The American University of Paris - Comparative Literature, English, and Creative Writing

Russell Williams

Consulting Advency — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 03:30:01 +0000

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rwilliams

First Name:

Russell

Last Name:

Williams

Personal Website:

https://theurbanlandfill.wordpress.com/

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Associate Professor, Director of the Learning Commons and Director of Faculty Development

Professor Williams came to �Թ�tv in 2013 after completing his doctoral studies at the University of London Institute in Paris and teaching at Université Paris-Est (Université Gustave Eiffel). His research focuses primarily on the contemporary novel and with his work, in particular, exploring the poetics, narrative technique and provocations of the French writer Michel Houellebecq. Professor Williams is also Director of the Learning Commons and Director of Faculty Development at �Թ�tv. He was awarded the �Թ�tv Board of Trustees award for Innovation in Instructional Design at graduation in 2018 and 2020. He shared the 2021 Distinguished Teaching Award with all of his Faculty colleagues and together with Dr Ruth Corran (Computer Science, Mathematics & Science) was awarded the 2022 Award for Innovation in Interdisciplinary Studies. In 2022 he was presented with the Undergraduate Student Council Faculty Recognition Award.

In addition to his ongoing work on Houellebecq and contemporary French writing, Professor Williams’ research concerns American and British literature of the same period, the cultural resonances between French and English language writing, and European detective fiction, particularly the work of néo-polar writers Thierry Jonquet and Jean-Patrick Manchette. He has also published on the relationships between writing, extremity and intoxication and is increasingly interested in the complex relationships between writing, reading, teaching, thinking and technology. As well as literary fiction, Professor Williams is interested in contemporary cinema, TV series, visual art, French pop, experimental music and noise.

Professor Williams has, with Dr Carole Sweeney (Goldsmiths University London), co-edited a special issue of the scholarly journal Modern and Contemporary France on Michel Houellebecq. With Dr Anna-Louise Milne (University of London Institute in Paris), he has co-edited Contemporary Fiction in French, collection of essays examining contemporary writing in French for Cambridge University Press. His book on Houellebecq, Pathos, poetry and politics in Michel Houellebecq's fiction was published in 2019 with Rodopi/Brill. He has recently completed scholarly articles on Houellebecq and terrorism, Houellebecq's supposed 'plagiarism' and how the cultural logic of information management manifests in Houellebecq's literary style. Professor Williams is presently working on his next book, an interdisciplinary project tentatively titled French Weird.

Professor Williams’ journalism and literary criticism regularly appears in publications including the Times Literary Supplement, where he is Consultant Editor for French and Francophone literatures and contributes regularly to the podcast. He has written for the New Statesman, the Los Angeles Review of Books and The Quietus. He also writes for his website, linked above, and tweets at @russwilliams_uk.

