The Department of French Literature, founded in 1982, offers courses on French Literature, French Culture and Comparative Literature at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, as part of the Studies Programme of the French School. The first director of the Department, Professor Zoe Samara, organised the undergraduate and postgraduate levels by introducing courses on literary and theatre theory.  In time, the faculty was enhanced with notable young scientists who respond to the requirements of an enriched Studies Programme. The Academic Staff is currently composed of eight professors.

Since 1993-94, the Department of French Literature has organized and run a Postgraduate Studies Programme in French Literature, leading up to an MA and PhD in French Literature. The other two Departments of the French School have also recently joined the Programme with their respective directions of Didactics and Translation/Traductology. The Department is also involved in the European Programmes DESE and ERASMUS-MUNDUS.

 

Considering the current academic requirements at European level, the Department of French Literature aims to provide its students with high-level knowledge and language training in order to highlight their skills. To this end, it aims to:

As regards its educational activities, the Department of French Literature offers 15 compulsory courses, as well as elective courses which cover a wide range of specialized knowledge on literature, culture, methodology and ways to approach a narrative text, literary theory, etc. In order to ensure a high level of linguistic training for all students, all courses at the Department of Literature are taught in the French language.

The Library of the Department of French Literature, which  is located on the ground floor of the Old Building of the Faculty of Philosophy (room 106),  has an important collection consisting of more than 12,000 volumes.

The Department’s educational and research activities are interwoven and interrelated with those of the Comparative Literature Workshop, which  is located on the ground floor of the New Wing of the Faculty of Philosophy (room 5) (for more details on its activities, see link).

The Department of Literature has awarded the title of Doctor Honoris Causa to distinguished representatives of French letters and contemporary French thinking, namely: Claude Blum, Michel Butor, Pierre Brunel, Fernando Arrabal, and Julia Kristeva.

The Department of Translation Studies of the School of French was established in 1993, its main object being Translation Theory and Practice; its study programme was initiated in the academic year 1997-98. The establishment of the Department of Translation was deemed essential due to the development of the science of translation on an international level, and the increasing demand for qualified translators in the Greek and European labour market.

The main educational and research objectives of the Department are the following:

• to provide theoretical and practical training to students at the School of French in the field of translation,
• to promote research and theoretical thinking in the fields of translation studies, intercultural mediation, automated language processing and computational linguistics (fields directly related to translation and its technological requirements),
• to connect students of the Translation Department at the School of French with the labour market,  and reversely to inform professional translators about the latest developments in the field, and potentially provide training.

At present, the Department of Translation employs 4full-time DEP (Teaching & Research Staff) members, 1 part-time DEP member and 2 Special Teaching Fellows. 

Undergraduate Studies

The Department offers the following range of courses focusing on:

• various aspects of interlingual translation practice (general and technical texts, literary translation, essay discourse, audiovisual translation, localization),
• intersemiotic translation,
• new technologies and electronic translation tools,
• a theoretical-interdisciplinary approach towards translation,

 which aim to develop:

• the linguistic skills of students in both languages, Greek and French, with a simultaneous awareness of the functioning of language as a system in the case of translation practice in particular, which is defined as a contact of systems, and which requires the development of understanding and writing skills in both languages.
• the intercultural skills of the students, focusing on the awareness of the cultural dimensions of translation, and showing respect to differences and cultural exemptions
• the skills required for the use and valorization of electronic and printed sources, and for the management of information.

Postgraduate Studies

Since 2004, the Department of Translation actively participates in and is responsible for the organization and implementation of the translation component of the Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Study Programme on Translation and Interpretation of the School of Philology. Furthermore, since 2011, the Translation Department also participates in the upgraded Postgraduate Study Programme of the School of French, offering the specialization of Translation-Translation Studies. The languages supported by the programme are Greek, French and English.