French and Francophone Language and Literature Commons^™

Resignation In Giovanni Verga’S I Malavoglia, Lacie Parker

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of my research is to present a clear understanding of the view of life presented in Giovanni Verga’s novel, I Malavoglia. I chose to study this author because I had been exposed to his short stories in my Italian courses and had been intrigued by Verga’s strong desire to present the world as realistically as he saw it. My mentor recommended the novel to me because it is the first in a series Verga proposed to write that would explore the lives of those that struggle against their own fate and fail tragically. The main question that arose …

Shaping Public Space: Examining The Musée D’Orsay And Modern Louvre, Heather Jacques Wood, Dr. Daryl Lee

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For this project, I wrote an honors thesis examining how museum space—understood as a form of public space—has been shaped by the forces of politics, culture, and public space theories. Two museums in particular, the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée du Louvre, served as case studies and as sources for comparison and contrast. My examination focused on the time from 1980 to present, as these years reflect a significant era of birth and change for both museums. As an additional contrast, I examined the impact of the same shaping forces listed above—politics, culture, and public space theories—on a museum yet …

The Flesh And The Word: The Political And Theological Implications Of The Bibles Moralisées, Anna C. Siebach, Dr. Jesse Hurlbut

Journal of Undergraduate Research

At the beginning of the thirteenth century, around 1220-30, Blanche of Castille commissioned a Bible the likes of which had never before been produced. This bible, now known as Vienna 2554, consisted of four verses per page, each one linked with an exegetical gloss of the biblical text. Down the center of the page ran two columns of medallions, each one representing the text—whether biblical verse or gloss—placed next to it. With this manuscript began the royal tradition of the Bibles moralisées, a group of seven existing manuscripts, all based on the same theological and practical design.

Figuring The Text Of Salvation: Text And Image In Guillaume De Digulleville’S Pèlerinage De L’Âme, Anna S. Larsen, Dr. Jesse Hurlbut

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Between the years of 1355 and 1358, Guillaume de Digulleville, a Cistercian monk from Châlis, wrote Le pèlerinage de l’âme, the second poem in a trilogy of allegorical pilgrimages. This poem, along with its predecessor Le pèlerinage de la vie humaine and its successor Le pèlerinage de Jhesu Christ proved to be one of the most popular literary works of the 14th and 15th centuries. Seventy-five known manuscripts exist which contain one or more poems from the trilogy, demonstrating that they circulated through England, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and France. The trilogy was translated into English, Castilian, German, Italian, Dutch and …

Gifts In The Burgundian Court Analyzing Financial Records From The Fifteenth Century, Liel Boyce, Dr. Jesse Hurlbut

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Duke of Burgundy was a major broker of art, culture, civilization and power in Western Europe in the fifteenth century. The administration of his wealth and all his expenditures was centralized in a single office called the “Chambre des Comptes.” These annual records span nearly the entire century, and, in most cases, at least one of the copies from each year survives today. In an earlier project under a former MEG grant, Professor Hurlbut and a small team of students photographed these historical documents from the departmental archives in Lille, France. However, because of the archaic, stylized lettering in …

Caragiale: An Experience In 20th Century Romanian Cinema, Michael Wilson, Dr. Anca Sprenger

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The “new wave of Romanian Cinema,” as the recent success of films by a handful of Romanian directors has been named, has made quite a splash in the pool of International Cinema. At the Cannes International Film Festival, the most prestigious film festival in the world, Romanian films have been taking the competition by surprise. In the last 4 years, Romanian directors have taken home seven prestigious awards, including two Palme d’Or, the equivalent of the grand prize given at Cannes. A.O. Scott, a film critic for the New York Times, puts it this way:

Windows Of France: A Collage Of French Culture Through The Eye Of A Camera, Kimberly A. Ingram, Dr. Michael D. Bush

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This grant has enabled me to embark upon an exciting project that will improve the tools available in the field of French Language acquisition, a video disc textbook. This project contains three main objectives: 1) set up a bilingual database of the images necessary to compile a “little c” culture textbook [i.e. the small, day to day activities that set apart daily life in France from other cultures], 2) obtain the actual images, 3) work with a publishing company and submit it for publication.