Invited chair, Discussion about Edward Chisholm’s book A Waiter in Paris, American Library in Paris, December 12, 2023. Recording available at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duA6pJFFl3c
Invited chair, Discussion on The Attention Economy/In Search of the Third Bird with Justin EH Smith and Graham Burnett, American Library in Paris, October 19, 2023. Recording available at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb3GR4Lbbsg&t=63s
Invited panel member, Discussion with novelists Shumona Sinha and Maylis de Kerangal, Institut Français, London, September 27, 2022. Recording available at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lYPLI2uOWY&t=1s
Invited talk, ‘Lire Anéantir’, Séminaire Michel Houellebecq, Université Paris Nanterre/Sorbonne Université, April 7, 2022
Invited paper, ‘Michel Houellebecq’s New Dark Age: Information Overload, Appropriation, Extremity’, Houellebecq in Focus conference, Villanova University, March 2021, Online conference. Recording available at, https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/houellebecq.html
Invited talk, ‘La France, ce n’est pas Michel Houellebecq’, �Թ�tv Forum francophone interdépartemental de Recherches et d’enseignement, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, March 28, 2019
Invited Speaker, 'Uncomfortable Proximity', Launch of a special issue of Modern and Contemporary France: ‘La France ce n'est pas Michel Houellebecq’, Goldsmiths University London, February 14, 2019
Invited speaker, 'Michel Houellebecq: Uncreative Writer', Houellebecq's Cultural Transgressions conference, Institute of Modern Language Research, Senate House, University of London, September 29, 2018
'Houellebecq’s « Soumission »: a contemporary « Dog Whistle » novel?’, Society of French Studies conference, University College Cork, July 2, 2018
Invited panel chair, Literature and Reality in the 21st Century study day (IMLR/Paris-Nanterre), University of London Institute in Paris, June 8, 2018
‘Houellebecq’s « Soumission »: a contemporary « Dog Whistle » novel?’, Words That Kill conference, �Թ�tv, May 28, 2018
Invited speaker, 'Houellebecq et le sacrifice du soi', Séminaire Droit, histoire et littérature, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, March 5, 2018
Invited speaker, 'Houellebecq et le terrorisme', Séminaire Droit, histoire et littérature, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, February 6, 2017
Invited speaker, ‘Houellebecq et la crise du couple’, Conference on ‘la Fin du couple’, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, December 2, 2016
Co-organizer (with Alice Craven) and panel chair, Noire is the New Noire, conference on the Gallimard Série Noire including the participation of Aurélien Masson (Gallimard) and Dominque Manotti (novelist), American University of Paris, November 5, 2016
Panel member and organiser, ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, panel discussion featuring Édouard Louis, author and Hannah Westley, �Թ�tv Global Communications, American University of Paris, September 28, 2016,
‘Je n’aurais rien à regretter’, a discussion with Louis Betty (University of Wisconsin-Whitewater), Berkeley Books, Paris, June 28, 2016
‘In conversation’ with photographer John Minihan, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, Paris Beckett Festival 2016, March 18, 2016.
Panel member and organiser, ‘Translating Houellebecq’, panel discussion featuring Lorin Stein, The Paris Review and Nelly Kaprièlian, Les Inrockuptibles, American University of Paris, March 15, 2016.
‘Une poétique de la neutralité: soumission, anomie et inertie dans la fiction de Michel Houellebecq’, International Conference, Les « voix » de Michel Houellebecq, Université de Lausanne, March 3, 2016.
‘The ‘Rebranding’ of Michel Houellebecq: Persona, Authorial Presence and Narrative Voice, Society for French Studies conference, Cardiff, June 30, 2015.
‘Michel Houellebecq and the roman noir – between détournement and homage’, Society for French Studies conference, Nottingham, July 2, 2013.
Chair and event organiser, ‘Does Paris Own Psychogeography?’, panel discussion with Andrew Hussey and novelist Will Self, University of London Institute in Paris, April 22, 2013.
‘In conversation’ with novelist Aurélien Bellanger, University of London Institute in Paris, March 22, 2013
‘La voix poétique et critique dans les romans de Michel Houellebecq’, L’Unité de l’œuvre de Michel Houellebecq, Université de Provence, May 4, 2012.
‘Michel Houellebecq (and) the depressive subject’, London French Postgraduate Conference 2011, IGRS London, November 14, 2011.
‘Experiences of transgression in Michel Houellebecq's fiction’, Transgression(s), Université de Provence/Association des Études Françaises et Francophones d’Irlande, October 21, 2011.
‘Cults, crimes and coprophilia. Subversive communities in Richard Morgiève’s Sex Vox Dominam and Thomas Hairmont’s Le Coprophile’, Autour de l’extrême littéraire, University of London Institute in Paris, June 3, 2011.
‘Michel Houellebecq: celebrity, pop star, transgressor’, Interfaces conference, University of Exeter, January 29, 2011.

