diversity Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish.
Fulfills post-1900 Latin American requirement for major.
The focus of this course will be on the shift in Latin American novels of the twentieth century from exterior descriptions to the interior dimensions of the self. It examines the themes and techniques of selected writers, including Ernesto Sábato, María Luisa Bombal, Alejo Carpentier, Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa, Elena Poniatowska, Gabriel García Márquez, Laura Esquivel, and Antonio Skarmeta.
Harry L. Rosser

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 636 Borderlines: Films of Immigration & Exile (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos, RL 671 (Intro to Hispanic Film) or permission of instructor
Offered Periodically
Conducted entirely in Spanish
Satisfies the Hispanic Studies post-1800 Peninsular requirement

An advanced undergraduate seminar in film analysis using recent works of cinema that represent the drama of immigration into first-world countries (Spain, the United States). Students will explore the historical, economic, and cultural motivations and consequences of the immigration of people and drugs and the ways in which directors marshal specific cinematographic techniques to achieve their political and artistic objectives in each film. Emphasis will be on the Mexico/US border and the Strait of Gibraltar, the deadliest point of immigration in the world. We will begin with George Nava's "El Norte" (1983) and finish with Moisés Salama's "Melillenses" (2004).
Elizabeth Rhodes

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 637 Spanish-American Short Story (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos or permission of Instructor
Satisfies Cultural Diversity Core Requirement
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Fulfills post-1800 requirement in Latin American literature for Hispanic Studies majors
Close study and discussion of major contributors to the genre in Spanish America in the twentieth century, including Darío, Quiroga, Bombal, Borges, Cortázar, Rulfo, Donoso, García Márquez, Allende, and Ferré.
Harry L. Rosser

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 638 Building the Modern Latin American Metropolis (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos or permission of instructor
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Fulfills Latin American post-1800 major requirement
This course will explore the development of the modern Latin American city through poetry, fiction, and film. We will discuss the cultural and political implications of its evolution, from patterns of space distribution to inner city violence and ecological crisis, looking closely at social issues and their representations. We will discuss works by Allison Anders, Roberto Arlt, Washington Cucurto, González Tuñón, Fernando Vallejo, and Luis Zapata, among others.
Ernesto Livon-Grosman

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 640 What's Modern About Modernismo? (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Fulfills the post-1900 Latin American requirement for majors in Hispanic Studies
Beginning with Modernismo this course will explore, through some of the most relevant writers of the period, the idea of Modernity and its impact as a major cultural force in Latin America. We will focus on the innovative cultural and textual politics of writers such as Rubén Darío, Leopoldo Lugones, Delmira Agustini, and José Juan Tablada, among others.
Ernesto Livon-Grosman

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 646 The "Eye" of Latin American Film (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos or permission of instructor.
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Fulfills post-1800 Latin American requirement for major
This course focuses on recent Latin American cinema in order to explore the aesthetic and critical trends of its most recent films. How are those films shaped by always changing political circumstances? And what do they tell us about Latin America's present political realities? We will see films and read texts by Gonzalo Aguilar, Carlos Reygadas, Fernando Solanas and Robert Stam among others. This class requires that in addition to critical readings students watch movies outside class time. Screenings will be on Wednesday evenings. (Class in Spanish, readings in English and Spanish)
Ernesto Livon-Grosman

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 647 Spanish Short Stories since Clarin (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos or permission of instructor
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Fulfills post-1900 requirement in Peninsular Literature for Hispanic Studies majors
A panoramic study of Spanish short fiction since Leopoldo Alas (Clarin). We will study this genre, which achieves its most mature expression in the twentieth century. During the semester, we will analyze a representative sample of writers of both sexes, paying particular attention to modern and postmodern contributions.
Irene Mizrahi

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 655 Writing and Memory in the Andean World (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos, concurrent enrollment in Contextos, or permission of instructor
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Elective for Hispanic Studies major or minor
Fulfills pre-1900 Latin American requirement for major
A survey of textual reconstructions of the Andean World from the histories of colonial times to nineteenth-century fictions of nation and community and twentieth-century debates. Readings will include works by authors such as Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Guaman Poma de Ayala, Clorinda Matta de Turner, Manuel González Prado, Ricardo Palma, and José María Arguedas.
Sarah H. Beckjord

