Department of French & Italian, Princeton University

It's not too late to apply for Princeton in Pisa! Interviews for Princeton's immersive Italian program (ITA 207I) will begin January 27, with final applications due February 9.

Princeton in Pisa offers students the opportunity to take a four-week Princeton course in residence on the campus of the Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS) in Pisa. Located in one of Italy's richest historical and intellectual environments of Italy, the program offers a full immersion experience that will allow students to interact with the territory on a linguistic, cultural and social level.

Pisa Princeton in PisaMonday, June 23, 2025 – Friday, July 18, 2025The Princeton in Pisa Summer Intensive Program offers students the opportunity to take a four-week Princeton course, ITA 207I, while in residence on the campus of the Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS) in Pisa, Italy. Located in one of the ...

The New Year brings with it new ends and beginnings! We've been sad to say farewell to Long-Term Visitor Patrick Chamoiseau, who spent an extremely fruitful semester with us, full of teaching, readings, and special events.

Thankfully, Patrick left us with one more gem—please enjoy "Bring Out the Elves!" a speech Patrick delivered last month while accepting The Center for Fiction's Lifetime of Excellence in Fiction Award, available on our website in English and French!

"Faites sortir les elfes!" ("Bring out the elves!"), a speech by Patrick Chamoiseau FrenchRéception du prix de l’excellence au Center For Fiction de New York. 10 décembre 2024.L’écrivain islandais Thor Vilhjálmsson, me raconta un jour cette très belle histoire. Il admirait beaucoup l’écrivain français Michel Butor, grand partisan du Nouveau Roman. Ce mouvement littéra...

With the French and Italian Department's support, Princeton French minor Clara Conatser '25 recently returned from a research trip to Quebec and Montreal. There, she enjoyed the finest in North American church architecture, gained a new appreciation for French Canadian culture—and took some lovely photos, too. You can read about Clara’s trip on our website, in English or French!

https://fit.princeton.edu/news/student-voices-research-quebec-and-montreal

"Bérénice was wonderful with great turnout! Thank you for joining us—the weekend went wonderfully well and Saturday night was magical!"
—Prof. Florent Masse

Another classic L'Avant-Scène production for the books, this time starring Prof. Flora Champy as Jean Racine's Bérénice!

Directed by Florent Masse and featuring...
Gil Joseph '25
Prof. Flora Champy
Clément Herman GS
Eddie Kong '27
Finn Doyle '27
Josie Smart '25
Parth Jain '28

Thanks to all students who dropped in for our "Cheese and Sweets: Which is Better?" open house on Monday! Now we want to know two things... what FIT courses will you be taking next semester? And, well, cheese and sweets—which IS better?

For L'Avant-Scène's second full-length play of the semester, Princeton's French Theater Workshop presents Jean Racine's BÉRÉNICE, a masterpiece of French drama and a classic tragedy of forbidden love—tickets free!

Fri, December 6 @ 8pm
Sat, December 7 @ 5pm & 8:30pm
Madison Hall 201

Directed by Florent Masse and featuring...
Gil Joseph '25
Prof. Flora Champy
Clément Herman GS
Eddie Kong '27
Finn Doyle '27
Josie Smart '25
Parth Jain '28

(Performed in French)

https://fit.princeton.edu/events/lavant-sc%C3%A8ne-presents-b%C3%A9r%C3%A9nice-racine

As part of last month’s conference dedicated to Prix Goncourt–winning author Patrick Chamoiseau, we were delighted to host a one-of-kind concert with the great jazz musician Jacques Schwarz-Bart and his band—seen here with Chamoiseau and Prof. André Benhaïm!

Jacques Schwarz-Bart’s latest release, Jazz Racine Haiti, made him an ambassador for a school of modern jazz rooted in voodoo music. He teaches at the Berklee College of Music while keeping up a steady touring schedule.

Patrick Chamoiseau joins Princeton as a Belknap Long-Term Visiting Fellow in the The Humanities Council and the Department of French and Italian.

(Photos by Sameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy)

Please join us Tuesday as L’Avant-Scène, Princeton's French Theater Workshop, presents its annual “Fragments” recital of classical French theater scenes, performed by students enrolled in FRE/THR 211.

"Fragments XXIV" will feature excerpts from Corneille’s “Le Cid,” Molière’s “L’École des femmes,” Racine’s “Phèdre,” Marivaux’s “La seconde surprise de l’amour,” Beaumarchais’s “Le Mariage de Figaro” and Hugo’s “Lucrèce Borgia.”

Rocky College Common Room
Directed by Florent Masse
Dec. 3 @ 8pm
Approximate Running Time: 1h
Performed in French

Happy Thanksgiving from Princeton French & Italian!

With next semester's enrollment period fast approaching, it's time to spotlight our new courses. Whether your interested in world literature, phonetics, medieval song, comedy, or creative writing, French and Italian has something for you—and these are just the classes we haven't offered before!

To announce Princeton University's new Humanities Initiative, the University has put together a major feature covering research and teaching across the Humanities at Princeton—and featuring Princeton FIT professors Simone Marchesi and David Bellos!

"Simone Marchesi, a professor of French and Italian at Princeton, is a renowned expert on Dante’s Divine Comedy, which he has been teaching in English and Italian for more than 20 years. His classes are so popular that alumni of his Freshman Seminar and his advanced courses gather every year during the University’s Reunions to reread passages with their professor — a tradition that started with the late Princeton Dante scholar Robert Hollander."

Read more about Humanities at Princeton now on the university homepage!

Humanities at Princeton: Taking a big swing at big questions A new Humanities Initiative provides structure and support to supercharge scholarship, teaching and public collaborations for the 21st century and beyond.

This week, Québécois writer Kev Lambert, author of "Tu aimeras ce que tu as tué," "Querelle de Roberval" (Prix Sade), "Que Notre Joie Demeure" (Prix Médicis, Prix Décembre), and "Les Sentiers de neige" was a guest in Prof. Julien R. Stout’s class The Sounds, Forms, and Places of French Across Time (FRE 412). On Tuesday, they discussed Kev’s literary influences—from Jean Genet to Harry Potter—as well as the evolution of French in the Americas, class warfare, colonialism, and q***r culture.

We thank the program in Canadian Studies for their generous support and Kev for a wonderful visit!