PhD, The University of London Institute in Paris
MA, The University of Manchester
BA, The University of Liverpool

Books

w/Anna-Louise Milne, Contemporary Fiction in French (Cambridge University Press, January 2021)
Pathos, poetry and politics in Michel Houellebecq's fiction, 'Faux Titre' (Leiden: Rodopi-Brill, 2019)
w/ Marcela Lacub and Hervé Le Bras, Fourier, Kafka, Houellebecq: trois théories sur l'enfer conjugal (Paris: Descartes et Cie, February 2018)
w/ Eugene Brennan, Literature and Intoxication: Writing, Politics and the Experience of Excess (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015)
w/ Alastair Hemmens, Autour de l’extrême littéraire (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012)

Peer-reviewed articles

‘“Doing a Houellebecq” in the age of screens: trolling, selfies and textual bricolage’, Romance Studies, forthcoming 2022
‘The writer and the terrorist: on Michel Houellebecq’, Textual Practice, 34:9, 2020, 1599-1622, DOI: 10.1080/0950236X.2020.1808302
‘Michel Houellebecq, Information Management and Our New Dark Age’. French Cultural Studies, vol. 31, no. 1, Feb. 2020, pp. 46–58, doi:10.1177/0957155819893587
'Uncomfortable proximity. Literary technique, authorial provocations and dog whistles in Michel Houellebecq’s fiction', Modern & Contemporary France, 2019, 27:1, 61-76, DOI: 10.1080/09639489.2018.1557128
'Une poétique de la neutralité : soumission, anomie et inertie dans la fiction de Michel Houellebecq', in Raphaël Baroni & Samuel Estier (eds), Les "voix" de Michel Houellebecq, Actes du Colloque de l'Université de Lausanne 2016, Fabula, <http://www.fabula.org/colloques/sommaire3250.php>
‘Michel Houellebecq and Crime Fiction – between polar and poésie’, in Jean Kaempfer and André Vanoncini (eds.), Revue critique de fixxion française contemporaine, No. 10
‘« La transgression ne m’intéresse pas, pour le dire brutalement ». Michel Houellebecq, critic of transgression’, in Elizabeth Benjamin and Jessica Goodman (eds.), MHRA Working Papers in the Humanities, MHRA, Vol. 9, 2014, pp. 67-83

Book chapters

‘The Franco-American Novel’, in Russell Williams and Anna-Louise Milne (eds), Contemporary Fiction in French (Cambridge University Press, January 2021)
'La vie littéraire inconnue de Michel Houellebecq', in Agathe Novak-Lechevalier (ed), Cahier Houellebecq (Paris: Editions de l'Herne, 2017)
‘Writing and Intoxication: Drunken Philosophers, Crack Addicts and the Perpetual Present’, in Russell Williams and Eugene Brennan (eds.), Literature and Intoxication: Writing, Politics and the Experience of Excess (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), pp. 25-48
‘« La souffrance à la fois pénétrante et douce ». Depression in Michel Houellebecq’s fiction’, in Gillian Ni Chellaigh, Laura Jackson and Siobhán McIlvanne (eds.), Quand La Folie Parle (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014), pp. 134-150
‘Houellebecq et L’Idiot international : la genèse d’une voix littéraire ?’, in Bruno Viard (ed.), L’Unité de l’œuvre de Michel Houellebecq, (Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2014), pp. 337-349
‘Cults, crimes and coprophilia. Subversive  communities in Richard Morgiève’s Sex Vox Dominam and Thomas Hairmont’s Le Coprophile’, in Alastair Hemmens and Russell Williams (eds.) Autour de l’extrême littéraire, (Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012)