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 658 Don Quijote and You (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos, concurrent enrollment in Contextos, or permission of instructor
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Fulfills the pre-1800 Peninsula requirement for Hispanic Studies majors.
Don Quijote is universally recognized as one of the most important texts of all literary history. Why? What does this funny, poignant book continue to say to ongoing generations? Students will read the entire text of Cervantes' masterpiece and consider its relationship to texts of other media and other ages (Velázquez, Cortázar, the Russian film version, and The Man of La Mancha, for example). Contextos extremely helpful.
Elizabeth Rhodes

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 659 The Hero's Other Half: Bad Guys and Girls in Early Modern Spain (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos or permission of instructor.
Offered Periodically
Fulfills Peninsular pre-1900 major requirement.
Conducted in Spanish.
Based on the idea that heroes depend on anti-heroes to exist, this course examines Early Modern Spanish heroic figures in light of social misfits and minorities, such as women, fools, and sinners. The changing nature of the heroic figure across the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is considered.
Elizabeth Rhodes

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 660 Literature of the Hispanic Caribbean (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos, concurrent enrollment in Contextos, or permission of instructor.
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Fulfills the pre-1900 requirement for Hispanic Studies Majors
Elective for Latin American Studies Minors

This course will examine the literature of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean from the colonial period to the 20th century. Particular attention will be given to the ways in which writers seek to represent social concerns related to issues of race, gender, criollo culture, and emerging nationalism in the context of aesthetic and political debates. Course materials will explore the phenomenon of transculturation in literature (essay, short story, autobiography, novel, poetry) as well as in film, music, and the visual arts.
Sarah Beckjord

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 661 Contemporary Spanish Theater (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos or permission of instructor.
Satisfies Foreign Language Proficiency Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish.
Fulfills Peninsular post-1900 major requirement.
An intense examination of post-Civil War Spanish drama. We will discuss the dramatic structure, stagecraft, and thematic content of ten plays written by exemplary figures such as Buero Vallego, Sastre, Arrabal, Olmo, Gala, Pedrero, and Manuela Reina. Special attention will be given to the national context, including the experience of dictatorship, transition, and democracy.
Irene Mizrahi

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 662 Violence in Hispanic Culture (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos
Satisfies Cultural Diversity Core Requirement
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Counts as an elective for the major and the minor
In this writing-intensive course, students will interrogate the nature and representation of violence in specific Peninsular and Latin American texts, from the pre-Columbian to the contemporary periods. Painting, plastic arts, cinema, and literature are considered. Discussion-based class meetings with heavy emphasis on vocabulary building.
Elizabeth Rhodes

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 663 Postwar Spanish Novel (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos, concurrent enrolment in Contextos, or permission of instructor
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Required for Hispanic Studies major or minor; priority for enrollment is given to them.
Fulfills post-1800 Peninsular requirement for major

This course reflects the diversity of modern Spanish literature and the struggle to understand and translate history into art. We will study a representative selection of Spanish novels, taking into consideration historical and cultural circumstances (dictatorship and transition to democracy) as well as critical/theoretical materials relevant to the topic such as narrative, point of view, and spatial and temporal dimensions.
Irene Mizrahi

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 665 Meditations on Madness (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos, concurrent enrollment in Contextos, or permission of instructor
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
This course will take an interdisciplinary and transatlantic approach to explore the relationship between madness and other major motifs such as love, creativity, reason, the uncanny, and the feminine. Through the exploration of various manifestations of madness in literature and the visual arts, we will trace the role it has played in Spanish and Spanish-American culture. We will discuss texts ranging from the Spanish Golden Age to contemporary Latin America.
Silvia Goldman

