LFR212Commentary
3 credits
Students will acquire the methodology of argumentative writing through the written review. They will be introduced to basic analytical tools and to various aspects of making reviews (introduction, plan, development, transitions, conclusion and presentation criteria). Literary genres and typologies will be covered through a varied corpus consisting of texts covering the different eras.
LFR412Critical Approach
2 credits
Initiation to the structuralistnarratological approach of a text using the method of Gérard Genette.
LFR225Description and Practice Of French
2 credits | Pre-requisite: LFR214 Or LFR112 Or LFR101
This course enables students to master all grammatical functions and to manipulate the different types of clauses: independent, main and subordinate. The overall method adopted is inductive and the approach is that of text grammar.
LFR224Elements of Linguistics
3 credits
Based on texts written by the founders of the discipline, this course will introduce students to the history of linguistics and the main linguistic concepts and theories developed to date, in order to familiarize them with the various fields of the application of linguistics. This introduction will be followed by a study of the French phonetic and phonological systems: synchronic study of sounds, articulatory and combinatorial phonetic transcription, and the phonological approach to French (articulation points and modes of phonemes, minimal pairs, distinctive features, etc.). It will be followed by the study of phonetic evolution.
LFR422European Literatures and Cultures
3 credits
The course consists of two parts: presentation of the historical, social, religious and literary context in which romanticism flourished; and a study of romantic texts and paintings which belong to the movement in Germany, Britain and France. The comparative study of these texts will lead to an understanding which highlights the similarities and differences that reveal the intentions of each writer.
LFR222General and Comparative Literature
3 credits | Pre-requisite: LFR212
The course consists of two parts: the theory and method of comparative literature, using the comparative commentary; and the application of the method to three plays inspired by the Don Juan myth.
LFR220History of French Literature I (from the 18th to the 20th century
3 credits
Literary history (18th, 19th and 20th century) invites students to reexplore the French literature of modern times through its main authors and movements. It uses mainly the diachronic approach which enables students to relocate a work within a broad literary movement, to identify the specificities of expression modes related to an era or to a literary genre, and to understand the conveyed literary sensibilities.
LFR320History of Literature II (from the Middle Ages to the 17th century)
3 credits | Pre-requisite: LFR220
The diachronic history of European literature in general and French literature in particular (Middle Ages, Renaissance and 17th century) aims to familiarize students with the evolution of literature, focusing on works which stood out in their respective eras. At the end of this course, taken after both the Written Review and Dissertation courses, students will be able to understand the thematic sensibilities, in addition to literary genres and modes of expression.
LFR322Imaginaries and History
3 credits
This course aims to briefly review the Napoleonic era and show its impact on the literature of the time. The study of this myth, which influenced the collective imagination, will be mainly achieved through the thorough analysis of three integral books. It will also draw on the study of certain extracts of other major works. This will make it possible to reach certain constants in the various occurrences of this myth and also to find major differences between these different visions.
LFR211Introduction to the Poetics of Texts
3 credits
The course defines specific concepts and methods related to the literariness of a text: fiction, mimesis, figures, versification, etc., and introduces students to the analysis of writing techniques involved in various genres and types of texts. This course represents an introduction to critical approaches which will be elaborated on later in targeted courses.
LFR411Latin Language and Civilization
3 credits
Accessing a second level of learning Latin clearly requires a preliminary initiation. This course will first endeavor to summarize and deepen certain language skills, then complete this first level with an indispensable civilizational supplement. To this end, the implementation of a teaching method alternating between language and civilization will offer students the opportunity to rediscover the heritage that founded the French language and thinking.
LFR312Latin Language System
2 credits
The initiation of students to the Latin language is essential to their understanding of the origins of the French language. However, the first contacts with Latin are particularly challenging. While seeking to preserve the attractiveness of the ancient language, this course attempts to facilitate the access of beginners to its morphosyntactic system and to its huge lexical resource.
LFR421Lebanese Literature
3 credits | Pre-requisite: LFR314
This course aims to introduce students to the various aspects of Lebanese literature in the Frenchspeaking world. The relationship between Frenchspeaking Lebanese authors and the French language will be examined. The French language is a language of friendship, a language of liberation, but also a language of revolt from the first traces of Francophonie in Lebanon till the present day. More particularly, the images of Lebanon reflected by the authors under study will be addressed. The course will conclude with an overview of the current Francophone Lebanese literature and the study of a contemporary work.
LFR423Linguistics of Enunciation
3 credits | Pre-requisite: LFR224
This course aims to introduce students to the theory of articulation. After locating articulation in the field of linguistics, the course will familiarize them with the components of indexical deixis, with the characteristics, particularly the verbal ones, of the articulation plans and with the different forms of the enunciative heterogeneity. The presentation of each notion will be followed by a relevant observation, analysis and interpretation in the selected literary texts.
LFR420Literary Readings
3 credits | Pre-requisite: LFR314
This course is designed to study the work of Jean Cocteau, a marginal author whose pluralistic work played a leading role in 20th century literature. Novels, poetry, theater, cinema, music and painting are all areas that were explored by this unique author.
LFR221Literature, Culture and Society
3 credits
This course aims to shed light on the relationship between society and literary production by relying on the historical and political context of a specific era. The chosen time is the 50s, a period shaken by the two World Wars whose influence is particularly seen in writings that fall within the dramatic genre.
LFR310Literatures and Cultures of the Francophonie
3 credits
This course aims to examine the expansion of Francophonie based on two problem issues: the first one deals with the relationship between history, politics and literature; while the second deals with the link between the francophone writer and the French language. The issues will be examined using a grouping of texts taken from the most representative books of Francophonie.
LFR316Morphology and Syntax
3 credits | Pre-requisite: LFR201
This course is designed to cover both branches of lexicology: lexical semantics and lexical morphology. After defining the discipline, as well as the components of the word and the lexicon, students will study lexical semantics (linguistic sign, lexicographic definitions, semic analysis and semantic relations). Then they will learn the approach of lexical morphology, i.e. word formation processes (derivation, composition and particular systems).
LFR321Origins of French
3 credits
The history of the French language goes back to the Latin sources, which were embraced later in the linguistic evolution. The Department of French Language and Literature provides a twofold learning experience, each aspect of which has a total of 22 hours. The first diachronic part, ranging from the Latin to the 16th century, considered as the beginning of linguistic stability, involves the four types of change, namely morphological, syntactic, lexical and phonetic. The second synchronic part deals with the state of the language, mainly in the 12th or 13th century, and examines its functioning based on a literary work.
LFR311Poetics of Genders
3 credits
This course aims to analyze, diachronically, the poetics of literary genders, particularly poetry, through rhyming and non rhyming poems, in addition to theoretical texts (prefaces, essays, manifestos, etc.). The course also aims to determine the intrinsic relationships between the poem’s form and its thematic substance, associated with the sociocultural context of the relevant era.
LFR409Topics in French Literature
3 credits
This course will successively shed light on the structural and narrative characteristics, as well as the thematic constants of the fairy tales and fantasy through a corpus of short stories and stories that reveal the evolution of both genres between the 17th and the 20th century.