Review articles and encyclopedia entries

“Writing struggles”, review of Joseph Andras’s and Kaoutar Harchi’s book Littérture et révolution, The Times Literary Supplement, February 23, 2024, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/litterature-et-revolution-joseph-andras-kaoutar-harchi-book-review-russell-williams/
“MétroSpotting”, review of Andrew Martin’s book Metropolitain, The Times Literary Supplement, December 22/29, 2023, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/metropolitain-andrew-martin-book-review-russell-williams/
“Artful dodgers”, review of Laurent Binet’s novel Perspective(s), The Times Literary Supplement, November 24, 2023, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/perspective-s-laurent-binet-book-review-russell-williams/
“Gainsbourg confidentiel”, review of the Maison Gainsbourg museum, The Times Literary Supplement, November 10, 2023, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/maison-gainsbourg-arts-review-russell-williams/
“Weird thinking”, review of Mondes invisibles ed. by Sylvain Ledda, The Times Literary Supplement, September 29, 2023, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/mondes-invisibles-sylvain-ledda-book-review-russell-williams/
“Everyday culture”, review of The Politics and Poetics of Everyday Life by Kristin Ross, The Times Literary Supplement, August 18/25, 2023, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-politics-and-poetics-of-everyday-life-kristin-ross-book-review-russell-williams/
“Sales talk”, review of Boniments by François Bégaudeau, The Times Literary Supplement, July 14, 2023, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/boniments-francois-begaudeau-book-review-russell-williams/
“Cityscapes”, review of Paris, Boulevard Voltaire by Michèle Audin, The Times Literary Supplement, July 7, 2023 https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/cityscapes/
“Blue movie”, review of Quelques mois dans ma vie by Michel Houellebecq, The Times Literary Supplement, June 2, 2023, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/quelques-mois-dans-ma-vie-michel-houellebecq-book-review-russell-williams/
“When a star was made”, review of Et la femme créa a la star, exhibition at the Petit Palais, The Times Literary Supplement, May 26, 2023, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/sarah-bernhardt-petit-palais-arts-review-russell-williams/
“House Arrest”, review of The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier (trans. by D. Levin-Becker), The Times Literary Supplement, March 10, 2023, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-birthday-party-laurent-mauvignier-book-review-russell-williams/
Review of Interventions 2020 by Michel Houellebecq (trans by A. Brown), French Studies, December 27, 2022, https://academic.oup.com/fs/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/fs/knac273/6965437
Review of ‘Audimat’, The Times Literary Supplement, November 25, 2022, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/audimat-etienne-menu-guillaume-heuguet-journal-review-russell-williams/
‘Danse macabre’, review of ‘V13’ by Emmanuel Carrère, The Times Literary Supplement, November 18, 2022, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/v13-emmanuel-carrere-book-review-russell-williams/
Review of ‘Across Texts’ by Keith Reader, The Times Literary Supplement, October 14, 2022, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/across-texts-keith-reader-book-review-russell-williams/
Review of ‘Cacaphonies’ by Annabel Kim, The Times Literary Supplement, September 2, 2022, https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/cacaphonies-annabel-l-kim-book-review-russell-williams
‘Autumn livres: The trends and triumphs of a seasonal literary jamboree’, The Times Literary Supplement, October 15, 2021
‘Christy Wampole, Degenerative Realism: Novel and Nation in Twenty-First-Century France’. H-France Review Vol. 21 (August 2021), No. 144. https://h-france.net/vol21reviews/vol21no144Williams.pdf
