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Undergraduate French 2015-2016

FR1021: INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE AND CULTURE OF MODERN FRANCE 1

15 credits

Level 1

First Term

This course offers students who are registered for the beginners' course in French language an introduction to twentieth century French culture and society through the study of films, short prose texts and poetry. The course is organised around the broad themes of ‘Childhood and adolescence’ and ‘Gender, sexuality and love’. The texts will be studied in translation or with subtitles.
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FR1022: LITERATURE AND CULTURE OF MODERN FRANCE 1

15 credits

Level 1

First Term

This course offers students with intermediate or good knowledge French language an introduction to twentieth century French culture and society through the study of films, short prose texts and poetry. The course is organised around the broad themes of ‘Childhood and adolescence’ and ‘Gender, sexuality and love’.

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FR1023: LEVEL 1 FRENCH LANGUAGE 1A: BEGINNERS/NEAR BEGINNERS (STANDARD GRADE/GCSE OR BELOW)

15 credits

Level 1

First Term

Sustained Study
This intensive language course is designed for students who have little or no previous knowledge of French.
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FR1024: LEVEL 1 FRENCH LANGUAGE 2A: INTERMEDIATE

15 credits

Level 1

First Term

Sustained Study
This course is intended for students who have studied French to Higher or equivalent level, but whose knowledge may be rusty.  It will enable them to consolidate and extend their knowledge of French, written and spoken.
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FR1025: LEVEL 1 FRENCH LANGUAGE 3A: PROFICIENT

15 credits

Level 1

First Term

Sustained Study

This course is intended for students who have studied French to at least Higher or equivalent level, or beyond to A level or Advanced Higher.   It will enable them to consolidate and extend their knowledge of French, written and spoken.

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FR1521: INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE AND CULTURE OF MODERN FRANCE 2

15 credits

Level 1

Second Term

This course offers students who are registered for the beginners' course in French language an advanced introduction to twentieth-century French and Francophone culture and society, focusing on the occupation of France during World War II and the experience of colonialism and post-colonialism. Written texts will be studied in translation or with vocabulary help and films will be studied with subtitles.
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FR1522: LITERATURE AND CULTURE OF MODERN FRANCE 2

15 credits

Level 1

Second Term

This course offers students with intermediate or good knowledge French language an advanced introduction to twentieth-century French and Francophone culture and society, focusing on the occupation of France during World War II and the experience of colonialism and post-colonialism.
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FR1523: LEVEL 1 FRENCH LANGUAGE 1B: BEGINNERS/NEAR BEGINNERS

15 credits

Level 1

Second Term

Sustained Study
This course builds on the work done in FR1023, providing students with an adequate command of French language to allow them the possibility of continuing their studies into level 2 and Honours. 
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FR1524: LEVEL 1 FRENCH LANGUAGE 2B/3B: INTERMEDIATE/PROFICIENT

15 credits

Level 1

Second Term

Sustained Study
This course is intended for students who have studied French to the equivalent of Scottish Higher or beyond.  Building on the work done in the first semester in FR1024 or FR1025, it seeks to enable students to consolidate and extend their knowledge of French, written and spoken.
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FRDIAG: FRENCH DIAGNOSTIC TEST

0 credits

Level 1

First Term

Students being admitted to a French degree programme, or intending taking a French course, should first take the language diagnostic test. The test can be taken at any time and is completed online. On the basis of this diagnostic test you will be allocated to the appropriate level 1 language course. The test helps to ensure you are on the course that is most appropriate for your level of knowledge and experience.

Please go to www.abdn.ac.uk/mycurriculum to access the French Diagnostic Test.

Having completed the test you should select the appropriate course when making your curriculum choices.
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FR2002: ADVANCED FRENCH LANGUAGE 1

15 credits

Level 2

First Term

Sustained Study
This second year French language course which runs in the first half-session is only open to students who have passed FR1524. It will improve their written, oral and aural skills, and is one of the two second year French language courses required to be allowed into the French honours Programme.
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FR2012: ADVANCED INTRODUCTORY FRENCH LANGUAGE 1

15 credits

Level 2

First Term

Sustained Study
This second year French language course which runs in the first half-session is only open to students who have passed FR1523. It will improve their written, oral and aural skills, and is one of the two second year French language courses required to be allowed into the French honours Programme.
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FR2013: FRENCH IDENTITIES: INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY

15 credits

Level 2

First Term

This course will introduce students to a variety of texts which focus on the theme of relationships between the individual and society in France from the 18th century onwards. The course will involve lectures and tutorials and will include the study of novels, a play and a film.
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FR2014: INTRODUCTION TO FRENCH IDENTITIES: INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY

15 credits

Level 2

First Term

This course will introduce students to a variety of texts which focus on the theme of relationships between the individual and society in France from the 18th century onwards. The course will involve lectures and tutorials and will include the study of novels, a play and a film.
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FR2502: ADVANCED FRENCH LANGUAGE 2

15 credits

Level 2

Second Term

Sustained Study
This second year French language course which runs in the second half-session is only open to students who have followed FR2002. It will improve their written, oral and aural skills, and is one of the two second year French language pre-requisite courses to be allowed into the French honours Programme (a minimum CAS mark of 12/20 at the first attempt will be required for FR2502).
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FR2510: INTRODUCTION TO FRENCH LINGUISTICS

15 credits

Level 2

Second Term

This course will look at

-  the French sound system (with the spin-off of helping you to improve your pronunciation). 

