Auteurs latins

Teacher(s)

Kachuck Aaron;

Language

French
> English-friendly

Prerequisites

4 hours of Latin during the last four years of secondary education or passing a test at the beginning of the year.

Main themes

A plan of the course with further details is given to students at the beginning of the academic year. The author for study changes every year, alternately a poet and a prosator from the classical period. Preceded by rigorous translation work, analysis of the author highlights various aspects: philological criticism, grammatical observations and commentary on striking use of language, biographical, historical and cultural context of the work, documentary and human value of the message, introduction to the problems of literary criticism applied to a Latin text, study of literary genres, value as an example of a Latin text in the history of thought or literary aesthetics, realia.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	By the end of this course, students will be able to "read" and translate a Latin author from the classical period and justify all the grammatical points in the texts studied in class.

Content

Designed for students in the first semester in FIAL, this course, focused on ideologies of monarchy in the late Roman Republic, is an introduction to the work of Latin authors from the classical period in the original text. This will involve various kinds of work: translation and grammatical, linguistic, historical, literary and, more globally, cultural commentary. For the translation and comprehension of Latin authors, this course will highlight the linguistic and cultural reference points for today's readers in the literary production of Latin antiquity. The authors for study changes every year, and course readings will include material in both poetry and prose. There is a serie of exercises in this course devoted to reading medieval texts.

Teaching methods

Lectures with the addition of activities in small groups (15 hours) : various sessions of practical work are organised. These are mainly devoted to the 'rapid reading' of a large amount of text examined in the lectures. Priority is given to the process of translation and grammatical analysis. Students who are considering studies in history may attend sessions more specifically on reading medieval texts.

Evaluation methods

Two written tests taken during the first semester. The first takes the form of continual evaluation, and takes place during the final session of the practical sessions, and covers the rapid reading done in the practical sessions (40%). The second of these takes place during the session of January, covers material covered in the lectures, and will include a) translation of a passage or passages from Latin to French drawn from course-readings (15%) and grammatical questions on that passage or those passages (15%), and b) a ‘Guided Essay’ focused on a passage or passages drawn from course-readings, but also demanding integration of literary, historical, and stylistic knowledge acquired throughout the course (30%).

Other information

English-friendly course: course taught in French but offering facilities in English.

Online resources

Please consult the Moodle for all course materials.

Bibliography

Précisée en début d'année.

Teaching materials

• Entièrement et gratuitement disponible en ligne; veuillez consulter le moodle.

Faculty or entity

FIAL