I’m teaching a summer course at the moment, and while the students are quite interested in Rodenbach’s dark novel, sometimes the sun and heat call for a quick break from the novel’s grey and foreboding atmosphere. Charles Trenet’s “La Mer” is a classic, with its nostalgic 1940s sound that builds to a final stanza...Read more »
Literature from outside of metropolitan France is finding an expanding presence in undergraduate French courses, freeing students from the idea that the great works of French literature must only come from France (or Paris). The incorporation of francophone literature into survey courses has been a valuable addition to presenting the broader role of the...Read more »
When learning adjectives in an elementary language course, I often use examples from the visual arts to create a comparaison exercise. Two paintings that lend themselves well to this kind of exercise are Manet’s Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1862-1863) and Monet’s painting of the same title (1865-66). Manet, Déjeuner sur l’herbe, painted 1862-1863 Monet, Déjeuner...Read more »
