Université Michel de Montaigne - Bordeaux 3

Department Member, UFR Humanités

Littérature française du XXe siècle, théorie littérature, Humanités numériques

Département de littérature française

About

“Professeur agrégé” in modern literature, I completed my doctoral thesis at the University Paris-Sorbonne on the genre of biographical fiction in which I sought to demonstrate how literary representations have contributed to modern conceptions of the individual. As the editor of the works of Marcel Schwob, who wrote Les Vies imaginaires, I became interested in theoretical notions (exemplification, authority, the ‘borderlines’ of fiction, etc.) and in epistemological questions (the contribution of Anglo-American literary criticism on the field of literary studies, for example) to better understand modern French fiction narratives. I was appointed as a doctoral assistant at the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland) and as a lecturer at Universities Paris-Sorbonne and Versailles-Saint-Quentin. From 2006, I have been associate professor at University Bordeaux 3 and strongly committed academically and administratively in my research equip. In 2005 I was awarded the Argos Denis Diderot Prize of the CNRS and UNESCO for the Fabula.org project and in 2009 I received the National Award for Academic Excellence for my research activity.

My research concerns questions of literary theory applied to contemporary French literature. At the broadest level I am interested in ideas about fiction: mimetic theory, the epistemological status of possible worlds, the functions and effects of fiction considered as an experiment in thought. Engaging theoretical tools in the analysis of current changes and developments in literature, I seek to propose concepts that permit examination of the profound aesthetic changes occasioned by our current post-formalist situation and the revised place of ‘literature’ in the contemporary world.

My research into these issues has led to a interdisciplinary research program on literary emotions called "Les  Pouvoirs  de  l’art.  Expérience" (The Powers of Art. Aesthetic experience, emotion, knowledge, behavior). In 2011, the french "Agence Nationale de la Recherche" awarded and granted this program, that I am currently managing with three colleagues (Martine Boyer-Weimann, université de Lyon 2, Carole Talon-Hugon, université de Nice and Sandra Laugier, université Paris 1).

Theory of emotions seemed to be for me one of the most innovative and promising paths of analysis in the literary field since it offers cross-disciplinary links between psychological reflection on literary representations and a thorough investigation of the philosophical and anthropological ramifications of the potential effects of fiction.

As founder and director of the website Fabula.org, an international platform for the dissemination of research in literature, and of the centre for digital publishing CEPM at University Paris-Sorbonne, I have developed parallel research interests in the development of digital humanities and literature studies.