I am always fascinated by the ways in which individuals construct their sense of identity (personal, poetic, political, etc.) in relation to a social order that is subject to conflict and renegotiation of roles. Like chess pieces (the game of chess was often-allegorized by medieval writers in both political and erotic terms), individuals exercise their autonomy within a set of rules – the constraints imposed by factors such as sex, religion, social class, geographic region, or political order. Literary works are essential to the processes by which writers and readers alike constitute their sense of themselves as individual and as social and political subjects. Texts shape the conditions of possibility for those living at a given time and place, while simultaneously serving as sites of struggle and conflict over the construction of identities, individual or collective, and social relationships.
In my book, Allegorical Bodies: Power and Gender in Late Medieval France (University of Toronto Press, 2015) I examine the dynamic processes by which gendered language, law, and thought made possible the articulation of new notions of France and French identity during the tumultuous reign of the mad king Charles VI (1380-1422). This period witnessed the emergence in literary texts of the allegorical figures of France (portrayed as queen and mother of the French people) and the University of Paris (depicted as the fille du roy). The human form provides an imaginary space onto which may be mapped an ideal social order, while the allegorical figures of kingdom and University – presented as mothers, fair beloveds, dutiful daughters – enact highly-conventional paradigms of femininity and sexuality, a conformity that reinforces the “natural” hierarchy inherent in the gender binary.
I am also co-editor (with Emma Cayley and Joan E. McRae) of the recent volume Alain Chartier c.1385-1430: Father of French Eloquence (Brill, 2015), and I continue to work on Chartier’s literary production and his reception.
My teaching interests are varied. I have taught almost a dozen different courses for graduate and advanced undergraduate students since my arrival at the University of Chicago. Some of my favorites include Débats et querelles littéraires au Moyen Âge, Love’s Books, Love’s Looks: Textual and Visual Perspectives on the Roman de la rose, and Women in French Literature. I very much enjoy participating in the core, especially the Civilization sequence taught in Paris, and the civilization sequence on Gender and Sexuality.
Undergraduate Program in Medieval Studies
Medieval Studies Workshop
Books
- Allegorical Bodies: Power and Gender in Late Medieval France. University of Toronto Press, 2015.
- Alain Chartier c.1385-1430: Père de l’éloquence française. Edited volume, in collaboration with Emma Cayley and Joan McRae. Forthcoming, Brill Publishers, 2015.
- Theorizing the Ideal Sovereign: The Rise of the French Vernacular Royal Biography. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008.
Selected Articles
- “A Fair Lady takes on ‘Maistre Allain’: Anne de Graville‟s Belle Dame sans mercy.” French Forum 42.3 (winter 2017): 471-91.
- "'Aucuns de ma langue': Language and Political Identity in Late Medieval France." Explorations in Renaissance Culture 39.2 (2013): 97-112.
*Winner of the Albert W. Fields Award for best article published in EIRC in 2013* - “The King’s Two Daughters: Isabelle of France and the University of Paris, Fille du Roy.” Republics of Letters: A Journal for the Study of Knowledge, Politics, and the Arts 3, no. 2 (November 15, 2013).
- “How to Become the ‘roy des frans’: the Performance of Kingship in Philippe de Mézières’s Songe du vieil pelerin.” The Age of Philippe de Mézières. Ed. Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Kiril Petkov. Brill, 2011.
- “Desire, Deception, and Display: Linguistic Performance in Jehan de Saintré,” in Visualizing Medieval Performance: Perspectives, Histories, Contexts. Ed. Elina Gertsman. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008. 193-206.
- “Public Displays of Affection: Love and Kinship in Philippe de Mézières’s Épistre au roi Richart.” New Medieval Literatures 8 (2006): 99-123.
Recent Courses in RLL
- FREN 21503/31503 Approches à l'analyse littéraire (Autumn 2016)
- FREN 21700/31700 Le Roman de la Rose (Autumn 2017)
- FREN 23003 Introduction: Voix féminines dans la littérature française (Winter 2020)
- FREN 22910/32910 Medieval Beasts (Autumn 2018)
Publications
