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University of Dublin
Trinity College
Department of French
Senior Sophister — Guide to Courses 2013/14
Two-Subject Moderatorship
Please Retain for Reference
This booklet should be read in conjunction with relevant entries in the University
Calendar. In case of any conflict between the Handbook and the Calendar, the
provisions of the Calendar shall apply.
Lecturing staff
Individual telephones can be accessed from outside College by pre-fixing (01) 896;
email addresses are followed by <@tcd.ie>.
Dr Sarah Alyn-Stacey, room 4105, tel. 2686, email <salynsta>
Dr Edward Arnold, room 4106, tel. 1836, email <ejarnold>
Dr James Hanrahan, room 4107, tel. 1841, email <hanrahaj>
Dr Rachel Hoare, room 4103, tel. 1842, email <rmhoare>
Dr Claire Laudet, room 4108, tel. 2313, email <claudet>
Dr Alexandra Lukes, room 4104, tel. 1977, email <lukesa>
Dr Hannes Opelz, room 4111, tel. 1077. email <opelzh>
Dr Paule Salerno-O'Shea, room 4113, tel. 1472, email <psalerno>
Professor David Scott, room 3136, tel. 1374, email <dscott>
Departmental Offices
(Sinead Doran/Mary Kelly), Room 4109, tel. 1553, email, <french>
(Tracy Corbett) Room 4089, tel. 1333, email, <tcorbett>
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Please read carefully the regulations and course-descriptions which follow, and
complete this form in the following manner.
1. Name four Topics in order of preference.
2. Obtain the signature of a member of staff for your choice of special subject.
3. Return this page to the Departmental Office, Room 4111, by 12.00 hrs on Monday
18 February 2013
N.B. As far as possible the French Department will try and accommodate
students in the courses of their choice, however, the department is not in a
position to guarantee that all courses offered will take place. The number of
students opting for a particular course, timetable constraints and availability of
staff has to be taken into account.
Students intending to go 'off books' in 2013/14 should still complete the form, but
indicate their intention below. They should note that completion of this form does not in
itself constitute a request for permission, which should be sought from the Senior
Lecturer via their tutor at as early a stage as possible. Students who obtain permission,
and then change their mind, should notify the department immediately.
Name: (in block capitals):
Student Number:
_______
SS Topics: (state 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th choices in order of preference):
1.
2.
3.
4.
Special Subject Dissertation:
Subject area:
Signature of intended supervisor:
Year Off-Books:
I intend/do not intend to spend next year off books. (Delete as applicable.)
I confirm that I have received a copy of the departmental statement concerning courses
and assessment for the Senior Sophister year 2013/14
Signature _____________________________ Date: _______________________
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Senior Sophister Requirements and Assessment Procedures
The requirements for Senior Sophister students in TSM French in 2013/14 are as follows:
1. Language: All students are required to attend language classes, and submit regular
written work.
2. Topics: Students select two Topics from the range offered. All choices are subject to
availability, to timetable constraints and to the approval of the Head of Department. An
assessment essay (2,500 words) is to be submitted in respect of each topic. One of the two
assessment essays is to be written in French. The first essay is to be submitted by 12.00
hrs on Monday 13 January 2014, the second by 12.00 hrs on Friday 21 March 2014 to the
Departmental Office, Room 4109. Titles for essays will be published in the SS Handbook
which will be available on the French Department website http://www.tcd.ie/French/ at the
beginning of the academic year. For details of courses, see list below.
3. Special Subject: Each student selects a special subject of his or her own choice, in
consultation with an appropriate member of staff (for details of staff interests, see below).