‘Memories are made of this: Jean-Philippe Toussaint’s unforgettable, decisive moments’, The Times Literary Supplement, October 9, 2020
‘The Novels of Self-Isolation’, 3am Magazine, May 19, 2020, https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/3am-in-lockdown-63-russell-williams/
‘Michel Houellebecq: Google, Plagiarism, and Postproduction, Contemporary French and Francophone Studies, vol. 23, no. 4, 2019, pp. 414-424, doi: 10.1080/17409292.2019.1703307
Entries on Laurent Garnier (pp. 285-8) and Jean-Michel Jarre (pp. 331-5) in Je chante donc je suis: an anthology of French and Francophone singers, from Abd al Malik to Zazie, ed. by Michaël Abecassis and Marcelline Block (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018)
‘Blurring the Boundaries: The Poetry of Michel Houellebecq’, The Los Angeles Review of Books, June 1, 2017, <https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/blurring-the-boundaries-the-poetry-of-michel-houellebecq/>
‘Punk and Politics: the Série Noire in 2016’, interview with Aurélien Masson, Gallimard, NoirCon 2016 programme, ed. by Lou Boxer, p. 33
'Spectacular distractions’, Times Literary Supplement, September 30, 2016
‘Michel Houellebecq’s Obsessions’, Times Literary Supplement, July 8, 2016
‘The Inaction Hero’, Los Angeles Review of Books, July 2, 2016
'Sarah L. Glasco, Parody and Palimpsest: Intertextuality, Language, and the Ludic in the Novels of Jean-Philippe Toussaint', French Studies, 2016
’The Psychedelic Phenomenon’, Los Angeles Review of Books, April 30, 2016
‘Nurit Buchweitz, An Officer of Civilization: The Poetics of Michel Houellebecq’, French Studies, French Studies, 2016 [http://fs.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/03/14/fs.knw052.full?keytype=ref&ijkey=UjGDcvlaccIoJIu]
‘The Real Paris’, Los Angeles Review of Books, February 22, 2016 [https://lareviewofbooks.org/review/the-real-paris]
‘The Feel-Bad Film’, Los Angeles Review of Books, September 23, 2015
‘The Série Noire and Social Intervention’, Los Angeles Review of Books, July 27, 2015
‘Alain Mabanckou, The Lights of Pointe-Noire’, New Statesman, May 28, 2015
‘Édith Piaf retrospective at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France’, The Independent, Radar magazine, April 4, 2015, p. 5
‘Michel Corvo et le Baron Houellebecq’, Contreligne, January-March, 2015,
‘Michel Houellebecq, Soumission’, Times Literary Supplement, February 13, 2015, p. 19
‘French revolutions: the eerie prescience of Jean-Patrick Manchette’s detective fiction’, New Statesman, March 19 2015
‘Kamel Daoud, Meursault, contre-enquête’, Times Literary Supplement, January 2, 2015, p. 23
‘Paul McCarthy, ‘Chocolate Factory’’ (contemporary art review), The Independent, October 28, 2014, p. 39
‘Sabri Louatah, Les Sauvages’, Times Literary Supplement, May 22, 2014, p. 21
‘Laurent Garnier, Electrochoc’, Times Literary Supplement, February 28, 2014, p. 27
‘Hélène Gestern, The People in the Photo’, Independent on Sunday, February 9, 2014
‘Mai Jia, Decoded’, Independent on Sunday, January 26, 2014
‘Douglas Morrey, Michel Houellebecq: Humanity and its aftermath’, French Studies, 2014, 68, pp. 128-129
‘Michel Houellebecq, Configuration du dernier rivage’, Times Literary Supplement, August 30, 2013
‘Régis Jauffret, Severe’, Independent on Sunday, March 24, 2013,
‘Régis Jauffret, Claustria and Lacrimosa’, Times Literary Supplement, November 2, 2012
‘Ruth Amar (ed.), L’écriture du bonheur dans le roman contemporain’, French Studies, 2012, 66, p. 589-590
‘Sabine Van Wesemael and Murielle Lucie Clémént (eds.), Michel Houellebecq à la Une’, French Studies, 2012, 66, p. 586
‘Bret Easton Ellis, Imperial Bedrooms’, Transgressive Culture, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2012, pp. 115-121
‘Joël Loehr, Les Grandes notions littéraires’, French Studies, Vol. 66, No. 1, 2012, pp. 124-125
‘Alain-Philippe Durand, Frédéric Beigbeder et ses doubles’, French Review, Vol. 85, No. 2, 2011, pp. 355-35