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 667 Poetry, Generation of 27 (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Estudio avanzado for Hispanic Studies majors
Conducted in Spanish
Detailed study of the essays, novels, poetry, and theater of major turn-of-the-century writers, including Unamuno, Baroja, A. Machado, and "Azorín."
Irene Mizrahi

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 668 The Experimental Tradition (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Fulfills the post-1800 Latin American requirement for the Hispanic Studies major.
Through a combination of poetry, theory, and visual art, this course will follow the impact of the historical avant-garde in twentieth-century Latin America. Attention will be paid to the dialogue between different experimental and critical texts by a variety of poets and critics, in particular to the idea of poetry as the praxis of theory. From César Vallejo, Vicente Huidobro, and Pales Matos and critics such as Peter Bürger, Haroldo de Campos, and Beatriz Sarlo we will look at the evolution of Latin American experimental poetics in and out of the printed page.
Ernesto Livon-Grosman

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 670 The Sounds of Spanish: Phonetics & Phonology (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
An introduction to the fundamental linguistic concepts and terms that characterize the types of sounds used in speech and the ways in which they are produced and perceived in the Spanish language. Focus will be on the physiological description of the sound system itself (Phonetics), as well as on the analysis of those units of sound which make up elements of contrast in an interlocking network of contrasts (Phonology).
Harry L. Rosser

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 672 Spanish Romanticism (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Fulfills post-1800 Peninsular requirement
This course provides detailed analyses of major works (prose, poetry, and theater) of 19th-century Spanish Romanticism. The first part is dedicated to the historical romantic drama of Martínez de la Rosa, Duque de Rivas, García Gutiérrez, Harzenbuch, and Zorilla. The second part concentrates on Larra's Artículos literarios y de costumbres, and the third focuses on the lyric poetry of Espronceda, Bécquer, Campoamor, and Rosalía de Castro.
Irene Mizrahi

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 674 Latin American Literature of the Fantastic (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos or permission of instructor
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Fulfills post-1900 requirement in Latin American literature for Hispanic Studies Majors
Elective for Latin American Studies Minors
This course will examine the literary "fantastic" in Latin America, from its origins in the late 19th century to the internationally acclaimed works of the 20th. From early tales of the supernatural and the "marvelous" to the later avant-garde fictions, writers of the fantastic seek new and authentic ways of representing the human condition. We will consider essays by some of the authors concerning the practice of the fantastic as well as comparative works from other traditions.
Sarah Beckjord

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 678 Early Spanish American Women Writers (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish.
Fulfills pre-1900 requirement in Latin American literature for Hispanic Studies Majors.
A close study of the intellectual and literary productions of women writers from the colonial period and nineteenth century, with special attention to Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Readings will be drawn from different genres and will also include works by Catalina de Erauso, la Madre Castillo, Juana Manuela Gorriti, Clorinda Matto de Turner, and Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, among others.
Sarah H. Beckjord

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 679 Memory and Affect (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos, concurrent enrollment in Contextos, or permission of instructor
Offered Periodically
Fulfills post-1800 Latin American requirement for major. Conducted in Spanish.
This course will explore how collective memory is narrated in post-dictatorial Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Specifically, it will analyze the ways in which memorial sites and objects of memory (sculptures, films, testimonial writings, short stories, and performances) construct narratives of the recent past in these countries. We will then reflect broadly on the ways that trauma can be communicated and articulated. Through this framework, students will analyze memorial sites and various objects of memory for how they engage the question of how to remember that which has not been lived.
The Department

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 686 Latin American Film: Recent Trends (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos, concurrent enrollment in Contextos, or permission of instructor
Offered Periodically
Fulfills post-1900 Latin American requirement for major.
Conducted in Spanish
This course will explore some of the most recent trends in Latin American Film. From new forms of documentary film as a tool for social change all the way to the latest experimental cinema of the past two decades, we will look at what is really happening in Latin American cinema today.
Ernesto Livon-Grosman

