Discusses political institutions and social problems based upon readings in recent publications and an analysis of current events.

What is the good life, and what is a good life? Saints seem to live perfectly good lives, but stories about them often grapple with this question, encouraging audiences to think deeply about their own lives in ways that go beyond any one ethical system. Looking at old and new stories of parent-child struggles, spectacular sinning and redemption, gender transformation, and daily moral predicaments, we will explore what it means to live well.

This course is about imagining life and sensory experiences of colonized subjects witnessing a changing urban environment. For some cities, imagining its past is naturally inscribed in a continuation meticulously informed. For cities that have been victim of a colonial experience, this haunted past needs to be revived to recreate a perception of historical continuity in the space and a sense of spatial belonging.

A global city, Paris is more than the capital of France; it holds meaning the world over. How did Paris achieve such iconic status? To answer that question, this course explores a variety of cultural and geographic forms (maps, paintings, architecture, cinema, literature, and music) that illustrate key features of the "city of light" and invite students to "read" the city, unlock its codes, and discover its many nuances.

Normally, only French majors may enroll in this course and only by written permission from the department chair prior to the end of the first week of classes.

Preliminary research for thesis. Prerequisite: Admission to the Distinguished Majors Program.

Composition and defense of thesis. Prerequisite: FREN 4998 and good standing in the Distinguished Majors Program. Note: The prerequisite to all 5000-level literature courses is two 4000-level literature courses with an average grade of B, or the instructor's permission.

Topics may include genres (romance, poetry, hagiography, chanson de geste, allegory), themes (love, war, nature), single authors (Chrétien de Troyes, Machaut) and cultural and literary issues (gender, religion, authorship, rewritings).

Topics may include Montaigne, the European novella, poetic recreations of the ancients, literary Lyon, and Rabelais and his world.

Study of various aspects of nineteenth-century French/ Francophone literature. Genre, theme, specific chronological concentration, and approach will vary. May be repeated for credit with different topics.