French Language and Cultural Competency Writing Samples

I warmly welcome you to browse the following samples of analyses in literature, French culture, and history written by me in the past four years. Some, issue from independent study courses, others from larger group classes at Clemson University, and still others from my Public Art and Architecture class taken at the University of Montreal.

Above, you will find two writing samples that best display my appreciation and analytical aptness with regard to French literature and education in humanities through the French world view. The writing piece to your left is a set of analyses based on A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust--analyses that depart from the "set point" of Proust's famous piano sonata, and extend in the various directions that use this sonata for explaining the incongruencies and idiosyncracies which Proust observed in the lives and emotions of others.

The piece to your right is a more casual collection of ideas on the prevalence of love across different forms of literary expression.

Writing Samples: Competency in Literature and Humanitites.

The works above intend to show my linguistic competency in French. In the Spring of 2020, I took a French translation seminar at Clemson University. I learned about the intricacies of translating a text such that bold and trace, literal and implied messages all carry over. The writing on your right is the final project of this course in which I translated all of Villiers de lsle-Adam's Vera. This seemingle trivial project was that with which I learned the most about the logic and patterns within spoken and written French.

The second work is a shorter analysis of Modiano's Dora Bruder. This book is both linguistically and historically important. The analysis of Modiano literature was the object of an independent study completed during the Spring of 2022 at Clemson.

Writing Samples: Linguistic Proficiency

Writing Samples: Cultural Competency

The two works above illustrate my understanding of culture and history in the context of the French world view. The writing piece on your left was written during my semester abroad at the University of Montreal. The culmination of my Arts and Architecture in Montreal course was an extensive research project on one of the many heritage sites in the city. My project relied on indepth research of primary sources and interviews in weaving together the intimate history of the theatre Rialto.

The pieace on your right is a history of Henri Beyle (pseudonym Stendhal), in the context of the romantic period in Europe. It is written in English for a history course which I took at Clemson on the schematic of revolutionary Europe.