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First-Year Courses

ENGLIT 0642 Comedy
This course studies comedy, both its deep structural patterns and its surface humor.  We will read works from many periods (from the Greeks through the 20th century) and genres to understand the literary and cultural meanings of comedy.
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ENGLIT 0655 Representing Adolescence
This course focuses on the question of how adolescence gets represented in a variety of genres, including young adult and children's literature; novels, plays and poetry aimed at adults that take adolescence as a theme; films and television programs; scientific, journalistic, or autobiographical commentaries on the nature of adolescence; and so on. This is one of the core courses for the children's literature certificate program, but all interested students are welcome.
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ENGLIT 0670 Queer and Transgender Literature
"Queer and Transgender Literature" will examine the changing relationship between queer and transgender identities in literature, science and culture from the early twentieth century to the present. Students will learn to read literature in its historical context, pairing it with primary sources from relevant scientific and medical discourses, as well as locating it in competing literary criticism traditions in queer theory and transgender studies. The weekly course meetings will revolve around discussion of key works in queer and transgender literature, paired alternately with important literary criticism and primary sources. Classroom discussion and in-class writing assignments will focus on building these historicist and critical skills in sequence, so as to prepare students for their main assignment sequence, which asks them to apply the skills they are learning to generate their own contributions to debates in criticism about the proper boundaries between queer and transgender identities.
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ENGWRT 0400 Introduction to Creative Writing
This course offers the opportunity to experiment with forms of poetry and fiction and to read and discuss from a writer's point of view contemporary writing in these genres.
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ENGWRT 0610 Introduction to Journalism and Nonfiction
This course is designed to develop your skills as a nonfiction writer. Through a combination of required readings, creative exercises, peer critiques and critical discussions, you will develop an understanding of the fundamentals of journalism as well as an introduction to the wide-ranging possibilities of nonfiction writing as a genre: narrative long form, the personal essay, immersion journalism and forms of creative nonfiction. This class will be divided into two components; gathering information and shaping stories.
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FMST 0120 Introduction to Film
This is an entry-level course on the visual arts that offers the student a broad introduction to the medium of film. As part of this overview, the class will consider such issues as: the process of contemporary film production and distribution; the nature of basic film forms; selected approaches to film criticism; comparisons between film and the other media. This is a Critical Studies course and counts for Category II towards the Film and Media Studies major and minor. Combined Section:
ENGFLM 0400
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FMST 0150 Film Analysis
This course introduces students to the art of the cinema, and to the techniques for its formal and iconographic analysis.  It examines the nature of shot composition and visual framing, the use of color, the role of lighting as a pictorial element, the potentials of camera movement, the modes of editing and the nature of image/sound montage.  It also introduces students to dominant cinema forms--narrative, experimental, documentary, etc.--And connects the cinema to visual arts (like painting and sculpture). Combined Section:
ENGFLM 0530
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FMST 0170 World Film History
This course both introduces students to techniques of film analysis and acquaints them with major works and movements in international cinema.  The course pays particular attention to the evolution of film narrative and visual style through landmarks in film development--European avant-garde films,  British documentary, Italian neo-realism, etc.  This is a Critical Studies course and is a required course for the Film and Media Studies major and minor. Combined Section:
ENGFLM 0540
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FMST 0321 Russian Film Stalin to Putin
The course traces the history of Russo-Soviet cinema from the death of Stalin to the present.  Particular attention is paid to the four major periods in Russo-Soviet history since the death of Stalin. Combined Section:
RUSS 0871
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FMST 1535 Westerns and Samurai Films
A focus on the critical comparative study of two filmic genres--the samurai representing Japanese cinema and the Western representing American cinema.  The course demonstrates the analytical processes of the film leading to its structural unity; shows the significance of both genres with respect to the history of Japanese, American and European cinema; compares approaches to films of different countries and provides the overall benefits of approaching films from an intercultural standpoint Combined Section:
JPNSE 1058
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FP 0001 Academic Foundations
Academic Foundations is designed for first-term students as an academic orientation to the University and to the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. Through class work and out-of-class activities, students will gain knowledge of the educational opportunities available to them on and off campus, engage in cohort style learning with other first-term students and be introduced to valuable resources that can aid them as a first-year college student.
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FP 0002 Academic Foundations - Academic Community
Academic Foundations - Academic Community is designed especially for first-term students enrolled in an Academic Community (AC).  The course is an academic orientation to the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences with a focus on the theme of the Academic Community. Through class work and out-of-class activities, students will gain knowledge of the educational opportunities at the University, the cultural events on and off campus, and an understanding of what it means to be a college student. FP 0002 classes will begin on Monday, August 24, 2020.
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FP 0004 Academic Foundations - BRIDGES
Academic Foundations - Bridges is designed especially for first-term students participating in the Bridges program. Through class work and out-of-class activities, students will gain knowledge of the educational opportunities at the University, the cultural events on and off campus, and an understanding of what it means to be a college student. All students who enroll in this course will receive a free academic planner on the first day of class.

DEPARTMENT CONSENT REQUIRED
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FR 0012 French Kiss: Love, Sex, France
From kissing to romantic escapades, from Paris to the Riviera, from Tahiti to Marrakesh, France and the Francophone world have a highly recognizable profile in matters of sex and love. Sexual behavior is always culturally inflected, and it evolves through time in its creation of emotions, attachments, families, and institutions. In this class, we will adopt a historical lens to retrace the cultural transformations of sex and love in the French cultural and social landscape. We will study contemporary visual and textual materials and a variety of historical documents from the Middle Ages to the present day. We will address controversial issues such as virginity, adultery, same-sex relationships, women¿s sexual agency, gender definitions through sexuality, the shifting boundaries of pornography and other related matters. This is a first-year course and is open both to incoming and more advanced students. It will count toward the French major and minor. Taught in English.
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FR 0014 Introduction to French Speaking Canada
This course is an introduction to French-speaking Canada as a linguistic and cultural geopolitical entity. While principal focus will be on Quebec , we will also examine French-speaking areas contiguous with Quebec and various isolates and extensions of this sociocultural area. We will begin chronologically with a historical presentation of the province's history as part of various geopolitical entities, and then focus on more contemporary Quebec, the bid for independence and the quiet restlessness of a "distinct society" concerned with its survival.
A&S LC Québec & Francophone NA

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