Michel Houellebecq, contemporary French fiction, detective fiction, the néo-polar, the Franco-American novel, Thierry Jonquet, Jean-Patrick Manchette, French popular culture

Department(s):

Comparative Literature, English, and Creative Writing

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Jula Wildberger

Consulting Advency — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 03:30:01 +0000

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jwildberger

First Name:

Jula

Last Name:

Wildberger

Professor Emerita of Classics

During her active time at �Թ�tv, Jula Wildberger taught the languages and literatures of classical antiquity (Greek and Latin) and courses in philosophy. Most of her current research concerns ancient Stoicism, its sources, its ancient reception, and its impact on modern thought. She applies her training in classical philology to the intersections between pragmatic, philosophical and literary questions, aiming to provide scholarship that contributes to her academic discipline but may also speak to any intellectual and moral agent in the modern world.

Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University College London (2006) and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2007)
Habilitation, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main (2004)
Dr. phil., Julius-Maximilians Universität, Würzburg (1997)
Magistra Artium, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main (1984)

Books

Axiological Confusion and Its Causes, edited by Ermanno Malaspina and Jula Wildberger, ΠΗΓΗ / FONS Revista de estudios sobre la civilización clásica y su recepción, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, vol. 5, 2020
The Stoics and the State. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2018
Seneca Philosophus. Ed. Marcia L. Colish and Jula Wildberger. Berlin; New York: De Gruyter, 2014
Seneca, De ira/Über die Wut. Lateinisch/Deutsch. Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam jun., 2007
Seneca und die Stoa. Der Platz des Menschen in der Welt. 2 Vols. Berlin; New York: De Gruyter, 2006
Lukian. Symposion. Griechisch/Deutsch. Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam jun., 2005
Ovids Schule der ‘elegischen’ Liebe: Erotodidaxe und Psychagogie in der Ars amatoria. Frankfurt am Main et al.: Peter Lang, 1998

For further publications and information, see https://aup.academia.edu/JulaWildberger

Department(s):

Comparative Literature, English, and Creative Writing

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Emeritus Professor

Deceased?:

Yulia Tsutserova

Consulting Advency — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 03:30:01 +0000

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ytsutserova

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Yulia

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Tsutserova

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Lecturer

Having obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts (Drawing and Painting), Yuliya TSUTSEROVA completed her education by an interdisciplinary doctorate in philosophy, literature, and visual culture at the University of Chicago. She defended a dissertation entitled "The Work of Art as a Site of Encounter in Martin Heidegger" under the direction of Jean-Luc Marion. Qualified to teach in the areas of philosophy of art and literary criticism, literary and visual genres, modern and contemporary philosophy, Yuliya Tsutserova has taught, among others, the following courses :

Le sublime/La critique | École des Arts de la Sorbonne, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne
Imitation, vérité, imagination | École des Arts de la Sorbonne, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne
Writing and Criticism (Eros and Poesis) | American University of Paris
Writing and Criticism (Con-figuration, De-figuration, Trans-figuration) | American University of Paris
Atelier de la pensée critique : histoire, définitions, usages | ENSTA Paris
Éthique : Vertu, droit et politique chez Aristote et Kant | Université Paris-Sorbonne
Politics and Religions | Paris Global Institute, Council on International Educational Exchange
Philosophical Perspectives on the Humanities | The University of Chicago

Her teaching activities are enriched by her research on the subject of artistic and philosophical creation understood in terms of spontaneity, experimentation, discovery and the unexpected. "Creative Intuition, Understanding, and Reception in Bergson, Husserl and Ingarden" is her latest study in a series of publications such as "Creative Configuration as the Logic of Cultural Sense in Husserl and Cassirer" and "The Suprasubjective and Creative Origin of Predication in Heidegger."

PhD, The University of Chicago

Contemporary Continental Philosophy (German & French Phenomenology)
Aesthetics, Art History, Visual Arts Theory & Practice
Literary Theory & Criticism, 19th- & 20th-Century Novel

Department(s):

Comparative Literature, English, and Creative Writing

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Faculty Member

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David Tresilian

Consulting Advency — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 03:30:01 +0000

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dtresilian

First Name:

David

Last Name:

Tresilian

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Assistant Professor

Professor Tresilian joined The American University of Paris in 2001. After a first degree in English at Oxford University, where he won the University’s Violet Vaughan-Morgan and Charles Oldham Shakespeare Prizes, he completed an MPhil, also at Oxford, in modern literature. He then taught at the American University in Cairo before heading to Columbia University, New York, where he completed an MPhil degree in comparative literature and was a Nicolson Fellow. He has published widely on modern Arabic literature. His 'Brief Introduction to Modern Arabic Literature' appeared in 2008, as did his translation of 'Conscience of a Nation: Writers and Society in Modern Egypt'.