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 693 Borges: An Introduction (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos, concurrent enrollment in Contextos, or permission of instructor
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Elective for Hispanic Studies major or minor
Fulfills post-1900 Latin American requirement for major
Conducted in Spanish
The course will survey the extraordinary literary production of Jorge Luís Borges, one of the most influential Latin American writers of all time. Through his short stories and essays, we will read and discuss, in a historical context, the making of his books as cultural icons.
Ernesto Livon-Grosman

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 696 Mystery Films of Latin America (Fall: 3)

Prerequisite: Contextos or permission of instructor
Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
Fulfills post-1800 requirement in Latin American literature for Hispanic Studies majors
This course explores Latin American mystery films in order to expose shared concerns about politics, race, and culture. Special attention will be given to the rhetorical construction of suspense as well as the acquisition of film criticism. Readings will be mostly in Spanish with some in English. This course requires that, in addition to critical readings, students watch movies twice outside of class time in preparation for class discussion.
Ernesto Livon-Grosman

Last Updated: 15-NOV-11

RL 698 Honors Research Seminar (Fall: 3)

This semester is devoted to defining and researching the thesis. Students will work closely with their thesis director and meet regularly as a group with the program coordinator to discuss their work in progress. At the end of the semester students will present a clear statement of their thesis, accompanied by an outline, a bibliography of works consulted, and one chapter.
The Department

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 699 Honors Thesis Seminar (Spring: 3)

This semester is devoted to the writing and completion of the thesis. Students will continue to work closely with their thesis director and meet as a group with the program coordinator. Upon submitting the final copy of their thesis, students will make a short oral presentation to the faculty and to other students during the annual reception honoring their achievements.
The Department

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 704 Explication de Textes (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in French.
First-year masters' candidates in French are very strongly encouraged to enroll in this course as an introduction to graduate studies in literature.
This course offers graduate students an advanced introduction to the practice of close reading and textual analysis in the French mode. A variety of shorter works and excerpts selected from a wide chronological and generic spectrum will be used to help students read texts analytically and organize their commentaries effectively. Students will have the opportunity to work extensively on their written French and to discuss their progress during regular consultations with the instructor.
The Department

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 780 Readings in Theory (Spring: 3)

Cross Listed with EN 780, PL 780
Offered Periodically
Conducted in English.
Open to undergraduates with permission of instructor only.
Fulfills a Ph.D. requirement in Romance Languages and Literatures.
This course is organized as an introduction to the reading of literary theory for graduate students in various disciplines. Its aim is to develop in students an awareness and sensitivity to the specific means and ends of interpreting literary and extra-literary language today. The course seeks to provide students with a basic familiarity with some of the most formative linguistic, anthropological, philosophical, and literary antecedents of the diverse and often contentious theoretical models occupying the contemporary literary critical scene. Readings from Saussure, Levi-Strauss, Jakobson, Barthes, Lacan, Ricoeur, Derrida, de Man, García Canclini, Josefina Ludmer, Carlos Monsivais, among others.
Kevin Newmark

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 799 Readings and Research (Fall/Spring: 3)

By arrangement

The Department

Last Updated: 31-JAN-12

RL 806 Il Romanzo e la Saggistica di Italo Calvino (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
Undergraduates may enroll with permission of the instructor

A study of Calvino's major works from the perspective that "there are things that only literature can give us, by means specific to it." Issues as "certain values, qualities, or peculiarities of literature," "Written and Unwritten World," la metaletteratura nel racconto, l'arte combinatoria, la logica della potenzialit will be discussed in-depth.
Rena A. Lamparska

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 807 Tasso and His World (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
Undergraduates may enroll with permission of the instructor
The course explores Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata in the context of late sixteenth-century Italian society, a period when the Church sought to extend its moral authority. Turks threatened invasion, Protestantism was severing nations from the Church's body, and the known world was expanding rapidly. Tasso portrays Christian soldiers gradually becoming aware of their egocentric lust for sex and glory, then repenting to find their way back to a society governed by obedience and Truth. Readings will include Tasso's writings on aesthetics, excerpts from his Gerusalemme conquistata, and works on politics, religion, and exploration.
Laurie Shepard