-  word meaning and also speaker meaning (what a speaker means by, e.g., "were you born in a barn?")

-  how new words are formed

-  how sentences can be analysed

-  how French has developed from the Middle Ages up to the present

-  how French spread throughout the world (including French-based creoles)

-  how French varies according to the person speaking the language, and the use they are making of it

 

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FR2512: ADVANCED INTRODUCTORY FRENCH LANGUAGE 2

15 credits

Level 2

Second Term

Sustained Study
This second year French language course which runs in the second half-session is only open to students who have followed FR2012. It will improve their written, oral and aural skills, and is one of the two second year French language pre-requisite courses to be allowed into the French honours Programme (a minimum CAS mark of 12/20 at the first attempt will be required for FR2512).
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FR2513: FRENCH IDENTITIES CENTRE AND PERIPHERY

15 credits

Level 2

Second Term

This course will introduce students to a variety of texts which focus on the theme of relationships between the centre and periphery in France and the Francophone world from the 17th century onwards. The course will involve lectures and tutorials and will include the study of a play, poetry, postcolonial theory and a film.
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FR2514: INTRODUCTION TO FRENCH IDENTITIES CENTRE AND PERIPHERY

15 credits

Level 2

Second Term

This course will introduce students to a variety of texts which focus on the theme of relationships between the centre and periphery in France and the Francophone world from the 17th century onwards. The course will involve lectures and tutorials and will include the study of a play, poetry, postcolonial theory and a film.
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FR3003: LEVEL 3 FRENCH LANGUAGE 5

30 credits

Level 3

First Term

This third year French language course which is run over the full session is only open to students who follow LLB (French or Belgian law), European Studies (with one language), as well as any Degree with French as a minor subject. The pre-requisite for this course is FR2502 or FR2512.
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FR3041: LEVEL 3 FRENCH LANGUAGE 1

30 credits

Level 3

First Term

This third year French language course which is run over the full session is only open to Single Honours degree in French students. The pre-requisite for this course is FR2502 or FR2512.

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FR3042: LEVEL 3 FRENCH LANGUAGE 2

15 credits

Level 3

Full Year

This third year French language course which is run over the ful session is only open to Joint Honours degree in French students. The pre-requisite for this course is FR2502 or FR2512.

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FR3045: LEVEL 3 FRENCH LANGUAGE 9

30 credits

Level 3

First Term

This third year French language course which runs for the whole term is only open to Joint Honours degree in French students. The pre-requisite for this course is FR2502 or FR2512.

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FR3048: LEVEL 3 FRENCH LANGUAGE 14/15

15 credits

Level 3

First Term

This intensive programme of language exercises is designed to develop competence in a variety of different registers.
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FR3049: LEVEL 3 FRENCH LANGUAGE 16

15 credits

Level 3

Full Year

This third year French language course which runs for the whole session is only open to students who study European Studies (with TWO languages). The pre-requisite for this course is FR2502 or FR2512.
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FR3058: LEVEL 3 FRENCH LANGUAGE 6

30 credits

Level 3

Full Year

This third year French language course which runs for the whole term is only open to Francophone Erasmus students during their residency at the University of Aberdeen.
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FR3059: LEVEL 3 FRENCH LANGUAGE 12

15 credits

Level 3

First Term

This third year French language course which runs in the first half-session is only open to Francophone Erasmus students during their one half term residency at the University of Aberdeen.
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FR3072: RESIDENCE ABROAD PROJECT

15 credits

Level 3

Full Year

Students will undertake the work for this course during the period of residence abroad, and submit a reflective report on an aspect of their experience in a French-speaking country at the start of the Junior Honours year.
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FR3076: THE MIDDLE AGES IN FRANCE A

15 credits

Level 3

First Term

The course studies a selection of short French texts written between 1150 and 1300. These cover a range of different genres, including narrative verse, lyric poetry, courtly romance and early drama, and they illustrate contrasting values and contrasting attitudes to the role of men and women in the society of the period. The background of the period is also studied, covering such topics as the production and reception of medieval, as opposed to modern, texts, feudalism, courtly love.
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FR3078: FRENCH EMBLEM LITERATURE A

15 credits

Level 3

First Term

An ‘emblem’ consists of a picture with a caption and a more extended accompanying text. The various elements form a whole, with one element affecting our interpretation of the others. Emblem literature was widespread in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and France was several decades ahead of the rest of Europe. The course examines a selection of emblem books, noting the rich diversity of practice, and analyses the ways in which they could be used as vehicles for social comment as well as for political or religious propaganda, and for practical purposes as pattern books for embroidery, tapestry, painting, woodcarving.