He works as a consultant in cultural development and has worked for UNESCO in Central and Southwest Asia on poverty alleviation and community development, notably in Iran, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. A book on this experience was published by UNESCO in 2005. More recently, he has worked on projects in Southeast Asia, the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea and China, as well as on private-sector projects in Europe and Southeast Asia. His journalism regularly appears in ‘Al-Ahram Weekly’, published in Cairo, and he has commented on Middle East affairs for media outlets in Europe, South Africa and the Middle East.

MPhil, Columbia University
BA, MPhil, Oxford University

Department(s):

Comparative Literature, English, and Creative Writing

Faculty Type:

Faculty Member

Nafkote Tamirat

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ntamirat

First Name:

Nafkote

Last Name:

Tamirat

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Lecturer

Department(s):

Comparative Literature, English, and Creative Writing

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Faculty Member

Sei Shiomi

Consulting Advency — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 03:30:01 +0000

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sshiomi

First Name:

Sei

Last Name:

Shiomi

Personal Website:

http://www.keysacting.com

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Junior Lecturer

Sei began his acting training at a performing arts school in Boston. After graduating from New York University (Tisch School of the Arts) with a BFA degree in acting and also studying acting at the Stella Adler Studio, he worked in Off-Broadway productions for two years as an actor and director (notably Pan Asian Repertory Theater company). During that time, he became increasingly interested in directing and in different training methods for actors. In 1996, Sei decided to leave New York in search of diverse approaches to acting that existed in the world. This research took him on a cross-continental trip across Europe, during which he met and worked with theater professionals from Russia, Bulgaria, Norway, Italy, England and Japan (including Yoshi Oida from Peter Brook's company). Sei arrived in Paris in 1997 and followed an apprenticeship with Amy Werba from the Actors Studio at the Bilingual Acting Workshop before accepting his position as an acting instructor. He also created the Four Corners Theater Ensemble and co-produced and performed in Arthur Miller's The Creation of the World and Other Business. He currently teaches at Bilingual Acting Workshop (the methods of Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler and Uta Hagen). Sei also teaches at his own acting studio (KEYS Acting Studio) for professional French actors in Paris and coaches actors privately.

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting, New York University (Tisch School of the Arts), New York, USA

Sei's directing credits include (English):

Desdemona by Paula Vogel
The Glory of Living by Rebecca Gilman (co-directed with Amy Werba)
The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
The Baltimore Waltz by Paula Vogel
Beyond Therapy by Christopher Durang
The Blue Room by David Hare
The Big Funk by John-Patrick Shanley
Split by Michael Weller
Refuge by Jessica Goldberg
Old Saybrook by Woody Allen
Blue Surge by Rebecca Gilman
Doubt by John-Patrick Shanley
Stuck by Jessica Goldberg
Independence by Lee Blessing

They also include (French):

Le Chat du Rabbin by Johann Sfar (an adaption of his comic book)
Suspendus by Franck-Olivier Lafererre
Ecrits d'Amour by Claude Bourgyex
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset (winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928) for the Avignon theatre festival
La Ligne - la vie de faussaire by Sarah Kaminsky
Lâleh - une fleur en partage by Aude-Laurence Clermont-Biver (in Luxembourg and in Paris)
Dédouanez-moi by Nataly Florez & Sei Shiomi (one-woman show in Paris)

Department(s):

Comparative Literature, English, and Creative Writing

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Faculty Member

Joanna Scutts

Consulting Advency — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 03:30:01 +0000

NetID:

jscutts

First Name:

Joanna

Last Name:

