Latin language and literature I : prose [ LFIAL1781 ]

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

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. 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.

By the end of this course, students will be able to "read" and translate a Latin prose writer from the Republican or Imperial period and justify all the grammatical points in the texts studied in class.

Three written tests taken during the first semester, 2 of which are on the lecture (60%) and one on the rapid reading done in the practical sessions (40%).
In June or September there is a traditional oral examination on all the texts (lecture and practical sessions). Assessment is exclusively on translation and grammatical analysis.

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, archaeology or history of art may attend sessions more specifically on reading medieval texts.

Designed for students in the first common semester in FIAL, this course is an introduction to the work of a Latin prose writer from the Republican or Imperial 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 author for study changes every year. There is a series of exercises in this course devoted to reading medieval texts.

Available at the beginning of the year.

 Course holder: 4 people, two of which are student tutors; a person will be specifically designated in this team to lead the tutorial on the reading of historical texts.