French 247 - Freshman Seminar

Institution:

Washington University in St Louis

Subject:

Description:

In this multimedia course, we focus on urban enclaves of Bohemia during the 19th and 20th centuries: namely, Romantic, Decadent, and Expatriate Paris. We also take a brief literary excursion near the end of class to New York's Greenwich Village and Alphabet City, home of the Nuyrican Poet's Café and setting of the musical Rent, in order to examine French influences on these avant garde settings. Our virtual journey through Bohemia takes us to such disturbing haunts as "The Hashish Club" and the various cafés and nightclubs that furnished the background for the great writers and artists of their times. We explore the complex, cosmopolitan nature of Parisian avant garde culture and oppositional strategies through several classic English-language histories of the most important movements to flourish in France between roughly 1830 and 1950. We examine literary texts (especially poems and manifestoes); paintings from Impressionism to Surrealism; and musical pieces by Satie, Stravinsky, Josephine Baker, and Dexter Gordon. Reading knowledge of French would be helpful but is not essential. In English.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.wustl.edu

Phone Number:

(314) 935-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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