Our French/Francophone Studies program faculty are engaged in innovative research covering both the traditional periods of the field, from medieval studies to all centuries of French literature and culture, and more recent areas of focus such as 20th- and 21st-century French and francophone literature in its multi-cultural contexts, cinema and media studies, literary and media theory, and digital humanities. The breadth and diversity of our research coverage is the first distinguishing feature of the program.
More specific areas of strength include:
- Medieval French and Occitan literature, particularly lyric and romance, manuscript studies and history of the book
- Renaissance literature and culture and Renaissance humanism
- 17th-century literature and culture, with emphasis on the relationship between literature, politics and philosophy
- 18th-century literature and culture, especially the novel and political theory
- Early modern French drama (theater, opera, ballet, festivals) and the relationship between music and literature
- 19th-century French literature, including the relationship between painting and literature, clandestine literature and history of the book
- 20th-century French literature and culture
- French and francophone literature (with emphases on North and West Africa, the Caribbean, Québec and Louisiana); literary theory (particularly postcolonial and trans-frontier theory, and politics)
- 20th- and 21st-century French cultural history; cinema, media and popular culture in French and francophone contexts
The College of Arts