Please note that members of staff are instructed not to accept more than their quota of
supervisees, and the fact that a student wishes to be supervised by a member of staff does
not guarantee that the member of staff will be able or willing to act. It would obviously be
prudent to consult with the supervisor of your choice at an early stage. The candidate's
work on this special subject is to be embodied in a dissertation of 9,000 to 12,000 words, to
be written in English or French, or in an alternative piece of submitted work of a different
nature but of comparable substance, to be submitted in either case by 12.00 hrs on
Monday 3 March 2014 to Room 4109. A computer-generated word-count must be included
on the title page of your submitted dissertation. Please note that, if you exceed the set
word-limit, your dissertation will be returned with an instruction to reduce the length
appropriately. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure (s)he maintains adequate contact
with her/his supervisor, who will provide guidance on how to improve content.
The assessment for Moderatorship Part II for 2013 is as follows:
1. Language paper I (Translation into French and résumé)
2. Language paper II (Translation from French and essay)
3. Topic I (submitted work and examination)
4. Topic II (submitted work and examination)
5. Special subject (dissertation) or equivalent to be submitted in English or French
6. Viva voce examination
The oral examination takes place in the presence of an extern examiner. As part of this
examination, candidates will be required to deliver an oral exposé on one of two subjects
chosen by the candidate, and approved in advance. The examination is followed
immediately by discussion of the candidate’s dissertation, which may result in a
modification of the provisional mark given.
Candidates should note that, following comments from extern examiners concerning an
unduly narrow focus of study in some instances, all ‘Topic’ papers will carry the rubric that
candidates should avoid excessive overlap with dissertation subjects.
More detailed information relating to exam requirements and marking will be published in
the Senior Sophister Handbook which will be posted, in due course, on the Department
Website.
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Senior Sophister Courses 2013/14
NB Where a course is undersubscribed, the course may not be offered.
1.
Memory, Myth, History: Writing Court and Conflict in 16th and 17th – Century
France FR4038 (Dr Alyn Stacey)
______________________________________________________________________
Aims: The aim of this course is to provide students with an insight into the importance of
the Court in 16th and 17th-century France and the extent to which it was often at the
centre of social conflict. It aims also to look at some of the key socio-philosophical and
literary changes which made themselves felt at every level of society during the 16 th and
17th centuries. Through close textual analysis of some of the major writings of the period
and a variety of genres (film, drama, tragedy, comedy, propaganda, satire, poetry,
narrative), the course aims to examine the representation of the Court, the writings of
major Court writers and notions of ideal kingship. The course will also analyse modern
cinematic representations of the court. Underpinning the course are the following
questions:
-What are the challenges posed when interpreting and representing the past?
-What is the place of memory and/or myth in the writing of
history/experience?
-How does each genre confront these questions in the specific context of
16th-and 17th-century court literature?
Objectives: By the end of the course, students will be acquainted with the works of
some of the major writers of the 16th and 17th centuries. They will be familiar with a
considerable range of ideas and genres which reflect the preoccupations of the time.
They will be familiar with the aims of ‘heritage’ cinema. They will have developed their
abilities to closely analyse texts and film. They will have discussed and become aware of
the problematic of interpreting and writing the past.
Course Structure: Teaching will be by lecture, student papers and discussion. Students
are also encouraged to attend the seminars organised by the Centre for Medieval and
Renaissance Studies based in Trinity (details from Sarah Alyn Stacey, Director of the
Centre). The course is structured as follows:
Michaelmas Term
Introduction
Filming the Renaissance Court
La Reine Margot (Patrice Chéreau, 1994)
French Court versus Papal Court
Joachim Du Bellay, Les Regrets (Larousse)
Ideal Kingship
François Rabelais, Gargantua (Garnier Flammarion)
Cleopatra in the Renaissance
Etienne Jodelle, Cléopâtre captive (edition provided)
Hilary Term
Kings, Politics and Honour
Pierre Corneille, Cinna (Paris, Garnier Flammarion)
Passions and the Court
Racine, Phèdre (Paris, Bordas)
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Bienséance and the Court
Molière, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme
The Spiritual versus the Earthly Order
Blaise Pascal, Trois discours des grands (Departmental edition to be
provided)
Filming the 17th-Century Court
Tous les matins du monde (Alain Corneau, 1992)
2. Counter-Revolution Extreme Right(s) and Fascism in French Culture and
Politics 1870-1945 FR4037 (Dr. Arnold)
____________________________________________________________________
The objectives of this course are to give students an insight into one of the main
varieties of European fascism and a grounding in the intellectual, political, social and
historical background of France during the Third Republic. This approach will focus
upon literary, political and cultural manifestations of French fascism and extreme rightwing thought which originated in the intellectual climate of the Belle Epoque and its
"fin-de-siècle” mood, were developed during the interwar years and were forcibly
expressed during the Occupation years. The interest of studying the precursors of
French fascism resides in the fact that many of the themes developed in France in the
Belle Epoque fed the ideology of Italian fascism and Nazism. This has led many
scholars to consider France as being the country which "invented" fascism.
