French Graduate Programs

Our Department of Romance Languages and Literatures is one of the most active in the country. In the French section at Washington University, we are deeply committed to a dynamic program of excellent quality. In and out of classes, professors try to create an open and supportive environment for the development of graduate students in diverse fields. The program studies literature in an interdisciplinary and multicultural context, with attention given to all periods and genres. The program gives you and your advisor considerable freedom to plan a course of study that responds to your needs and interests. Our faculty’s fields of expertise combine the study of French literature with the arts and sciences as well as with theory, politics, and film. We encourage students to take a certain number of courses outside the department that complement the French program. You also have the opportunity to work with members of other departments and programs by participating in our research and reading groups for faculty and graduate students and by attending the lectures of our many prestigious guest speakers.

With us, you have the possibility of pursuing a doctoral degree in French or jointly in French and Comparative Literature. You may, in addition, earn a graduate certificate in language instruction; translation studies; film studies; or women, gender and sexuality studies. Students who hold appointments as teaching assistants receive exceptional pedagogical training in the methods of communicative language teaching, with an emphasis on writing, and teach at all levels in an undergraduate language program recognized widely as one of the most successful in the United States. We also offer an outstanding exchange program that allows interested students to spend one year at the prestigious École Normale Supérieure in Lyon. There they improve their language and teaching skills while taking classes, conducting research, and acquiring invaluable cultural experience