French Studies (M.A. and Ph.D.)
The Program in French Studies is designed to prepare MA and PhD specialists in literature and culture. Candidates are required to include courses in textual criticism, linguistics or linguistically oriented textual theory, and French and Francophone literature and culture. Recent courses and seminar topics have ranged from single authors (Stendhal, Proust, Balzac, Baudelaire, Scève) to such subjects as autobiography, l'écriture féministe, la modernité de Baudelaire à Baudrillard, le libertinage, misogynist texts and female readers, Literature and Philosophy in the Enlightenment, African francophone cinema, and critical theory.
MA students take an examination based on a reading list and are required to demonstrate, at the time of the master’s examination, an ability to communicate effectively in both written and oral French.
PhD students choosing a field of concentration in French and Other Disciplines can, in consultation with their advisor, take more than one course in another department.
M.A. (32 hours)
- Five courses in French and Francophone literature and culture at the 500 level, at least two of which must be in periods prior to 1800: 20 hours.
- One course in critical theory (FR 530 or equivalent): 4 hours.
- Of the two remaining graduate courses, one may be chosen in any area covered in the Department of French, such as linguistics, cinema studies or language learning/second-language acquisition (excluding the pedagogy course required by contract). The other course can be taken in another department when such a course can contribute to the student's research in French Studies. Close consultation with the advisor is required: 8 hours.
-
- An M.A. examination based on a reading list, with a written and an oral part.
- Students continuing to the doctoral program should take the M.A. examination no later than February during their second year.
- Students should also take note of the language requirement for the Ph.D. described below. Work toward fulfilling that requirement should begin during M.A. study, if possible. This requirement may, however, be fulfilled after having taken the Ph.D. preliminary examination.
Ph.D.
Stage 1
Stage 1 of the doctoral program is the same as the M.A. for doctoral candidates, described above.
- Admission to Stage 2 must be approved by the Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid, acting on recommendations from the M.A. Examination Committee, evaluation of written work and of a statement of research interest submitted by the student, and consideration of the student's grade average, which should be no lower than 3.5.
- Students applying with M.A.s earned elsewhere will be expected to complete any requirements needed to have the equivalent of the M.A. for Ph.D. candidates at the University of Illinois, and must submit examples of past research written in French.
Course Work for Stage 2
Eight additional courses in French Studies, at least two of which must be in literature or culture prior to 1800. One of these courses may be taken outside the department.
Interdisciplinary field of concentration: Students choosing a field of concentration in French and Other Disciplines can, in consultation with their advisor, take more than one course in another department (history, sociology, anthropology, art history, comparative literature, etc.). “Field of concentration” may be defined here as including:
- the traditional, century-oriented study or
- some other traditionally delimited areas of research such as author (biography and/or canon), themes, genres, movements, forms and techniques, relations of literature and other disciplines such as sociology, linguistics, philosophy, art history, etc., or
- some coherent system of French Studies, devised by the students with their committees, which will lay the groundwork for future research.
Course work must be chosen in such a way that students have fulfilled the following requirements through Stages 1 and 2:
- At least one course in the literature of each of the six periods of French Literature. Courses taken at the M.A. level may be counted to fulfill this requirement.
- Modern foreign language requirement. Students are expected to demonstrate a reading proficiency in one modern foreign language (other than French and English). Students may fulfill this requirement by passing a fourth-semester reading course with a grade of B or better or by demonstrating an equivalent ability by examination. In addition, students specializing in medieval or sixteenth-century studies must demonstrate an equivalent reading knowledge of Latin.
- One course in French Linguistics or linguistically oriented textual theory.
- Preliminary examination. As soon as possible after admission to Stage 2 students will choose an advisor who will serve as the chair of their doctoral committee. The committee will consist of the chairperson, who must be a member of the graduate faculty, and three other professors, one of whom should be chosen from a different program within the department, from a different department, or from another campus. At least three of the members must be graduate faculty; at least two, tenured. The committee must be approved by the Graduate College. In consultation with the committee, the student will prepare a list of topics germane to the candidate's future thesis research.
As a model of one kind of preliminary examination, one might imagine a series of topics related by the subject: “Musset as a confessional writer,” bringing together questions and readings on Romanticism, on Psychology (Freudian, Jungian, etc.), on confessional writers of other periods (St. Augustine, Montaigne, Rousseau, Gide) and perhaps other countries, as well as pertinent topics on Musset himself.
Stage 3: Thesis
The thesis committee should normally be the same as the committee for the preliminary examination. A change in the committee must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies and by the Graduate College. The thesis will develop some aspect of the area of research of Stage 2.
Note: Teaching Assistants are required to take FR 505 (Techniques in Teaching College and Secondary French, 4 hours) as part of their contractual obligation. Students are required to take FR 505 once (in their first year in the program) and the course does not count toward the degree.