Balzac And A Christian Narrative Model: A Message For Modern France, Morgan Dennis, Dr. Scott Sprenger

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Honoré de Balzac was one of the most prolific French authors in the 19th century, and scholars around the world publish numerous articles and books about his enormous collection of novels (known as La Comédie Humaine) every year. Despite the fact that religious symbols, references, and images abound through Balzac’s fiction and non-fiction writings, the religious dimension of his novels has largely been ignored because of the secular state of much of modern academics today. When I learned this in Dr. Scott Sprenger’s class during the winter semester of 2008 as we read several of Balzac’s novels, I decided to …

Jeanine Meerapfel And Her Films – An Interview, Jonathan Smith, Dr. Daryl Lee

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Jeanine Meerapfel has been a professional filmmaker for 30 years and is an important, though often overlooked, voice in German and Argentine cinema. Meerapfel, born in Argentina to German-Jewish parents who fled Germany during World War II, has worked in Germany, Argentina, and Greece, and has directed both fiction and documentary films. Since her first feature film, Malou [1981], she has tackled issues of immigration, identity and how one reconciles the past, with each subsequent film adding to the discussion of those issues. Jeanine Meerapfel’s work is fascinatingly complex and often defies rudimentary forms of categorization, proving far more complicated …

Summary Of Creative Research Grant Results And Artistic Statement, Erika Feinauer, Dr. Michael Bus

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to obtain materials for a photo database to be used in French language instruction. This was accomplished by traveling to France and taking a myriad of pictures. I was in France from April 12 to May 8, 1996. My sister traveled with me and was my aide. We bought Eurorail Passes for the trains, and made it a backpacking excursion. I feel that we made significant contributions to the project in terms of volume of photographs, however, I was surprised at some of the difficulties that I encountered. I hadn’t foreseen some of the …

Teaching French Literacy In West Africa As Part Of A Byu Study Abroad Program, Charles Thomas Sones, Dr. Chantel P. Thompson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Before arriving in Africa, our contact had arranged for us to work in a village outside of Saint-Louis, Senegal, within walking distance of where we would be studying. We were told that a group of twenty adults and twenty children were already selected who needed literacy skills. Although we were not sure of their specific levels, we were told that most had no literacy skills and many would have no French language skills.

Summary Of Creative Project—Images Of French Canada: An Educational Tool For The French Language Classroom, Heather A. Young, Dr. Michael Bush

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This creative project constitutes one component of an initiative undertaken by Dr. Michael Bush to obtain and use culturally authentic images of everyday life in Francophone countries to illustrate lexical and grammatical concepts in the French language classroom. Receiving the ORCA Scholarship enabled me to take over 830 photographs illustrating a broad range of concepts, which will be used in classroom instruction at BYU and will eventually be made available to French language teachers across the United States. These photos are in addition to well over 3000 images which have already been obtained by other students.

Using Photographic Images To Learn Vocabulary And Culture In A Foreign Language Classroom, Brandy Harman, Chantel Thompson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Studies have found that foreign language students have greater success learning vocabulary when there is a visual to accompany the new words and concepts. It is also a good way to incorporate aspects of the target culture into the language lesson.

From Theory To Practice: Translating Ying Chen's Les Lettres Chinoises, Sunny Ann Hendry

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes Ying Chen's Les Lettres Chinoises through the lenses of literary translation, migrant writing and epistolary genres, as well as through critical theory of Chen's poetics in order to inform a translation of said novel from French into English. This theoretical groundwork is accompanied by analysis of the process of the translation, including specifications, methods used, and justifications for translation decisions. Les Lettres Chinoises is Ying Chen's second novel, written in French rather than her native Chinese language. Spanning a fifty-seven letter exchange between Shanghai and Montreal, Chen's choice to write in language other than her first, as …

"Une Transformation Profonde": Decay And Beauty In Cléo From 5 To 7, Susan J. Garver

Theses and Dissertations

Cléo from 5 to 7 is perhaps the most famous work of influential French filmmaker Agnès Varda, who is often called the "Grande Dame of the New Wave". The depth of symbolism, the richness of imagery, the beginnings of cinécriture (a Varda-ism describing cinema as a form of writing that uses all the tools available to a filmmaker, not just words), and the charm of the story have guaranteed Cléo's popularity with scholars and audiences alike. Current scholarship has tended to focus on a few aspects of Cléo, including her role as a flâneuse, the use of …

Governing Gorée: France In West Africa Following The Seven Years' War, Andrew G. Skabelund

Theses and Dissertations

In 1763, France had just suffered a devastating loss to the British in the Seven Years' War. In almost an instant, France's claims to West Africa shrank to the tiny island of Gorée off the coast of Senegal and a few trading posts on the mainland. This drastic reversal of fortunes forced France to reevaluate its place in the world and rethink its overall imperial objectives and colonial strategies, and in an effort to regroup, the French Empire sent a new governor, Pierre François Guillaume Poncet de la Rivière, on a mission to regain its foothold in West Africa. From …