To this effect, the first part of the course will evaluate the importance of the intellectual
and historical precursors of French counter-revolutionary thought and fascism. This
will include the study of the individuals (Drumont, Barrès, Maurras) and movements
(Action Française, Ligue de la Patrie Française, Ligue des Patriotes) involved in
events such as Boulangism and the Dreyfus Affair, and the concomitant antisemitism,
racialism and nationalism. The writings of Communist, Marxist and Marxist revisionist
theorists (Guesde, Jaurès, Blum) will also be briefly studied to give a contextual
perspective to these emerging anti-enlightenment themes.
The second part of the course will investigate the influence of the Great War on the
emergence of fascist doctrines, intellectuals and movements. A clear distinction can
be made between literary, intellectual fascism (Drieu la Rochelle, Brasillach, Céline,
Rebatet) and fascist or conservative-reactionary movements (le Faisceau, les Croix de
Feu, le PSF, les Jeunesses Patriotes, le Francisme, la Cagoule, le PPF). The period
of the Occupation and Vichy France -the third section of the course- is considered by
some scholars to be the culminating point of the fascist temptation in France. Others
see it as a return to conservative, reactionary values of pre-revolutionary France and
not necessarily as a pure expression of French fascism.
The final section of the course will analyse the ideology and political myths of the
Front National in France, and ask the question whether the movement of notably
Jean-Marie le Pen has reactivated some aspects of this ideological tradition in France.
This course will be based on the study of primary sources of a varying nature (novels,
autobiographies, political and economic programmes, visual and spoken propaganda,
newspaper articles).
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3. Language and society in the French-speaking world: status,
diversity and function. FR4043 (Dr Hoare)
_____________________________________________________________
This course comprises a sociolinguistic exploration of the French language,
and its varieties throughout La Francophonie. The focus is on the relationship
between language and society, covering such topics as language variation
and innovation, bilingualism, diglossia, ethnolinguistics and code-switching,
with specific reference to the French language. The Topic will comprise two
main parts:
Part one
The position of French in the world.
We will examine the diversity of the French-speaking world and the function
of French in specific countries and regions:
 Is French a ‘world language’?
 French as a first language in Europe and North America
o Case studies: language related rivalries
o Switzerland, Belgium, Canada
o Multilingualism and language policy

French as a second language: the colonial heritage in Africa and the
Dom Tom territories.
o Multilingualism and language policy
o Linguistic and non-linguistic factors
o Student case studies
Part two
Exploring linguistic variation in Francophonie
In part two, the focus will shift to individual language features, and the local
varieties of French outside of France will be examined.
 Europe: Belgium and Suisse romande: pronunciation, grammar and
vocabulary
 The French language in Canada
 Regional French in Africa
 French and Creole
Teaching will be by lecture, seminar and student presentation. The material
studied will come from a variety of sources, including linguistic journals (these
will be made available to students on Blackboard), audio materials and
electronic sources. In addition, students should consult the materials on the
website of La délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues
de France. http://www.dglf.culture.gouv.fr/
Recommended reading:
Ager, D. (1995) Francophonie in the 1990’s: Problems and opportunities,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ager D. (1990) Sociolinguistics and Contemporary French, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Ball, R. The French-speaking World: A practical introduction to sociolinguistic
issues. London: Routledge.
