Dr. Jennifer Vanderheyden
Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies
Languages, Literatures and Cultures
My research and teaching interests include eighteenth-century French Literature, History and Culture, and theories of theatrical and artistic representation (mimesis). I also teach courses on the representation of women in writing, art and film. My approach to research is multidisciplinary: philosophical, anthropological, artistic and psychoanalytical.
I have a doctorate in French Literature from the University of Washington, and a Master’s Degree in French Literature and Civilization from the University of Cincinnati. I also hold an undergraduate degree in French and Education from Otterbein College, as well as a Supervisor’s Certificate in secondary Foreign Language Education from the University of Cincinnati. I teach courses that range from Elementary and Intermediate French language instruction to advanced courses on French classical theatre, the representation of French and Francophone women in Film and Literature, French History and Culture, and The History of French Feminism.
I have published two books on the eighteenth-century writer, philosopher and art critic Denis Diderot, and I am presently working on a comparative study of Jeanne d’Arc and Olympe de Gouges: Engendered Heroines: The Trials, Sacrifices and Legacies of Jeanne d’Arc and Olympe de Gouges
Education
Ph.D, Eighteenth-Century French Literature, University of Washington
Dissertation title: The Body as a Disjunctive Syllogism in the Works of Diderot.
Director: Dr. Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen
MA, French Literature and Civilization, University of Cincinnati
BA, French and Education, Otterbein College
Courses Taught
- Elementary French
- Intermediate French
- Intensive Intermediate French
- French Conversation and Composition
- Advanced Grammar and Written Expression in French (University core)
- The Evolution of French Feminism (University Core)
- Francophone and French Heroines in Film (University core)
- “Disorderly Women, Novel Heroines”
- “The Paradox of Theatre: Passionate Reason or Unreasonable Passion?”
- “From Feudalism to Fanaticism: France in Evolution”
- “The Three “V”’s in Post-Revolutionary French Literature: “Vice, Vertu et Vérité”
- "Theatre and Cinema: The Importance of the Mise"
- “The Novels of Chrétien de Troyes”
Research Interests
The works of Denis Diderot, theories of artistic mimesis, gender-related issues, genocide and post-genocide studies in Rwanda
Specialization
- Eighteenth-Century French Literature and Civilization
Publications
- , Routledge Series in Eighteenth-Century Studies, January 2019.
- Perla: Co-translation with Sarah Gendron (Frédéric Brun, winner of the Prix Goncourt for first novel). The University of Nebraska Press. October 2017.
- Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., in Dr. Gita May’s series, “The Age of Revolution and Romanticism: Interdisciplinary Studies,” June 2004.
- “The Resilience of Women in the Face of Trauma,” in “Quint: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly from the North,” selected to be re-published in a ten-year anniversary issue: Volume 11, Issue 1, 376-399. 2020 (originally published in 2016 in “Quint: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly from the North.” Volume 8, Issue 3, 48-72).
- “Extraordinary Forgivenes” (chapter) Perspectives on Evil: From Banality to Genocide, Brill Press, The Netherlands. October 2019, 93-113.
- Le Bizarre et le DĂ©cousu in the Novels and Theoretical Works of Denis Diderot: How the Idea of Marginality Originated in Eighteenth Century France, Barbara Lise Abrams, Preface by Jennifer Vanderheyden, Edwin Mellen Press, 2009, i-iv.
- Book Review: Le Désir selon l'autre: Étude du Rouge et le Noir et de la Chartreuse de parme à la lumière du "désir triangulaire" de René Girard (Annika Alling), Nineteenth-Century French Studies: Volume 33, no 3 & 4, Spring-Summer 2005, 443-445.
CREATIVE WRITING
- “Soul Cleaning,” Published in The Bending Genres Anthology, Robert Vaughan, Editor, Bending Genres Press, p. 196. 2020. Previously published in: Bending Genres, Issue 7, February 2019.
- “Moi Aussi,” Micro-Fiction print publication: Blink-Ink, December 2018.(Nominated for best Micro-Fiction Publication 2018).
- “Cogito(e),” (novella), in “The Writing Disorder,” Fall 2016.
- â€Ćŕ´Ç±ô±ô˛ő,” Flash Fiction Fridays, Robert Vaughan, Editor. Lulu Press. PP 43-44
- “Clarity,” Prose poem, Ranfurly Review, Issue 21.
Dr. Jennifer VanderheydenĂŰĚŇÓ°Ďń