Last Updated: 03-FEB-12

RL 810 Lyric Poetry from Giacomo da Lentini to Petrarca (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
This seminar will survey Italian lyric poetry, the most dynamic and prestigious genre of the medieval period in which the literary language was being formulated. The course will cover the development of lyric poetry from the thirteenth-century Scuola Siciliana to the sixteenth-century petrarchisti, but the principal focus of the course is the Canzoniere of Francesco Petrarca. Discussions will include orality and manuscript/print transmission of poetry, the complex relation of the individual poet to the tradition, the theory of imitation, and literary Neoplatonism.
Laurie Shepard

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 820 Literary Society in Trieste at the Time of Svevo and Joyce (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian.
The mutual relationships (of selection/exclusion or of acceptance/respect) among national cultures, their specificities and identities, and, on the other hand, the "worldwide" character of literature assume today a particular value within the discussions on the identity and unity of European culture. The state of culture and literary society in the Trieste of Svevo and Joyce, a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural city, offers an eloquent example of this thematic. In this seminar, it will be discussed on the basis of Svevo's works with particular attention to his relationship with Joyce.
Rena Lamparska

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 822 Boccaccio and the Comedy of Renaissance Italy (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Students will learn cutting edge technology and contribute to an interactive website (Commedia! Italian Renaissance Comedy). The first part of the course focuses on the Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, the model for Italian prose and source of the witty dialogue of Renaissance comedies. Students will then study comedies written and produced in Siena and Florence in the first half of the sixteenth century. After reading the comedies, a common list of theatergrams, or comic stock pieces, will be developed. Students will be invited to transcribe a comedy and encode the theatergrams for their final project. Training will be provided.
Laurie Shepard

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 826 Fifteenth-Century Florence: The Humanists (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
The seminar will examine the arc of fifteenth-century Florentine Humanism, from its expansive opening with Salutati and Bruni, to its introverted close with the lessons of Savonarola. Readings will also include texts by Bracciolini, Alberti, Landino, Ficino, Lorenzo, Valla, della Mirandola, and Poliziano. Humanism transformed the way in which texts are read and our relationship with the past, and it became the impetus for renewal in almost every field of human endeavor. We will explore Humanism's impact, and ask how such intellectual creativity was nurtured in a century of civil strife, periodic famine and plague, warfare and ecclesiastical turmoil.
Laurie Shepard

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 830 Rome in the Age of Bernini (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
Open to undergraduates with permission of instructor

An interdisciplinary study of Italian literature and culture, focusing on the city of Rome during the age of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), the glorious era of the Baroque. Against the backdrop of the political and institutional crises and social-religious metamorphoses of the period, we will explore the fertile and intimate inter-relationship between literature (elite and popular, sacred and profane) and the arts, both visual and performing.
Franco Mormando

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 842 Giacomo Leopardi (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
Leopardi and the literary trends of his epoch. His poetics, his Canti, Operette morali, Pensieri, and Zibaldone.
Rena A. Lamparska

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 843 Courting Power: Castiglione and Machiavelli (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian.
Centuries before Covey's 1989 classic, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Castiglione's Il libro del Cortegiano became an international and perennial best seller. Castiglione offers a prolonged and often poignant conversation about taste, manners, masculinity and femininity, influence, and power in a court. It inspired a raft of guides to good conduct for people of all classes, both male and female. The meaning and success of such texts, past and present, will be explored as a reflection of the psyche of the early-modern period and today.
Laurie Shepard

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 850 The Plague in Italy: From Boccaccio to Manzoni (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian.
Undergraduates may enroll with permission of the instructor.
An interdisciplinary exploration of Italian literature and culture from the fourteenth to nineteenth centuries from the perspective of the bubonic plague, the disastrous medical scourge that struck the peninsula during every generation from the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Literary sources will be supplemented by contemporary scientific treatises, religious tracts, personal diaries, and historical chronicles, as well as by documentation offered by the visual arts.
Franco Mormando

