Dr. Rebecca Pauly
Fall 2008 Sabbatical Project
Dr. Pauly researched and developed a PowerPoint based program on world French language literature during her sabbatical leave in the Fall semester of 2008. This was in fact the last stage of a wide reaching four year research project covering French literature chronologically from the early Middle Ages to the present, and geographically from France to Africa, the Far East, the Caribbean and Polynesia.
Dr. Pauly placed literary texts in their contexts, using background photos of relevant sites and events, images of art and architecture of the era, mp3 audio files of readings, songs, and relevant music compositions, and video of sites and events related to the production of the text. Additionally there are active web links for each author studied, including audio and video files as well as text and image.
The concept and goal behind the project was to take literature and culture off the printed page and bring it to the classroom using a computer and projector and large screen format, offering students a colorful and dynamic exposition of the materials presented. They in response develop additional PowerPoint based research presentations enriching the classroom exploration of the topic.
This project has been in part designed to complement a printed French literary survey text in its new edition, Moments Littéraires (Holt McDougal), which includes a broad sampling of classic French literary figures, male and female, and recent new authors, as well as a section on Francophone writers from around the world, but especially the Maghreb, subSaharan Africa and the Antilles.
Dr. Pauly will be teaching two courses using the project in the coming year, a July semi-nar on Francophonie, French language literature and culture outside of France, FRE 420-30 and FRE 520-30, and a literature survey course in Fall 2009, FRE 304 and FRE 522.
