Department of French
Paper FR C2
Essay in French
This paper will be offered for the final time in 2011/2012.
Further details on the new paper, French: Text and Culture, to be introduced in 2012/2013
General information on the Part II Essay
The French Essay offers candidates the opportunity to write in ambitiously broad historical and critical terms about some of the major questions which their reading has led them to raise. The paper contains two questions relating to each of the scheduled papers, plus a number of general questions of which at least one will relate to contemporary France. It thus differs sharply both from the 'topic-based' Section A of the Scheduled Papers, and from the close focus of Section B. Many of the questions set relate to large movements over a whole historical period. The examiners do not expect an in-depth account of one or two authors. Nor are they looking for a French-style dissertation, formally disposed into three sections. What is required is substantial syntheses and logically structured arguments, written in fluent and idiomatic French of an appropriately formal register, and based on a broad range of evidence. It follows that practice is essential, since candidates are not normally accustomed to this kind of writing when they begin their final year.Teaching
You should normally receive up to 8 hours of teaching for this paper. At the start of the Lent Term there is a lecture with a question-and-answer session to introduce students to the requirements of this exercise. In addition, you should attend 2 seminars organised by the department. College-based supervisions - the recommended number being about 4 or 5 - are normally scheduled in the Lent and Easter terms.