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FR3079: INVENTING THE SELF: LITERARY AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN POST-WAR FRANCE A

15 credits

Level 3

First Term

This course aims to introduce students to the autobiographical genre as practised in the French language since World War II. Students will work on central topics in this genre through a representative selection of texts.
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FR3083: LITERATURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY: IMAGE-MAKING INTERACTIONS A

15 credits

Level 3

First Term

By examining a collection of texts from the last 150 years, both texts specifically about photography and literary texts in which photography or a photograph figure prominently, the course will examine the history of the medium, changing cultural practices and attitudes associated with it, and the ways in which photography is used thematically and stylistically by the writers on the course.
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FR3088: THOUGHT AND LAUGHTER IN EARLY MODERN FRENCH LITERATURE A

15 credits

Level 3

First Term

This course provides an introduction to early modern French literature and its contribution to the religious and philosophical debates of the period, by looking at how several major authors used laughter to challenge prevailing ideas and beliefs. Various comic forms will be studied across a range of literary genres, such as comedy, fable, picaresque novel and ‘conte philosophique’. Authors will change from year to year, but might include, for example, Molière, La Fontaine, Cyrano de Bergerac, Voltaire, and Diderot.

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FR3527: LEVEL 3 FRENCH LANGUAGE 7

15 credits

Level 3

Second Term

This course is open only to mode B Junior Honours students of French, fulfilling their residence requirements in a French-speaking country.  An intensive programme of written language exercises is designed to develop competence in a variety of different registers.
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FR3548: LEVEL 3 FRENCH LANGUAGE 14/15

15 credits

Level 3

Second Term

This intensive programme of language exercises is designed to develop competence in a variety of different registers.
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FR3559: PARIS: TRANSNATIONAL CITY OF CULTURE A

15 credits

Level 3

Second Term

This course will examine modern and contemporary Paris as a site of transnational cultural production by exploring literature, film, music and the visual arts. The course involves lectures and discussion-led seminars.
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FR3577: WOMEN'S WRITING IN FRENCH A

15 credits

Level 3

Second Term

Beginning with an introduction to theories of women's writing, this course will examine French texts by women from successive centuries and consider whether certain themes and ways of writing can be regarded as specifically feminine. In addition to analysing the common threads running through the texts, the course will encourage students to think about the evolution of writing by women and the changing ways in which women express their vision of the world through the literary text. Texts will change from year to year, but might include texts by authors such as Isabelle de Charriere, George Sand, or Rachilde.

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FR3584: NOVELS OF THEIR CENTURY A

15 credits

Level 3

Second Term

Three canonical French 'novels of their century' will be studied, one each from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, together with well-known film adaptations of these novels. The course will consider the significance of these landmark novels within the historical and cultural context of their respective centuries, and explore more generally the question of cinematic adaptation of literature.
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FR3591: COLONIALISM TO INDEPENDENCE: THE AFRICAN NOVEL IN FRENCH A

15 credits

Level 3

Second Term

This course will introduce students to the literature of Francophone Africa from the colonial period, the struggle for independence from the former colonial power and the aftermath of independence. After some general historical and social background, texts by individual authors will be studied, and there will be discussion of the general issues arising out of the texts taken separately, as well as the interrelation between them. The main themes will be: literature as historical document; the colonial experience; education and identity; alienation; irony and gender issues.
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FR4004: LEVEL 4 FRENCH LANGUAGE 3

30 credits

Level 4

First Term

This fourth year French language course is run over the ful session is only open to students who study LLB (French or Belgian law), as well as any Degree with French as a minor subject. The pre-requisite for this course is FR3003.
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FR4052: FRENCH DISSERTATION

15 credits

Level 4

First Term

Candidates will write a dissertation of 8,000 words on a subject to be decided in consultation with the Course Co-ordinator, to be researched and written (under supervision by a member of staff) in the second half session of Junior Honours, and submitted at the beginning of Senior Honours.
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FR4059: LEVEL 4 FRENCH LANGUAGE 1

30 credits

Level 4

First Term

This fourth year French language course is run over the ful session is only open to Single Honours degree in French students. The pre-requisite for this course is FR3041.

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FR4060: LEVEL 4 FRENCH LANGUAGE 2

15 credits

Level 4

First Term

This fourth year French language course is run over the ful session is only open to Joint Honours degree in French students. The pre-requisite for this course is FR3042.

