Graham Robb

Bonjour à tous,

Graham Robb is coming to BYU Wednesday and Thursday of next week! Donc, mark your calanders, read up, write down some questions, and take advantage of this opportunity.





*For those that do not have Robb's book, The Discovery of France,
copies are available for only $3 in the French Department Office.



Kennedy Center presents
Graham Robb, Persecution and
French National Identity
Wednesday, 21 October, noon
238 HRCB

BYU French Department presents
Graham Robb Q&A
Author, The Discovery of France
Thursday, 22 October, noon
284 TNRB

Graham Robb is an accomplished writer with many awards for his
books, including the Discovery of France (2007, awarded the Duff
Cooper Prize and the 2008 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje
Prize), based in part on fourteen thousand miles’ cycling in France.
Three biographies, Rimbaud (2000, won the Enid McLeod Literature
Prize), Victor Hugo (1997, received the Royal Society of Literature
Heinemann Award and Whitbread Biography Prize), and Balzac (1994)
were New York Times “Best Books of the Year.” Robb reviews for the
Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books, the Daily
Telegraph, and the New York Review of Books. He is also a fellow of
the Royal Society of Literature. A native of Manchester, he graduated
from Oxford University with first-class honors in French and German
and took received a PhD from Vanderbilt University (1986), after which
he held a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Exeter College,
Oxford. Robb lives in Oxford with his wife, Margaret.

_____________

We blogged about Graham Robb and his book before. Click here to read that post.
If you're looking for some cultural activity points for your classes, this is a great opportunity.
If you want to learn more about notre pays, you can't miss it.
See you there!

-david

Current Events Quiz - Last day to enter!

It's time again to test yourself against the Current Events Quiz! Again we have a $5 gift card for the BYU Bookstore up for grabs.

To enter, send an email to byufrenchstudies@gmail.com by Wednesday February 27th with the subject "BYUFS Quiz 2/22/08" exactly as you see it here. In the email list your letter answers only to the questions like so:

1. A
2. B
3. C

...and so on.

Please include your first and last name in you email also so we know who wins. The winner will be randomly chosen from the entries with the most correct responses. Winners will be notified by email and will pick their prize up from the French and Italian department front desk. Sorry, but we will not be able to send out any prizes by mail.

And now, on to the questions:

1. Françoise de Panafieu, rivale de Bertrand Delanoë pour être le prochain maire de Paris, a traité ce dernier de ______.
a. sale porc
b. communiste
c. faux c**
d. tocard

2. Sarkozy a récemment proposé un changement au curriculum pour les enfants de 10 ans. Il propose que chaque enfant étudie...
a. la vie d'un enfant juif tué par les nazis.
b. l'histoire de l'avortement en Europe.
c. la vie d'un pape.
d. leur propre ADN (DNA).

3. ____ a gagné le BAFTA (= British Academy Award) pour meilleure actrice cette année.
a. Audrey Tautou
b. Emmanuelle Béart
c. Marion Cotillard
d. Juliette Binoche

4. Cette semaine la France a reconnu officiellement l'indépendance de quel pays?
a. La Serbie
b. La Géorgie
c. L'Irak
d. Le Kosovo

5. _____, auteur de "La jalousie" et considéré comme le "pape du nouveu roman" est décédé cette semaine.
a. Butor
b. Céline
c. Robbe-Grillet
d. Simon

Current Events Quiz - Closed

Update: All entries must be submitted today (Monday February 11th) in order to be considered for the prize. Get yours in now.

We are starting a weekly current events quiz this week. Current BYU students will be able to email in responses to this weekly quiz and be eligible to win great prizes every week. This week's prize is a $5 gift certificate to the BYU Bookstore.

To enter, send an email to byufrenchstudies@gmail.com by Monday February 11th with the subject "BYUFS Quiz 2/8/08" exactly as you see it here. In the email list your letter answers only to the questions like so:

1. A
2. B
3. C

...and so on.

Please include your first and last name in you email also so we know who wins. The winner will be randomly chosen from the entries with the most correct responses. Winners will be notified by email and will pick their prize up from the French and Italian department front desk. Sorry, but we will not be sending out any prizes by mail.

Here is the quiz, good luck!

1. Jérôme Kerviel, c'est un
   a. politicien
   b. missionnaire
   c. acteur
   d. trader
2. Quel politicien américain a dit: "Si nous ne changeons pas de politique, nous deviendrons la France du XXIe siècle"?
   a. Mike Huckabee
   b. Mitt Romney
   c. Hillary Clinton
   d. John McCain
3. Nicolas Sarkozy nomme sa philosophie politique une "politique de _____."
   a. grandeur
   b. civilisation
   c. libéralisme
   d. bonheur
4. Sarkozy vient de se marier avec
   a. Paris Hilton
   b. Isabelle Huppert
   c. Liya Kebede
   d. Carla Bruni
5. Persepolis raconte l'histoire d'une jeune femme
   a. iranienne
   b. irakienne
   c. palestinienne
   d. algérienne
6. Selon la loi, on ne peut plus _____ dans des cafés parisiens.
   a. boire de l'alcool
   b. manger du boeuf américain
   c. fumer
   d. parler anglais
7. Ce joueur de tennis a placé deuxième à l'Open d'Australie.
   a. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
   b. Richard Gasquet
   c. Henri Leconte
   d. Sébastien Grosjean
8. Le traité de _____, autorisé par le parlement français cette semaine, remplace le projet de constitution européenne.
   a. Paris
   b. Bruxelles
   c. Nice
   d. Lisbonne
   

Hint: You might find some of the answers in this very blog, but not all of them.