Students study a wide range of culture from different angles,
using France as the window to the new world.
Welcome
To embark on the study of French and to think about French culture, history and art, is to have a new world unfold for you.
The primary goal of the French Literature Department is to allow students to experience for themselves the history of intellectual stimulation and sensibilities, to understand the incalculable depth of Europe, and to know the new and vital French-speaking regions in Africa and the Caribbean.
The world you will see through the window that is France is diverse and full of surprises. You may hear the voices of the poets of the Middle Ages resonate against the voices of 19th-century revolutionaries, or you may ponder debates on religion and politics. There are poems and novels to study, which describe the truth about a particular “me”; images that explore dreams and rapture and the unconscious; revolutionary ideas on humans and language, based on life and society; the shock and brilliance of modern art, film, and music. It is a world filled with excitement.
From the Meiji era to the present, French Culture has stimulated and affected Japanese culture in many ways. With that historical background in mind, and taking into consideration present-day issues and concerns, our department educates students of various points of view on French culture in order to expand and free their creative senses and knowledge.
We lead students to venture into a new way of communication through the French language and with it, to think seriously about the future, to grow into a true human “being” with the ability to create, express and truly see.
Unique Approach to French Literature
The staff of the French Literature Department act as free-spirited directors as they guide students through the exciting world of the culture of the French-speaking regions. Between them and the students who are drawn to and affected by them, the combination has created a lively and unique atmosphere since 1965. Now, we are about changing.
While honoring that tradition, our department is going through changes. In conjunction with the graduate school, which opened in the spring of 2000, our department has reorganized the curriculum, which is now divided into two groups of courses: Literature/Language Theory and Modernite (modernism).
Classes in the Literature/Language Theory group address literature and language-related topics, as well as other expressive media, such as photographs, newspapers, and magazines.
Classes in the Modernite group include those on production or culture (films, art and music), theory, history, semiology, translation theory, and sociology theory in the 20th century.
Students can choose courses from both groups, based on individual interests. We believe that no other Department of French Literature at a university can provide this level of variety and original curriculum.
In the Classroom
Freshmen thoroughly study French by attending five lectures per week. Starting from the basics, students systematically study in sequence, so there is no need to worry if the student is new to the language. During the freshman year, students also study basic subjects such as French history and Introduction to French Literature.
During the second year, students study and enforce fundamentals of the French language. Using the skills they have acquired, they study subjects such as History of French literature. What is important here is that students not only gain knowledge, but by attending lectures, repeatedly make discoveries that will overturn and enlighten preconceived notions that may be preventing them from fully seeing the human condition as it is illuminated through the study of French Literature. Through basic and specialized research—such as research of fairy tales, introduction to psychological analysis, research of theater, modern ideas, theories on film, linguistics, and so on—students can further develop insights and sensibilities.
During the Junior year, all students will belong to a seminar, which is the center for all activity. After the summer orientation, each student chooses which seminar to belong to and individually sets up his or her research program by combining classes from the two sets of courses. There are at least ten fascinating seminars from which to choose. Three examples are the Asahina seminar, where students read novels from the 18th and 19th century; the Kudoh seminar, where students read the cartoon TinTin; and the Nishioka seminar, where students consider the history of Paris.
During their senior year, all students will continue to belong to a seminar, choosing from a wide variety that includes the Iwatani seminar, which researches magical art; the Levi seminar, which looks at psychological analysis; and the Sugimoto seminar, where students read novels from the 19th century. A written dissertation is required for graduation, and this is written during the fourth year under the supervision of the professor in charge of the student’s seminar.
Strong emphasis is placed on the dissertation, which reflects what was learned in the seminar. Dissertations help students learn how to acquire, organize and develop information in a meaningful way. Students make appropriate decisions when choosing information from a variety of sources, and digest that information. Then, using their intelligence and sensibilities, they make something that is uniquely their own. Most students who finish writing their dissertations say they have come to understand how interesting it is to study or that they now know what it is to express themselves. This type of conscious expression and fulfillment is the most important asset our graduates acquire on their ways to becoming highly functioning members of society.
Studying Abroad and Certificate Exams
A majority of the students take the French Certificate Exam during their time at the university. Because we offer preparation classes for the certificate exams, it is not uncommon for second-year students to pass the 3rd-Level Certificate exam, and a good number of students pass the 2nd-Level certificate exam during their junior year.
Another important characteristic of our department is that we have a comprehensive backup system for students studying abroad. For example, conversation classes are given by native French instructors, and classes are available in which students translate Japanese literature into French or learn how to write a short paper for the French government scholarship examination in French, which places a heavy emphasis on the written portion of the exam.
Students can study at one of the two of the schools abroad at which the university has an arrangement: Limouge University, a national university in the middle of France; or Grand Ecole in Provence, an institution of higher learning consisting of a university and a graduate school. Students can study abroad for one year while earning university credits. Credits earned in France count as Meiji Gakuin University credits. In addition, if students study abroad for a year at Limouge University, they can take advantage of the September graduation system and graduate in four and a half years, of which one year is spent studying at Limouge University.
For the Future
The classes in our department begin where students master the basics of the French language, but even the more advanced classes are not limited only to reading novels and poetry. As students become more and more interested in discovering new ways of appreciating and analyzing literature, they will begin to examine the past and present of the culture in the French-speaking regions from the vantage points offered by modern art and music, film and photography, ideas and history, and so on. Students have an opportunity to establish independent skills in French and French culture and to develop their career paths as they choose.
Many students obtain teaching credentials and become instructors in junior and senior high schools after graduation. Others obtain not only the teaching credentials for French but credentials to give instruction in English as well. It is also possible to obtain credentials to teach sociology, depending on how a student sets up his or her curriculum.
Some students go on to graduate school and continue their research, then become instructors at the university. Depending on the student’s area of research interest, they go either to graduate school at Meiji Gakuin University, or to other graduate schools, such as Tokyo University.
Still other students go into fields such as editing and publishing, advertising and printing, translation, and information processing. Some go on to working in the airline or the apparel industry. Others have become successful freelance writers and cartoonists, or study in France to become confectioners, bakers, or wine sommeliers.
This wide variety of career paths reflects the free and unique atmosphere of our French Literature department.
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