Helen Solterer, Professor

My research and teaching focus on premodern literature and culture in French and their interplay with contemporary thought; twentieth-century French cultural history; writing through gender.

An Almanach of Timely Fictions, the book I'm currently completing, spans literature and graphic arts.  Published works include: Migrants shaping Europe, past and present: Multilingual literatures, arts, and cultures, ed. with Vincent Joos (Manchester, 2022);  James Joyce Remembered, edition 2022 (C.P. Curran), ed. with Alice Ryan (UCD, 2022); Un Moyen Âge républicain: les paradoxes du théâtre en temps de guerre (Presses Paris-Sorbonne, 2014) Medieval Roles for Modern Times (Penn State 2010); The Master and Minerva (California 1995); European Medieval Studies Under Fire, 1919-1945, an edited collection (JMEMS, Duke. 1995).  

Students interested in researching premodern fiction in French are particularly welcome. 

Office Location:	217B Language Center, Durham, NC 27708
Email Address:
Web Page:	https://sites.duke.edu/solterer/

Teaching (Fall 2024):

• FRENCH 505P.01P, WHEN FICTION MEETS HISTORY Synopsis

  Languages 305, W 11:45 AM-02:15 PM

• FRENCH 505S.01, WHEN FICTION MEETS HISTORY Synopsis

  Languages 312, Tu 11:45 AM-02:15 PM

  (also cross-listed as ROMST 504S.01)

Office Hours:

Wednesdays, 5-6 pm.
& by appt.

Education:

Ph.D.	University of Toronto (Canada)	1986
Boursière, Ambassade de France,	Université de Paris VII	1983
Masters of Art	University of Toronto	1981
Bachelor of Arts	Georgetown University	1978
Year of Study	University College of Dublin	1978

Specialties:

French
Early Modern
European Studies
Performance Studies
Gender Studies, Feminism, Women Studies, Queer Studies
Historicism

Research Interests:

Pre-modern French Literature and Culture; Twentieth-Century European Cultural History; Performance Studies; Gender Studies. Research Interests include questions of cultural memory, biography, political writing -- Christine de Pizan, Alain Chartier, François Villon; and contemporary theater.

Current Ph.D. Students  

• Julie Singer  
• Brooke Heidenreich Findley  
• Daniel De Cillis  

Representative Publications

1. Solterer, H, Un Moyen Âge républicain : paradoxes du théâtre en temps de guerre (2014), Presses universitaires Paris-Sorbonne, (translated by Chénetier Alev, M.) [un-moyen-age-republicain]
2. Solterer, H, Medieval Roles in Modern Times: Theater and the Battle for the French Republic (February, 2010), pp. 271 pages, 40 figures pages, The Pennsylvania State University Press
3. Solterer, H, "Aimer un pays tout autre: Christine de Pizan, Alain Chartier, & Compagnie”, in Sens, Rhétorique, et Musique : Études réunies en hommage à Jacqueline Cerquiglini-Toulet, edited by Lefèvre, S; Lucken, C; Doudet, E (2015), pp. 769-782, Champion
4. Solterer, H, Parcours d’un militant de théâtre: Moussa Abadi, in Le texte critique : expérimenter le théâtre et le cinéma aux XXe et XXIe siècles, edited by Alev, VVEMC (2013), pp. 207-220., Presses universitaires François-Rabelais
5. Solterer, H; Dominguez, V, Réactivations scéniques, in Le Théâtre du XIIe au XIIe siècles, edited by Halévy, O; Parussa, G; Smith, D (2014), L’Avant-Scène
6. Solterer, H, “Strange or Elegant or Foul Matter,”, Exemplaria, 25 (2013) (2013), pp. 79-92 (A Book-review essay.) [1041257312Z.00000000026]
7. Solterer, H, Timely Fictions (2017)
8. H. Solterer, "Love to Hate: A Premodern Legacy?" (2013)
9. Solterer, H, Teaching Free Speech in Times of War, edited by I com, InsiderHigherEd.com (September, 2007)
10. Solterer, H, The master and Minerva: Disputing women in French medieval culture (September, 2023), pp. 1-301, University of California Press, ISBN 9780520088351 (co-awarded The Modern Language Association Scaglione Prize, 1995.)  [abs]

Conferences Organized

• "Théâtre et Résistance: Moussa Abadi”, June 2009