Scutts

Personal Website:

http://www.joannascutts.com

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Lecturer

Professor Scutts is a cultural historian and literary critic, specializing in the literature and lives of women in the early 20th century. She is the author of Hotbed: Bohemian New York and the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism (2022) and The Extra Woman: How Marjorie Hillis Led a Generation of Women to Live Alone and Like It (2017). Her book reviews and literary journalism have appeared in the New York Times, Guardian, Paris Review, and the Times Literary Supplement, among many others, and she is a board member of the National Book Critics Circle. Her current book projects include a collection of profiles of overlooked women writers, and a history of American women in Paris from the late 19th to the mid-20th century.

Ph.D. English and Comparative Literature. Columbia University, New York, USA.
M.A. English. University of Sussex, Falmer, UK.
B.A. English. King's College, University of Cambridge, UK.

Department(s):

Comparative Literature, English, and Creative Writing

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Faculty Member

Celeste Schenck

Consulting Advency — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 03:30:01 +0000

NetID:

cschenck

First Name:

Celeste

Last Name:

Schenck

President Emerita

Dr. Celeste M. Schenck assumed office as the twelfth president of The American University of Paris on October 15, 2008. She is the second woman to assume leadership of the University, and the first president to have risen from the University’s professorial ranks.

In her 27 years at �Թ�tv, Schenck has served as Professor of Comparative Literature, Associate Dean for Curriculum Development, Vice President for Academic Innovation, Vice President for Development and Grant Planning, Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dean of the University, and Provost.

As Chief Academic Officer of �Թ�tv, Schenck focused on curriculum development—leading a major review of general education, founding the first MA programs and fostering the ones subsequently developed—and accreditation. She also founded one of the consortia �Թ�tv belongs to and has managed �Թ�tv’s role in the other two. She also attended to the integration and development of technology and teaching at �Թ�tv, creating the first Academic Resource Center with all of its attendant activities. In tandem with each project, she raised substantial foundation funding for academic programs, technology and infrastructure. As President, she has been responsible for creating the University’s professional leadership team, developing a “residential life” program for incoming students, leading two strategic planning processes, developing innovative research centers, launching a five-year campus redevelopment plan which is nearing its completion with the purchase of a final building adjacent to the Combes building, and launching �Թ�tv’s first capital campaign for 26M euros, �Թ�tv Ascending, which is currently moving into its public phase.

Prior to coming to France, Schenck was an Associate Professor with tenure at Barnard College, where she held the Ann Whitney Olin Junior Chair for excellence in scholarship and teaching. While at Barnard, Schenck received several prestigious awards for her work in feminist literary studies and founded two important series, the Barnard New Women Poets Series, an annual poetry prize with public readings, and Reading Women Writing, an imprimatur of Cornell University Press in international feminist criticism. She is the author of four books, two on the literary subjects of the pastoral and women’s autobiography, and two with colleague Susan Perry on women, culture and development practices. She currently writes on issues of international education, the global liberal arts, and leadership.

Schenck holds a bachelor’s degree in English, summa cum laude, from Princeton University, and a PhD from Brown University in Comparative Literature.

Department(s):

Comparative Literature, English, and Creative Writing

Eligible Thesis Advisor:

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Faculty Type:

Emeritus Professor

Deceased?:

Jessica Saxby

Consulting Advency — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 03:30:01 +0000

NetID:

jsaxby

First Name:

Jessica

Last Name:

Saxby

Personal Website:

Office:

Office Hours:

Lecturer

Department(s):

Comparative Literature, English, and Creative Writing

Eligible Thesis Advisor:

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Deceased?:

Margery Safir

Consulting Advency — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 03:30:01 +0000

NetID:

msafir

First Name:

Margery

Last Name:

Safir

Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature

BA, Columbia University
MA, MPhil, PhD, Yale University

Department(s):

Comparative Literature, English, and Creative Writing

Eligible Thesis Advisor:

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Faculty Type:

Emeritus Professor

Deceased?: