Link to this page: https://short-stories-anglais.netlify.app/bacpro/compare.html
Session 2 · Comparative literature: La Parure and The Necklace
Scan to open it on a phone or print it.
Recap check · marked · starts as you come in
Sit down, take your notebook and answer on paper at once. 2 students are drawn at random and marked.
- What does Mathilde borrow?
- How many years do the Loisels work?
| Marking scale | Points |
|---|---|
| Each correct answer | 1 |
| Full sentence in English | bonus 1 |
| Total | 2 + 1 |
Corrigé
- a diamond necklace
- ten years
Introduction to comparative literature
Comparative literature studies texts across languages and cultures. Here we compare a text with its translation: the same story, two languages. What is kept? What is lost? What is gained?
You studied La Parure in French class. Today the same extracts come back, side by side with the English translation.
1. Two short pairs
| Maupassant (French original) | English translation | French course reference |
|---|---|---|
| « Et cette vie dura dix ans. » | This life lasted ten years. | LettresPro, méthode « Lire le rythme d'un texte » |
| « Oh ! ma pauvre Mathilde ! Mais la mienne était fausse. Elle valait au plus cinq cents francs !… » | “Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste! It was worth at most only five hundred francs!” | Français 2de, séquence « Le roman : personnages et intrigues », séance 2 « L'intrigue et la chute : La Parure » ; LettresPro, méthode « Lire le rythme d'un texte » |
French text: Guy de Maupassant, « La Parure », Contes du jour et de la nuit, C. Marpon et E. Flammarion, 1885, p. 73 to 93, Wikisource, link. English text: Project Gutenberg eBook #3090, link. The dialogue dash of the French and a long dash of the English are not shown.
2. Compare
| French | English |
|---|---|
| dix ans | …… |
| fausse | …… |
| cinq cents francs | …… |
Corrigé
ten years · paste (imitation) · five hundred francs
Gap-fill worksheet
Words: short · ten · paste · twist
- « Et cette vie dura dix ans » is a …… sentence.
- In English: “This life lasted …… years.”
- « fausse » is translated by “……”.
- The …… is the same in the two languages.
Corrigé
short · ten · paste · twist
Speaking
Read the two last lines aloud, in French then in English. Which one surprises you more?Homework · required
To do for next lesson. It is checked at the start of the lesson in the Recap check.
- Exercise 1 · Translate into English, using the session: dot · toilettes · fausse · dix ans.
Corrigé of the homework
- dowry · gowns · paste (imitation) · ten years
Reminder, the sequence online: https://short-stories-anglais.netlify.app