Knightly Bird Vows: A Case Study In Late Medieval Courtly Culture, Liel Y. Boyce

Theses and Dissertations

In the late Middle Ages, there was a series of instances wherein knights vowed upon birds. Two of these, the first and the last, are historical events: The Feast of the Swans with Edward I in England on 22 May 1306 and the Feast of the Pheasant with Philip the Good in the duchy of Burgundy on 17 February 1454. Edward I held the Feast of the Swans as part of his son's dubbing ceremony, including the entire court taking vows on two swans. The Feast of the Pheasant was an elaborate banquet that Philip the Good used to gather …

Redemption In The Life And Work Of Camille Claudel, Haleigh Heaps Burgon

Theses and Dissertations

Camille Claudel is a sculptor who has traditionally been approached in terms of her relationship to Rodin and his influence on her work. Indeed, the two shared a passionate relationship and there are certainly similarities between the two sculptors' work which provide for fascinating analyses. However, one of the acknowledged but previously unexplored speculations on Claudel's art suggests that it involves a measure of veiled spirituality sealed within its stone. It is precisely this sacred element within her sculptures that offers viewers an opportunity to experience transcendence while identifying with fundamental themes. Furthermore, Claudel created her figures as a method …

A Comparative Analysis Of Text Usage And Composition In Goscinny's Le Petit Nicolas, Goscinny's Astérix, And Albert Uderzo's Astérix, Dennis Scott Meyer

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis is to analyze the textual composition of René Goscinny’s Astérix and Le petit Nicolas, demonstrating how they differ and why. Taking a statistical look at the comparative qualities of each series of works, the structural differences and similarities in language use in these two series and their respective media are highlighted and compared. Though one might expect more complicated language use in traditional text by virtue of its format, analysis of average word length, average sentence length, lexical diversity, the prevalence of specific forms (the passé composé, possessive pronouns, etc.), and preferred collocations …

Maurice Scève, Lyonnais: Identité Régionale, Topographie Urbaine Et Lyrisme Dans La Délie, Elise Agathe Alice Danguy

Theses and Dissertations

Ce document est une méta-narration de l‘article « Maurice Scève, Lyonnais: Identité régionale, topographie urbaine et lyrisme dans la Délie » écrit par Professeur Robert J. Hudson et moi-même, et que nous espérons voir publier d‘ici peu. Il contient une bibliographie annotée de toutes les sources primaires et secondaires consultées, d‘un compte rendu du processus d‘écriture de l‘article ainsi que l‘analyse de plusieurs dizains nécessaires pour soutenir l‘argument principal de l‘article. Notre article traite la façon dont Maurice Scève, un poète lyonnais du 16e siècle, utilise la topographie lyonnaise afin de se définir comme Lyon mais aussi comme auteur …

The War Without A Name: The Use Of Propaganda In The Decolonization War Of Algeria, Benjamin J. Sparks

Theses and Dissertations

The Algerian war for independence, 1954-1962, also known as the War Without a Name due to its lack of recognition as a war by the French government, remains an indelible scar on the face of France. The Algerian war represents one of the most critical moments in modern French history since the French Revolution (Le Sueur 256), putting into question the motto of the French republic, "liberté, égalité, fraternité". This thesis will show that although the French won the war militarily they lost the war of ideas, that of propaganda and persuasion. Thus, this thesis will demonstrate that propaganda by …

Sacred Union And Sacred Violence In Tournier's Gilles Et Jeanne, David Doyle Drake

Theses and Dissertations

Written in 1983, the novella Gilles et Jeanne seems to be one of Michel Tournier's simpler works at first glance. Yet, for all of its simplicity, Tournier does not repress his desire to lace the tale with metaphoric and metaphysical symbolism. It is through a symbolic marriage on the battlefield that Tournier links the two characters in a sort of mystical union. All of the crimes following this ritual that precipitated Gilles descent into depravity were in fact an attempt to reunite with the departed spirit of his "spouse", either by mimetically recreating the circumstances of her death, or by …

Queening: Chess And Women In Medieval And Renaissance France, Regina L. O'Shea

Theses and Dissertations

This work explores the correlation between the game of chess and social conditions for women in both medieval and Renaissance France. Beginning with an introduction to the importance and symbolism of the game in European society and the teaching of the game to European nobility, this study theorizes how chess relates to gender politics in early modern France and how the game's evolution reflects the changing role of women. I propose that modifications to increase the directional and quantitative abilities of the Queen piece made at the close of the fifteenth century reflect changing attitudes towards women of the period, …

