Department of French Language and Literature

Upcoming Events:

Early Modern Reading and Performance Group at the University of Virginia: Its mission is to bring together undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty who are interested in the Early Modern period in France. Guided by the faculty and graduate students, the undergraduates read, discuss, and perform different texts from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The group will meet for the first time on Wednesday, October 18, 2006, at 8pm at the French House.

Meghan Merwin (UVa French 2001) will visit the French Department on Thursday, October 19th, to publicize the French government's programs for young American students who would like to spend a year working in France. Meg is the University Liaison for the French Embassy in Washington. She will have information about the French government's assistantships, internships, and about the bourse Chateaubriand. She will be holding infromation sessions in Cabell 329 from 3:30 until 5:00 -- or later. For more information, go to www.frenchculture.org.

Friday, October 20, 2006 at 4:00 pm in New Cabell 311, Phillippe Roger will be giving a lecture in French.

On October 21 Cheryl Krueger will chair the panel "Rediscovery" at the Nineteenth-Century French Studies Colloquium, held this year in Bloomington, Indiana.

Cheryl Krueger has been invited to speak at New York University on "Language and Cinema" October 27th.

Departmental News:

See pictures from our first gathering of all 2006-07 faculty and graduate students here.

The August-September issue of the prestigious review Critique, directed by Philippe Roger, is entitled "Aux quatre vents de la Caraïbe," with an introduction by A. James Arnold and with articles translated by A. James Arnold and by Jacqueline Couti.

Faculty News:

Elisabeth Ladenson has resigned from her position in the Department in order to remain at Columbia University, where she was visiting associate professor of French and Romance Philology last year. She will be busy at Columbia, since she will serve both as Director of Graduate Studies and as general editor of The Romanic Review. We will miss her, and we wish her great success with her new responsibilities.

Gladys Saunders presented a paper at The 8th International Conference on Late and Vulgar Latin , held at Oxford University (UK) 5-9 September 2006. Her paper was entitled "Clifford Leonard's Theory of Proto-Romance."

Mary McKinley was invited to participate in a colloquium, "Pre-histories and Afterlives," in honor of Terence Cave at St. John's College, Oxford, on September 30, 2006. The title of her contribution was "From Cave to Choir: the Journey of the Sibyls."

Philippe Roger, in guise of a Summer vacation, gave a seminar on French anti-Americanism in Argentina (Istituto de Altos Studios, Universidad de Buenos Aires). He lectured at Johns Hopkins University on October 6 on "L'antiaméricanisme français de Buffon à Baudrillard," and also contributed to the September issue of the Journal of American History and gave an interwiew to Libération ( 9/11/06).

Graduate News:

Students organized a small conference on September 8, 2006. Jacqueline Couti shared A son corps défendant: sexualité et velléité nationaliste dans Paul et Virginie (1788) de Bernadin de St Pierre et Les amours de Zémédare et Carina (1806) d'Auguste Prévost de Sansac, and Christian Hommel presented L'écriture féminine à l'encontre du mythe de la belle créole: Les Quarteronnes de La Nouvelle-Orléans (1894) de Sidonie de La Houssaye. Pictures from the reception can be seen here.

Stephanie Hopwood defended her dissertation, "Beyond the Five Senses: Magical Realisms in Haiti, Martinique and Guadeloupe," on September 15, 2006 in the Oval Room of the Rotunda. The examining committee was comprised of
Professors Kandioura Dramé, Roland Simon, A. James Arnold (presiding) and Professor Gustavo Pellón (Dean's Representative).

Jacqueline Couti has been invited to give a paper entitled "Sex, Sea and Sun: Body's Violation and Madness in Raphaël Confiant's Le nègre et L'amiral and Nicole Cage-Florentiny's C'est vol que je vol. " at the International Conference on Caribbean Studies organized by the University of Texas-Pan American, November 2-5, 2006, San Padre Island.

Alumni News:

Rebecca Ann Crisafulli (B.A. French & Religious Studies '03, M.A. French '06) is now a full-time lecturer in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She loves her new job and is enjoying life in the nation's capital though she misses her friends from UVA. She can be reached at crisafulli@cua.edu.

Anna Norris (PhD 1994) Associate Professor at Michigan State University, was named "Chevalier des Palmes Academiques" by the French government and was nominated for the Faculty of the Year Award by the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

Former Distinguished French major, Thomas George (2004) is now a first-year law student at The University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. He sends his regards to the Department.

Department of French, University of Virginia September/October 2006 Newsletter

Upcoming Events:

Departmental News:

Faculty News:

Graduate News:

Alumni News:

Department of French, University of Virginia
September/October 2006 Newsletter