ROMANCE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES

Professors: Peter N. Dunn (On leave 1995-96), Bernardo A. González (Chair), Diana Goodrich, Joyce O. Lowrie, Jan Miel, Norman R. Shapiro

Associate Professor: Jeff Rider

Adjunct Associate Professor: Paula Paige

Visiting Associate Professor: Wilfrido H. Corral

Assistant Professors: Robert T. Conn, Ellen Nerenberg, Catherine A. Poisson.

Adjunct Assistant Professor: Ana M. Pérez-Gironés

Visiting Assistant Professors: M.L. Ennis, B. Sifuentes-Jáuregui

Adjunct Lecturers: Catherine Ostrow, Roger Sánchez- Berroa

Visiting Instructors: Virginia Adán-Lifante, Françoise Schneider

Department majors programs. The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures offers major programs in the following areas: 1) French Literature; 2) French Studies; 3) Italian Studies; 4) Spanish Literature; 5) Romance Literatures. Students entering any of the major programs offered by the department must have an overall average of B- or better and should be complying with the general education expectations. Students who wish to major in Romance Literatures normally take a combination of 12 semester courses in two Romance literatures. Students interested in selecting this major should consult with the department chair to arrange their programs.

Senior thesis. Highly qualified students will be permitted to write a senior thesis. Interested students should consult with the chair or with the major adviser.

Departmental honors. Students may apply for admission to the program during the second semester of their junior year, and not later than April 15. Applicants will be admitted on the basis of all of the following: 1) a minimum grade-point average of 90 in department courses; 2) a recommendation of a member of the department; 3) determination by the departmental honors committee of the merit and feasibility of the applicants' projects. The departmental honors committee will assign a tutor or tutors. The criteria upon which honors may be granted are: 1) a thesis, which will be read by the tutor(s) and two other faculty members, one of whom will be from outside the department; 2) other approved projects. Students interested in entrance to the program should consult with the major adviser and the department chair.

Ampersand (&) courses. It is the firm policy of the department to award credit for the first semester of an ampersand course only if the student completes the second semester of the course or the equivalent or is moved to a higher-level course. Students who are given permission to enter the second semester of an ampersand course without having taken the first semester of the sequence will receive credit for that semester only.

FRENCH LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND CULTURE

The French section offers major programs in both French Literature and French Studies. These programs are intended to provide students with a command of the French language sufficient to enable them to live and work successfully in a French-speaking environment and to help them develop a concentration that may serve as the basis for future work or further academic or professional studies.

Students who intend to major in either French Literature or French Studies should normally complete FREN 223 and FREN 224 as soon as possible.

All majors are strongly encouraged to spend at least one semester with the Wesleyan Program in Paris. Students must petition for courses taken at other universities and programs in the United States or abroad to be credited toward the major .

FRENCH LITERATURE

The French Literature major offers students the opportunity to develop an in-depth knowledge of French literature and critical approaches, and through it, an awareness of French culture and modes of thought and expression. The major consists of a minimum of eight courses:

--FREN 223 and FREN 224, normally to be completed before the end of the sophomore year and FREN 397 (Advanced Seminar), normally to be taken in the senior year.

--Five other courses conducted in French numbered between FREN 217 and FREN 300, only one of which may be a language course.

In consultation with the adviser to French Literature majors, students will select as wide a variety as possible of courses. Normally, FREN 397 (Advanced Seminar) and three other courses numbered between 223 and 300 must be taken on the home campus. Students who spend a semester on the Wesleyan Program in Paris may count two French literature courses taken there towards the major; students who spend a year on the program in Paris may count four French literature courses taken there towards the major.

FRENCH STUDIES

The French Studies major offers students the opportunity to develop a broad knowledge of French culture through a flexible interdisciplinary program combining course work in French with work in related fields. The major consists of a minimum of nine courses:

--FREN 223 and FREN 224, normally to be completed before the end of the sophomore year;

--Two other courses conducted in French numbered

between FREN 217 and FREN 300, only one of which may

be a language course.

--Four courses, the content of which is devoted substantially to the study of French history, culture, or society. These courses may include FRST or FIST courses, courses offered through the Wesleyan Program in Paris or other approved study abroad programs, or approved courses offered by other departments and programs on campus.

--A senior research project (which may be developed into a senior honors thesis) .

