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Mar 14, 2026
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2025-2026 Undergraduate Catalog
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FR 315 Folklore, Fairy Tales, and Ghost Stories From the Francophone World
(4 Credits)
What can we learn about a culture through a study of its popular tales? Through our analysis of folklore, fairy tales, and ghost stories, this course investigates the shared belief systems and collective identity of cultures from across the French-speaking world, including: pre-Revolutionary France, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, and the Francophone communities of the Americas. We will debate the “frivolous” business of composing fairy tales in Louis XIV’s court: were there serious implications for the women’s writing groups who created them? Additionally, by comparing diasporic and continental African tales, we will identify deep-rooted connections that evolved and survived in spite of enslavement, migrations, and displacements. Students will have the opportunity to create their own folktale in French, engaging with cultural insights and structural story elements identified throughout the semester.
Intended student audience: French and Francophone Studies majors and French minors (i.e., students who have already taken FR 202). Some crossover appeal to students with English Creative Writing Concentration.
Teaching Approach: a combination of lecture and discussion with several group activities (students participate in 17th-century style “Salon” language games for example)
What is required of the student: Primarily, the ability to read short but artistically rich texts in French, and to analyze these beyond surface meaning: both in class discussion and in more formal written analysis.
Prerequisite: FR 202 or equivalent
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