Kline, M. and Mellerski, N. (2004) Issues in the French-Speaking World. CT:
Greenwood Press.
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Sanders, C. (ed.) (1993) French Today: Language in its social context,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. Writing and Deconstruction FR4040 (Dr Opelz)
_____________________________________________________________
Ever since Plato sought to divorce writing from speech and thus relegate the
former to little more than a defective, if not an altogether unreliable form of
the latter, the question of writing lay dormant, century after century, as
Western philosophy unfolded and spread its sway. Heedless of its own
potentially problematic status as a mode of written discourse, philosophy set
course for the great questions that captivated and troubled humankind.
Although the problems posed by writing – what is the relationship between
writing and language? between writing and thought? between the written
word and the spoken word? between philosophy and other discursive forms
(for example, literature)? – were never simply ignored by philosophers, it was
not until French thinker Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) began to investigate
them in the second half of the twentieth century that writing, as a serious
philosophical inquiry, took centre stage. More precisely, with Derrida, the
scene of writing, as it is played and replayed in the work of a number of
exemplary writers and thinkers across the centuries, does not only become a
decisive question for philosophy but exposes also that which displaces
philosophical discourse itself. Through this displacement, Derrida argues, all
our inherited assumptions are thrown into question, including those on which
thought, writing, language occur at all. The purpose of this course will be to
explore the process, practice, or event – known today the world over as
‘deconstruction’ – through which these assumptions are radically called into
question. Four key French figures will guide us through the pressing issues
that Derrida’s writings compel us to confront: Jean-Jacques Rousseau (17121788), Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898), Antonin Artaud (1896-1948), and
Maurice Blanchot (1907-2003). The focus of this course will be twofold: first,
we shall examine a select number of texts by the four authors under
discussion and see how these texts raise theoretical questions about writing;
second, we shall look at the way Derrida problematizes these questions by
focusing on some of his best-known and ground-breaking essays. As such,
the course will offer students an opportunity to address the issues at stake
from a variety of perspectives (philosophy, poetry, drama, literary criticism)
and is designed to assist them in expanding both their analytical skills and
their conceptual language. This course will be especially useful for those with
an interest not just in literary theory but also, more generally, in the age-old
conversation between literature and philosophy.
Course texts:
Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Essai sur l’origine des langues (1781) (Paris: Flammarion
(coll. GF), 1993).
Jacques Derrida, selection from De la grammatologie (Paris: Minuit (coll. Critique),
1967).
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Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé, selection from Igitur, Divagations, Un coup de dés (Paris:
Gallimard (coll. Poésie), 2003).
Jacques Derrida, ‘La Double séance’ (1970), in La Dissémination (Paris: Le Seuil
(coll. Points Essais), 1972).
Artaud
Antonin Artaud, Le Théâtre et son double (1938) (Paris: Gallimard (coll. Folio
Essais), 1973)
Jacques Derrida, ‘Le Théâtre de la cruauté et la clôture de la représentation’ (1966),
in L’Écriture et la différence, op. cit.
Blanchot
Maurice Blanchot, ‘Artaud’ (1956), in Le Livre à venir, op. cit.
, ‘La Cruelle raison poétique’ (1958), in L’Entretien infini, op. cit.
, ‘Parler, ce n’est pas voir’ (1960), in L’Entretien infini, op. cit.
, ‘Héraclite’ (1960), in L’Entretien infini, op. cit.
Jacques Derrida, ‘La Parole soufflée’ (1965), in L’Écriture et la différence, op. cit.
, selection from Positions (Paris: Minuit (coll. Critique), 1972).
, selection from Parages (1986), new ed. (Paris: Galilée, 2003).