In consultation with the adviser to French Studies majors, students will arrange a coherent course of study suited to their individual interests and needs. A list of approved courses is available from the adviser.

WESLEYAN PROGRAM IN PARIS

The Wesleyan Program in Paris is based on a comprehensible or whole-life approach to study abroad. It has three goals:

--to bring your command of the French language as close as possible to fluency in all skills.

--to permit you to study all aspects of French civilization--politics, art, literature, cinema, history--both in French university courses and in small seminars organized by the program, while simultaneously making regular progress toward the completion of your major.

--to bring you into direct contact with French and European life over an extended period and, thereby, add a new dimension both to your personal and social consciousness.

In order to make your experience in Paris as rich and valuable as possible, we encourage you to focus on the comprehensive endeavor of observing and learning to live in French culture, to seize the opportunities to perfect your language skills and learn about French life that are offered to you every moment of every day. The various components of the Wesleyan Program--taking courses with French students and about French culture, living in French homes, participating in extracurricular activities with French people, and visiting various sites in Paris and France--are intended to help you pursue these goals, to inform you about France, and to bring you into contact with contemporary French life.

You may participate in the program for either one semester (fall or spring) or two semesters (fall and spring, or spring and fall) during your sophomore, junior or senior year. In order to be admitted, you must have an overall academic average of at least a B and have completed FREN 215 or a higher level French course with a B or better.

You may obtain brochures and applications from the Office of International Studies in Fisk Hall. Applications for the spring 1996 semester are due by October 9, 1995. Applications for the 1996-97 academic year and for the fall 1996 semester are due by March 8, 1996.

Housing. The best way for you to have regular, long-term contact with Parisians is to live with them. Your housing situation can offer you a unique means to encounter, observe, and imitate French behaviors and take a part in everyday Parisian life. We thus encourage you to choose an arrangement that will provide you with a maximum of contact with French people.

Most students are housed in homes, with the option of having meals provided for them or of doing their own cooking. Independent rooms in apartments and studio apartments are also available and some students choose to work (usually 12-15 hours of babysitting a week) in exchange for a room. You are free to arrange your own housing through personal contacts, if you wish.

Cultural orientation and activities. The Wesleyan program organizes numerous cultural activities and visits, both to introduce you to the great monuments of French culture and to help you understand the working realities of everyday France. A two-week orientation program at the beginning of every semester combines guided tours to Paris' major monuments and museums with a series of meetings devoted to matters like getting around Paris, French etiquette, the organization of the French university system, the structure of the French government, and so on. Throughout the rest of the semester, you will learn about the economy, government, and culture of contemporary France through weekly visits to French institutions and sites like the control rooms of the métro, the Assemblée Nationale, the Sénat, the Palais de Justice, the sewers, a farm, a vineyard and wine cellar, a mushroom grower, or a bakery. Excursions outside of Paris to Chartres, Monet's home at Giverny, Rouen, Vaux-le-Vicomte, and Versailles, and overnight trips to the French provinces (Bourgogne, the Loire valley, Normandy and the Mont Saint Michel, or the Berry) also form an integral part of the cultural program.

Extracurricular activities. Because it is easiest to become acquainted with people who share your personal interests, we encourage you to integrate yourself into French society by participating in some extracurricular activity: joining an athletic team, a choir, or a hiking club, for example, or taking dance or art classes. We help you find these groups and opportunities and get in touch with them.

You can also volunteer to be an English language teaching assistant in a Parisian secondary school, working with teachers and conducting small conversation sessions for four hours a week. This gives you an opportunity to learn firsthand about the French school system and to meet young French people and their teachers.

The academic program. Our program develops out of three concerns. First, because we want students from all disciplines, majors in the sciences and social sciences as well as in the humanities, to be able to spend a year or a semester in Paris, we have devised a broad academic program offering courses in nine general fields: government, history, sociology and anthropology, economics, literature, art history, film, psychology, and biology. You should be sure to discuss your projected program with your adviser before you leave the U.S., but you can probably take courses in Paris that will count toward your major.

Second, because we think you can learn a great deal about French people and the French educational system from taking courses at a French university, Wesleyan has established agreements with the Institut d'Etudes Politiques (or Sciences Po) and the Universités de Paris 7 and 12 that permit you to take courses there. These courses are valuable for their academic content, for what you learn about literature, history, or biology, but they also permit you to observe French behavior in an important cultural institution. University courses likewise offer you a singularly good opportunity to meet French people of your age.

