AP French Literature
Encyclopedia
Advanced Placement French Literature (or AP French Literature) was an Advanced Placement course and examination offered by the College Board
. The course was designed to replicate a college French literature
course for high school
students. Students studied a variety of novels, plays, and poetry, all written in French
.
Due to low numbers of students taking AP French Literature, it was discontinued after the 2008-2009 year.http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/04/09/32ap.h27.html
The grade distribution for 2007 was:
College Board
The College Board is a membership association in the United States that was formed in 1900 as the College Entrance Examination Board . It is composed of more than 5,900 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations. It sells standardized tests used by academically oriented...
. The course was designed to replicate a college French literature
French literature
French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...
course for high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
students. Students studied a variety of novels, plays, and poetry, all written in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
.
Due to low numbers of students taking AP French Literature, it was discontinued after the 2008-2009 year.http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/04/09/32ap.h27.html
Required Reading
The works required by the College Board for the 2008 exam were:- Moderato CantabileModerato CantabileModerato Cantabile is a novel by Marguerite Duras. It was very popular, selling half a million copies and being the initial source of Duras's fame.-Plot:...
by Marguerite DurasMarguerite DurasMarguerite Donnadieu, better known as Marguerite Duras was a French writer and film director.-Background:... - Le CidLe CidLe Cid is a tragicomedy written by Pierre Corneille and published in 1636. It is based on the legend of El Cid.The play followed Corneille's first true tragedy, Médée, produced in 1635. An enormous popular success, Corneille's Le Cid was the subject of a heated polemic over the norms of dramatic...
by Pierre CorneillePierre CorneillePierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine... - CandideCandideCandide, ou l'Optimisme is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best ; Candide: or, The Optimist ; and Candide: or, Optimism...
by VoltaireVoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state... - Une TempêteUne TempêteUne tempête is a 1969 play by Aimé Césaire. It is an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest from a postcolonial perspective: Prospero is a white master, while Ariel is a mulatto and Caliban is a black slave. Caliban favors revolution over Ariel's non-violence, and rejects his name as the...
(A Tempest) by Aimé CésaireAimé CésaireAimé Fernand David Césaire was a French poet, author and politician from Martinique. He was "one of the founders of the négritude movement in Francophone literature".-Student, educator, and poet:... - Pierre et JeanPierre et JeanPierre et Jean is a naturalist or psycho-realist work written by Guy de Maupassant in Étretat in his native Normandy between June and September 1887 . This was Maupassant’s shortest novel. It appeared in three instalments in the Nouvelle Revue and then in volume form in 1888, together with the...
(Pierre and Jean) by Guy de MaupassantGuy de MaupassantHenri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents.... - L'École des femmes (The School for Wives) by MolièreMolièreJean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
- Poems by Charles BaudelaireCharles BaudelaireCharles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
, Jean de la FontaineJean de La FontaineJean de La Fontaine was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional...
, Joachim du BellayJoachim du BellayJoachim du Bellay was a French poet, critic, and a member of the Pléiade.-Biography:He was born at the Château of La Turmelière, not far from Liré, near Angers, being the son of Jean du Bellay, Lord of Gonnor, first cousin of the cardinal Jean du Bellay and of Guillaume du Bellay.Both his parents...
, Guillaume ApollinaireGuillaume ApollinaireWilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, known as Guillaume Apollinaire was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic born in Italy to a Polish mother....
, and Louise LabéLouise LabéLouise Labé, , also identified as La Belle Cordière, , was a female French poet of the Renaissance, born at Lyon, the daughter of a rich ropemaker, Pierre Charly, and his second wife, Etiennette Roybet...
.
Grade Distributions
In the 2007 administration 2,068 students took the exam from 478 schools. The mean score was a 3.30.The grade distribution for 2007 was:
| Score | Percent |
|---|---|
| 5 | 24.2% |
| 4 | 23.5% |
| 3 | 23.2% |
| 2 | 16.3% |
| 1 | 12.7% |