5.
French Travel Writing 1850-2000 FR4036 (Prof. Scott)
_____________________________________________________________________
Dating back many centuries, French travel writing had, by the 1800s, established itself
as a major genre in France, and has been practised since by many authors. The aim of
this course will be, while confronting the generical problems it raises, to explore the
motivations — political, historical, literary, æsthetic — of its exponents and to
investigate the myths and fantasies that form an inseparable part of it. Examples will be
drawn from the work of poets, novelists, painters, semiologists and political scientists
working over the last 150 years, and will cover voyages to Spain, North Africa, the
Congo, the Near East, China, Japan, the Pacific, North America and Russia.
Barthes, Roland
Baudrillard, Jean
Claude Lévi-Strauss
Fromentin, Eugène
Gauguin, Paul
Gautier, Théophile
Gide, André
Gide, André
Michaux, Henri
Michaux, Henri
Segalen, Victor
L’Empire des signes (Flammarion)
Amérique (Livre de Poche)
Tristes Tropiques (Plon ‘Pocket’)
Un été dans le Sahara (Le Sycomore)
Oviri. Ecrits d’un sauvage (Gallimard: Idées)
Voyage en Espagne (GF)
Voyage au Congo (Gallimard: Idées)
Retour de l’URSS (Gallimard: Idées)
Un Barbara en Asie (Gallimard)
Ecuador (Gallimard)
Essai sur l’exotisme
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Special Subject 2013/14
The choice of a Special Subject is left to the individual student. However, this choice
must be agreed with a member of the teaching staff of the Department of French,
who will act as supervisor. By special arrangement with the head of department,
supervision may be sought from a member of staff in a cognate department. You
should therefore consult members of staff about a dissertation subject at the earliest
opportunity and obtain his or her signature showing agreement in principle. The
following list is intended to give students an idea of each member of staff’s academic
interests. The subject of your dissertation should be indicated on the form supplied,
but it is recognized that this subject may be modified or defined more closely in due
course. The number of students to be supervised by any member of staff will be
limited: you are advised to take action without delay.
Sarah ALYN-STACEY French Renaissance poetry. French Renaissance literature,
with particular reference to Marc-Claude de Buttet and the court circle of Marguerite
de France, duchesse de Savoie. Classical and Italian influences on French
Renaissance literature. Comparative Renaissance literature (French, English,
Italian). Critical theory, notably its application to Renaissance texts and also the
related concerns of intertextuality and literary hermeneutics. Contemporary cinema.
Edward J. ARNOLD Twentieth-century French intellectual, political and social
history: history of ideas in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Europe; right
and left-wing, counter-revolutionary, fascist and national-populist thought in France,
1880s to the present.
James HANRAHAN Literature, history, culture of the Early Modern period.
Literature of the Enlightenment, particularly Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot.
Historiography of Enlightenment and ancien régime. History of ideas and
histoire des mentalitiés. History of intellectuals and public opinion.
Rachel HOARE Linguistics. Second language acquisition. Socioloinguistics of
French, especially attitudes towards regional languages and varieties in France.
Language variation.
Claire LAUDET Second language acquisition. French for specific purposes. Course
design, teaching materials development, programme evaluation.
Alexandra LUKES Nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature; relations
between literature, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and linguistics; madness,
nonsense, and marginal forms of writing; translation studies and translation
theory; literary bilingualism; autobiography.
Hannes OPELZ 20th-century French literature and thought; relations
between literature, philosophy, politics, and affect; deconstruction; Maurice
Blanchot; Georges Bataille; Jacques Derrida; Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe..
Paule SALERNO-O'SHEA Business French, Direct Marketing.
David SCOTT Nineteenth and twentieth-century writing, especially poetry, art
criticism, Orientalism and travel writing. Textual and visual studies. Semiotics
(Baudrillard and Peirce). Nineteenth and twentieth-century art and aesthetic theory.