Third, because American students--especially those who are in Paris for only one semester--often have a hard time finding the kinds of courses on French civilization and culture they want to take at French universities, we organize our own seminars each semester on French politics, history, art history, film, literature, and theater. Taught by outstanding French professors, these seminars are conducted entirely in French and provide you with the kind of close student-teacher contact associated with a Wesleyan education.

The resident director, who is always a regular member of the Wesleyan faculty, will serve as your academic adviser and you will plan your academic program in consultation with him or her.

If you spend the entire academic year in Paris, you will enroll in five courses during your first semester: four regular courses and a French Writing Workshop that will help you to write papers for your other courses. You will take four courses during the spring semester.

If you spend only one semester in Paris, you will enroll in five courses: four regular courses and the French Writing Workshop mentioned above.

Information on courses may be obtained from the International Studies Office.

ITALIAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE

Major program in Italian Studies. The major program in Italian Studies offers students the opportunity to develop an in-depth knowledge of Italian literature, language, and civilization through a flexible program combining course work in Italian with work in related fields (art history, classical studies, history, music, philosophy, Romance literatures). All students are required to complete the two-year language sequence in Italian (101/102, 113/214) or its equivalent. Students considering an Italian major are strongly encouraged to consult with the major adviser as early as possible in order to design a course of study suited to their individual needs and cultural interests.

In addition to the four semesters of language study, the major program in Italian Studies consists of nine courses. All majors must complete the following requirements: 1) four courses conducted in Italian numbered ITAL 217 or above; of these, one should be in each of the following chronological periods, Medieval, Renaissance to Romanticism, the 20th century; 2) a senior seminar (one credit) or senior thesis tutorial (two credits); 3) four courses in related departments, the content of which is devoted substantially to the study of Italian history, culture, or society.

Italian majors are strongly encouraged to spend at least one semester of study abroad. It is also recommended, though not required, that majors learn at least one other classical or modern language (preferably Latin or another of the Romance languages), according to their area of interest.

SPANISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Major program in Spanish Literature. A minimum of nine courses in the range 221-300 are necessary for the major. At least four courses must be taken on the home campus. Theses and similar projects are not counted within the major. Specifically required courses are Spanish 223, 224, 226, and 236. Students are strongly encouraged to join the Vassar-Wesleyan-Colgate Program in Madrid. Up to four literature courses offered in Madrid may be counted toward the major. Students must petition for courses taken at other universities in the United States or abroad to be credited toward the major. Students who attend a Wesleyan-approved program in Latin America for one semester may count two courses; those who attend two semesters may apply no more than three courses toward the major. (For further information on study abroad, consult the Office of International Studies or the designated faculty person in Spanish or Latin American Studies.)

In order to be accepted into the major, a student must present a grade of B- or better in Spanish 221 or equivalent proof of linguistic competence. Students will be expected to maintain at least a B- average in the major program.

PROGRAM IN SPAIN

Wesleyan University co-sponsors with Vassar College and Colgate University a program in Spain for up to 15 students from each of the three schools without regard to their choice of major. Spanish 112 or the equivalent of two years of college-level Spanish is the prerequisite for participation. The program begins with a four-week course in Santiago de Compostela in the month of August (Intensive Language and Civilization) and continues in Madrid in the fall and spring semesters. Students may apply for either the first term (Santiago/fall) or the entire year. Those who have a strong background in Spanish might be considered for the spring semester only. A regular faculty member from one of the sponsoring schools administers the program in Spain. Classes in Madrid are taught by Spanish faculty and are given exclusively in Spanish at the Instituto Internacional en España. The curriculum includes a broad spectrum of courses in the humanities and social sciences, language and literature, history and government, sociology, anthropology, and art. All courses carry one Wesleyan credit. The literature seminars count toward completion of the Spanish major. Courses in history, art, government, etc., need to be approved for credit toward the major by the appropriate adviser. Cost for the program is approximately equivalent to that of staying on the home campus for the same period, and it includes round-trip transportation between New York and Spain and the program in Santiago. Applications are due by March 1 and must be submitted to the Office of International Studies, Fisk Hall.