Sport As Art: The Female Athlete In French Literature, Christina Ann Tsaturyan

Theses and Dissertations

The modern conception of organized, codified sport originated in Europe during the 19th century. At this time, instructors began to institute the practice of certain physical activities at school as a means of teaching morals, forming character, and initiating social exchange. Sport is particularly appropriate for forming men because of its public, physical nature. The values it instills—courage, strength, leadership—are also decidedly masculine. What, then, is made of the female athlete? Are the noble qualities that sports affirm inapplicable to women? In this thesis, I argue that female participation in sports often leads to masculinization, unless the sport is transformed …

« Pour La Patrie, Par La Montagne » : Illustration De L’Imaginaire De La Conquête Dans Tartarin Sur Les Alpes D’Alphonse Daudet Et Là-Haut D’Édouard Rod, Anabelle Stephania Selway

Theses and Dissertations

La période 1870-1914 est une ère de paix relative pour la France. Apres la défaite de 1870, la politique revancharde française ranime les efforts impérialistes de colonisation en Afrique et dans les iles. Cet élan colonialiste se traduit dans la pratique du sport qui gagne de popularité et devient le moyen idéal d’acheminer les idéaux républicains. L’alpinisme et la course aux sommets des Alpes deviennent alors symboliques de l’imaginaire de conquête présent dans l’esprit de la bourgeoisie européenne.

Bien que ce phénomène soit l’objet de plusieurs études historico-culturelles, telles que celles d’Olivier Hoibian, Philippe Joutard et Dominique Lejeune, rares sont …

Nationalism In Charles De Gaulle's Speeches During World War Ii, Mayavel Amado

Theses and Dissertations

In a world where conflicts and supranational entities have emerged, nationalism has become an important topic for scholars in different fields. While much debate exists on what this term actually means and encompass, little attention has been paid to the rhetoric of nationalist leaders. Through scholarly and popular literature nationalism has often been confused with patriotism and populism. This work intends to look at what nationalism is, based on patterns drawn from observations in the rhetoric of nationalist leaders (sometimes opposing them to populist rhetoric) and at the same time it intends to expose Charles de Gaulle's nationalism in his …

La Misogynie À Visage Féminin: Hircan's Role As Marguerite's Anti-Feminist Voice In The Heptaméron (Vii & Xlix), Gregory Richard Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

The following document is a meta-commentary on the article, "La misogynie à visage féminin: Hircan's Role as Marguerite's Anti-feminist Voice in the Heptaméron (VII & XLIX)," co-authored by Dr. Robert J. Hudson and myself, which will shortly be submitted for publication. It contains an annotated bibliography of all our primary and secondary sources and an account of writing the article. Our article examines what Marguerite de Navarre, the sixteenth-century French Renaissance author of the Heptaméron (a collection 72 nouvelles, all supposedly true stories being told by a group of ten devisants to one another), intended by her …

The Search For The Sacred In Gabrielle Roy, Ann Elizabeth Sumsion

Theses and Dissertations

Many anthropological studies have shown the prevalence of the sacred in primitive societies, manifested primarily in significant gestures such as exchanges, rituals, festivals, and the use of time and space. Some studies, in particular those of Roger Caillois and Mircea Eliade, have demonstrated that traces of the sacred, though seemingly displaced, remain present in modern and secular societies. This thesis will examine and bring to light these remnants of sacred behavior in the contemporary settings of the stories of Gabrielle Roy, focusing primarily on food-sharing, gift-giving, and festivals. Each analysis presented will detail how different aspects of the sacred are …

Images Of Corsica In France: Travel Memoirs And 19th Century Writers, James Oliver Mayo

Theses and Dissertations

Considered an integral part of Metropolitan France, the island of Corsica is situated nonetheless on the very periphery of the modern state that claims it. Actually situated geographically closer to Italy than to any part of France, its culture and its people are likewise more closely related to their Italians neighbors than to the rest of what Corsicans term "Continental France." Following the acquisition of Corsica, both government officials and bourgeois travelers would seek to visit the island, often recording their findings and publishing these memoirs for others to know of their travels. This concept of travel memoirs, specifically those …

In The Company Of Cheaters (16th-Century Aristocrats And 20th-Century Gangsters), Mark Cammeron Murdock

Theses and Dissertations

This document contains a meta-commentary on the article that I co-authored with Dr. Corry Cropper entitled Breaking the Duel's Rules: Brantôme, Mérimée, and Melville, that will be published in the next issue of Essays in French Literature and Culture, and an annotated bibliography of primary and secondary sources featuring summaries and important quotes dealing with duels, honor, honor codes, cheating, historical causality, chance, and sexuality. Also, several examples of film noir are cited with brief summaries and key events noted. The article we wrote studies two instances of cheating in duels: one found in Brantôme's Discours sur les duels and …