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 860 The Theater of Pirandello and Ugo Betti (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Italian
The course will focus on the theatrical and theoretical works of Luigi Pirandello. The following themes will be analyzed and discussed within the larger European context: the concept of dramatic art, the "uneasiness" (il "disagio") of dramatic writing, the relation between the written word and its theatrical representation, the role of the actor and the audience in drama, and the author-director-actor relation, as well as major "existential" themes and concerns of texts analyzed. Class will include film viewing of the plays discussed in class and the history of modern ideas on the theatre (Stanislawski, Craig, Meierchold, Kantor, et al.).
Rena A. Lamparska

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 888 Interim Study (Fall/Spring: 0)

Required for master's candidates who have completed all course requirements but have not taken comprehensive examinations. Also for master's students (only) who have taken up to six credits of Thesis Seminar but have not yet finished writing their thesis.
The Department

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 899 The Art and Craft of Literary Translation (Spring: 3)

Prerequisite: Knowledge of a Classical, Germanic, Romance, or Slavic language beyond the intermediate level.
Cross Listed with SL 427, EN 675
Offered Periodically
Permission of instructor required in the cases of Hebrew, Yiddish, and other languages.
Literary translation as an art. Discussion of the history and theory of literary translation in the West and in Russia, but mainly practice in translating poetry or artistic prose from Germanic, Romance, Slavic, or Classical Languages, into English. Conducted entirely in English as a workshop. Instructor's permission required for undergraduates and for other languages.
Maxim D. Shrayer

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 901 Advanced Textual Analysis in Spanish (Fall: 3)

Conducted in Spanish.
Required of all beginning graduate students in Hispanic Studies.
An intensive writing workshop designed to improve students' skills in textual analysis. This course includes the practice of various types of professional writing: summaries, critical analyses, book reviews, and oral presentations. Students confront a sophisticated range of critical terms from the fields of linguistics and critical theory and practice using those terms. Class members engage in peer review, summarize critical readings, and conduct advanced bibliographic research.
Elizabeth Rhodes

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 914 Heroic Paradigms of Early Modern Spain (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish.
This course takes a historicist approach to the changing figure of the hero across Spain's imperial age (1492-1650), examining texts of multiple genres. An introduction to the period, it examines the role of the imagination in the production of and representation of history. Parallels with twentieth-century American imperial icons are encouraged: Amadeus de Gaula with Luke Skywalker, the literary shepherds with the hippies, the picaros (and picaras) with sports heroes, saints with rock stars, Baroque poets with inhabitants of the Matrix.
Elizabeth Rhodes

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 940 Dramatic Syntax in Early Modern Spanish Theater (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish
This seminar considers the ontological syntax of seventeenth-century comedia,studying in particular the dynamic of subject versus object on the imperial stage. What constitutes an objectifying plot? Who can constitute a legitimate theatrical subject, and under what conditions, during the age of slavery, mysticism, and magic? Dramatic works by men and women, religious and secular, are studied.
Elizabeth Rhodes

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 943 Historiography, Memory, and Autobiography in Colonial Spanish-American Texts (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish.
An in-depth examination of narrative technique in major chronicles of the Conquest of America. We will explore the ways in which these authors inscribe themselves as narrators as well as their writings in the context the historiographical tradition and humanist norms for historiography. Consideration will also be given to recent thinking on problems of writing history. Special attention will be given to the Historia verdadera by Bernal Díaz and the Comentarios reales by Garcilaso Inca de la Vega. Theoretical readings by White, de Certeau, Rigney, Cohn, and Lejeune.
Sarah Beckjord

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 952 Spanish Romanticism (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
In this course we will study the major works (prose, poetry, and theater) of nineteenth-century Spanish Romanticism. We will consider romantic irony, as well as the relations of gender differences to literature, and read essays in criticism, feminist history, theory, and interpretation.
Irene Mizrahi