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FR4071: SENIOR HONOURS SEMINAR

15 credits

Level 4

First Term

This course covers a broad range of topics embracing cultural, aesthetic, philosophical and literary matters, as well as political and social ideas. Students will research material for the seminars, present this material in an articulate and persuasive manner, and organise a follow up discussion. In this way the seminars will complement the level 4 French language class, as well as the optional courses, and prepare students for the composition paper and the French oral examination.
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FR4076: THE MIDDLE AGES IN FRANCE B

15 credits

Level 4

First Term

The course studies a selection of short French texts written between 1150 and 1300. These cover a range of different genres, including narrative verse, lyric poetry, courtly romance and early drama, and they illustrate contrasting values and contrasting attitudes to the role of men and women in the society of the period. The background of the period is also studied, covering such topics as the production and reception of medieval, as opposed to modern, texts; feudalism; courtly love.
More Information

FR4078: FRENCH EMBLEM LITERATURE B

15 credits

Level 4

First Term

An ‘emblem’ consists of a picture with a caption and a more extended accompanying text. The various elements form a whole, with one element affecting our interpretation of the others. Emblem literature was widespread in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and France was several decades ahead of the rest of Europe. The course examines a selection of emblem books, noting the rich diversity of practice, and analyses the ways in which they could be used as vehicles for social comment as well as for political or religious propaganda, and for practical purposes as pattern books for embroidery, tapestry, painting, woodcarving.

More Information

FR4079: INVENTING THE SELF: LITERARY AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN POST-WAR FRANCE B

15 credits

Level 4

First Term

This course aims to introduce students to the autobiographical genre as practised in the French language since World War II. Students will work on central topics in this genre through a representative selection of texts.
More Information

FR4083: LITERATURE AND PHOTOTGRAPHY: IMAGE-MAKING INTERACTIONS B

15 credits

Level 4

First Term

By examining a collection of texts from the last 150 years, both texts specifically about photography and literary texts in which photography or a photograph figure prominently, the course will examine the history of the medium, changing cultural practices and attitudes associated with it, and the ways in which photography is used thematically and stylistically by the writers on the course.
More Information

FR4088: THOUGHT AND LAUGHTER IN EARLY MODERN FRENCH LITERATURE B

15 credits

Level 4

First Term

This course provides an introduction to early modern French literature and its contribution to the religious and philosophical debates of the period, by looking at how several major authors used laughter to challenge prevailing ideas and beliefs. Various comic forms will be studied across a range of literary genres, such as comedy, fable, picaresque novel and ‘conte philosophique’. Authors will change from year to year, but might include, for example, Molière, La Fontaine, Cyrano de Bergerac, Voltaire, and Diderot.

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FR4559: PARIS: TRANSNATIONAL CITY OF CULTURE B

15 credits

Level 4

Second Term

This course will examine "postcolonial" cultural production in modern and contemporary Paris with a focus on music and film.  Students will consider a series of case-studies of post-migrant artists and artistic genres in order to look at how the city space is used and represented. In addition, students will extend their understanding of the subject by means of independent research, setting the topics treated in their wider context and synthesizing material from a range of sources.
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FR4571: SENIOR HONOURS SEMINAR

15 credits

Level 4

Second Term

This seminar programme, taught over a half-session, covers a broad range of topics embracing cultural, aesthetic, philosophical and literary matters, as well as political and social ideas. Students are expected to research material for the seminars, present this material in an articulate and persuasive manner, and organise a follow up discussion. In this way the seminars will complement the level 4 language class, as well as the optional courses, and prepare students for the composition paper and particularly the oral examination.
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FR4577: WOMEN'S WRITING IN FRENCH B

15 credits

Level 4

Second Term

This course will provide students with an introduction to feminist theory and to the development of women's writing in French through successive eras. It will lead students to an in-depth understanding of texts by women from different centuries and will enable students to comment on specific passages from the texts and to analyse the works more broadly within their cultural, historical and theoretical frameworks.
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FR4584: NOVELS OF THEIR CENTURY B

15 credits

Level 4

Second Term

Three canonical French 'novels of their century' will be studied, one each from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, together with well-known film adaptations of these novels. The course will consider the significance of these landmark novels within the historical and cultural context of their respective centuries, and explore more generally the question of cinematic adaptation of literature.
More Information

FR4591: COLONIALISM TO INDEPENDENCE: THE AFRICAN NOVEL IN FRENCH B

15 credits

Level 4

Second Term

This course will introduce students to the literature of Francophone Africa from the colonial period, the struggle for independence from the former colonial power and the aftermath of independence.  The main themes will be: literature as historical document; the colonial experience; education and identity; alienation; irony and gender issues. In addition, students will extend their understanding of the subject by means of independent research, setting the topics treated in their wider context and synthesizing material from a range of sources.

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