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 955 Literature and Culture of the Baroque (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish.
A close study of major Spanish-American works of the seventeenth century with special emphasis on Sor Juana. We will begin with a review of important twentieth-century statements concerning the nature and importance of the "barroco de Indias" and baroque culture in general as a framework for our readings. Texts will be drawn from a variety of genres, including poetry, narrative, theater, and historiography, and we will read them with an eye to common themes and stylistic concerns, from strategies of self-portrayal (revelation, apology, disguise) to explorations of the criollo world and imaginative attempts to escape from its strictures.
Sarah Beckjord

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 961 The Dynamics of Dissent in Contemporary Spanish-American Novels (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish.
A study of the ideological formation and stylistic development of major Spanish American novelists of the twentieth century, with special attention to the "Boom" and "post-Boom" periods. Works by such writers as Carpentier, Fuentes, Vargas Llosa, Allende, Garcia, Marquez, Poniatowska, Mastretta, and Ferre, among others, will be examined in detail. Focus on structure, characterization, and use of language will lead to an understanding of the directions that genre has taken in recent decades.
Harry L. Rosser

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 966 Cuban Film: A History (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish.
Dedicated to exploring the vast and rich history of Cuba's film production, this course will trace a map of the films that turned cinema into the most visible cultural industry of the island. From the pre-1960s and the first films of the Cuban Revolution all the way to the latest videos, we will look at the different topics that shaped Cuban film as we know it today. Course taught in Spanish, readings in Spanish and English.
Ernesto Livon-Grosman

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 967 Contemporary Spanish Novel (Fall: 3)

Conducted in Spanish.
An in-depth study of the Spanish novel from post-war to post-Franco. We will discuss the works and their evolution from Social Realism to New Realism in the context of political, social, and cultural changes. We will also pay attention to the way in which the Spanish novel has interfaced with trends in Europe and the Americas. Theoretical selections from formalism to post-structuralism will be considered as well.
Irene Mizrahi

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 974 Latin American Cityscapes (Spring: 3)

Offered Periodically
Course taught in Spanish, readings and films in Spanish and English
This course will explore, through essays, fiction and films the development of the modern Latin American city in its historical context. We will look at the cultural and political implications of its evolution, from patterns of space distribution to inner city violence and ecological crisis looking closely at social issues and their representations. Works by Walter Benjamin, Roberto Arlt, Fernando Vallejo, Beatriz Sarlo and Hugo Santiago among others.
Ernesto Livon-Grosman

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 978 The Latin American Avant-Garde (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Through a combination of poetry, theory and visual art this course will follow the impact of the historical avant-garde in twentieth century Latin America. Attention will be paid to the dialogue between different experimental and critical texts by a variety of poets and critics, in particular to the idea of poetry as the praxis of theory. From Cesar Vallejo, Vicente Huidobro and Pales Matos and critics such as Peter Berger, Haroldo de Campos and Beatriz Sarlo we will look at the evolution of Latin American experimental poetics in and out of the printed page.
Ernesto Livon-Grosman

Last Updated: 02-FEB-12

RL 982 The Art of the Short Story in Spanish America (Fall: 3)

Offered Periodically
Conducted in Spanish.
Beginning with the elements of oral tradition as reflected in early writings, the development of the genre of the short story will be traced to the present. Attention will be given to major literary currents and their effects on form and content.
Harry L. Rosser

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 990 Graduate & Professional Seminar (Fall: 1)

The seminar presents a systematic introduction to the issues and topics of graduate student life and preparation for a successful career. Discussions will include professional ethics, strategies for conference participation, publication, the evolving role of theory, the roles of literature and language in the classroom, long-term career planning, and specific information on departmental requirements.
The Department

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 998 Doctoral Comprehensive (Fall/Spring: 1)

For students who have not yet passed the Doctoral comprehensive but prefer not to assume the status of a non-matriculating student for the one or two semesters used for preparation for the comprehensive.
The Department

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12

RL 999 Doctoral Continuation (Fall/Spring: 1)

All students who have been admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree are required to register and pay for the doctoral continuation during each semester of their candidacy. Doctoral Continuation requires a commitment of at least 20 hours per week working on the dissertation.
The Department

Last Updated: 01-FEB-12