Helen Solterer
Professor of Romance Studies
My research and teaching focus on pre-modern literature and culture in French and their interplay with contemporary thought; twentieth-century French cultural history; writing through gender.
Published works include: 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). Current book in progress: Timely Fictions on the historical action of the earliest literary and graphic arts in French
Students interested in researching all forms of fiction in French in historical depth are particularly welcome.
Office Hours
& by appt.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
- Professor of Romance Studies, Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2010
Contact Information
- 217B Language Center, Durham, NC 27708
- Box 90257, Durham, NC 27708-0257
-
hsolt@duke.edu
(919) 660-3118
-
Duke Faculty Page
- Background
-
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., University of Toronto (Canada) 1986
-
Duke Appointment History
- Associate Professor, Theater Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2006 - 2011
- Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies in French and Italian Studies, Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2010
- Associate Professor with Tenure, Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1994 - 2010
- Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies, Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2009 - 2010
- Assistant Professor, Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1987 - 1994
- Instructor, University, Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1986
- Recognition
-
In the News
-
APR 28, 2020 Trinity College of Arts and Sciences -
FEB 7, 2020 Irish Times -
MAY 22, 2018 -
DEC 9, 2016 -
JAN 27, 2015 -
JAN 12, 2015 The News & Observer -
NOV 14, 2014 -
OCT 10, 2014 -
SEP 25, 2014 -
APR 18, 2014 -
SEP 27, 2013
-
-
Awards & Honors
- Ordre des Palmes Académiques. Government of France. April 2017
- Center of Excellence Grant. Embassy of France. March 2017
- Center of Excellence Grant. Embassy of France. 2016
- Center of Excellence Grant. Embassy of France. 2015
- Center of Excellence Grant. Embassy of France. 2014
- Book Grant. Florence Gould Foundation . 2009
- Fellow. National Humanities Center. 2002
- Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for French and Francophone Studies. Modern Language Association. 1995
- Fellowships for University Teachers. National Endowment for the Humanities. 1994
- Expertise
-
Global Scholarship
-
Expertise
-
- Publications & Artistic Works
-
Selected Publications
-
Books
-
Solterer, H. Timely Fictions (In preparation). 2017.
-
Solterer, H. Un Moyen Âge républicain : paradoxes du théâtre en temps de guerre. Translated by M. Chénetier Alev, Presses universitaires Paris-Sorbonne, 2014.Link to Item
-
Solterer, H. Medieval Roles in Modern Times: Theater and the Battle for the French Republic. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010.
-
Solterer, H. The Master and Minerva: Disputing Women in French Medieval Culture. University of California Press, 1995.
-
-
Academic Articles
-
Solterer, H. ““Strange or Elegant or Foul Matter,”.” Exemplaria, 25 (2013), 2013, pp. 79–92.Link to Item
-
Solterer, H. “review of Jody Enders, Murder by Accident: Medieval Theater, Modern Media, Critical Intentions.” H France Review, vol. 10 (October), 2010.
-
Solterer, H. “review of Carol Symes, "A Common Stage:Theater and Public Life in Medieval Arras.” Theatre Survey, vol. 51, 2010, pp. 135–37.
-
Solterer, H. “Fiction versus defamation: The quarrel over the tomance of the rose.” Medieval History Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, Dec. 1999, pp. 111–41. Scopus, doi:10.1177/097194589900200106.Full Text
-
Solterer, H. “Performing pasts: A dialogue with Paul Zumthor.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, vol. 27, no. 3, Duke University Press, 1997, pp. 595–640.Link to Item
-
Solterer, H. “The Waking of Medieval Theatricality, Paris 1935-1995.” New Literary History, vol. 27, 1996, pp. 257–90.
-
Solterer, H. “The Waking of Medieval Theatricality: Paris 1935-1995.” New Literary History, vol. 27, no. 3, 1996, pp. 357–90. Manual, doi:10.1353/nlh.1996.0041.Full Text
-
SOLTERER, H. “Seeing, Hearing, Tasting Woman : The Senses of Medieval Reading.” Comparative Literature, vol. 46, no. 2, Duke University Press, 1994, pp. 129–45. Manual, doi:10.2307/1771574.Full Text Link to Item
-
SOLTERER, H. “Dismembering, Remembering the Châtelain de Couci.” Romance Philology, vol. 46, no. 2, Nov. 1992, pp. 103–24.Link to Item
-
SOLTERER, H. “Figures for Female Militancy in Medieval France.” Signs, vol. 16, no. 2, 1991, pp. 522–49. Manual, doi:10.1086/494682.Full Text Link to Item
-
SOLTERER, H. “Letter-Writing & Picture Reading: Medieval Textuality and the "Bestiaire d'amour".” Word & Image, vol. 5, no. 1, 1989, pp. 131–47.Link to Item
-
-
Book Sections
-
Solterer, H. “Another Land's End of Literature.” Founding Feminisms in Medieval Studies Essays in Honor of E. Jane Burns, Boydell & Brewer, 2016, pp. 153–68.
-
“"Another Land’s End of Literature”.” Founding Feminisms in Medieval Studies, Boydell & Brewer, 2016, pp. 153–68.
-
Solterer, H. “"Aimer un pays tout autre: Christine de Pizan, Alain Chartier, & Compagnie”.” Sens, Rhétorique, et Musique : Études Réunies En Hommage à Jacqueline Cerquiglini-Toulet, edited by S. Lefèvre et al., Champion, 2015, pp. 769–82.
-
Solterer, H., and Véronique Dominguez. “Réactivations scéniques.” Le Théâtre Du XIIe Au XIIe Siècles, edited by Olivier Halévy et al., L’Avant-Scène, 2014.
-
Solterer, H. “Parcours d’un militant de théâtre: Moussa Abadi.” Le Texte Critique : Expérimenter Le Théâtre et Le Cinéma Aux XXe et XXIe Siècles, edited by Valérie Vignaux et Marion Chénetier Alev, Presses universitaires François-Rabelais, 2013, pp. 207-220.
-
Solterer, H. ““Jouer le Moyen Âge: Gustave Cohen et la troupe théophilienne,”.” Les Pères Des Études Médiévales: Examen Critique de La Constitution d’un Savoir Académique, edited by Marie Bouhaïk-Gironès et al., Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2010, pp. 255-281[8figures].
-
Solterer, H. “Theatre and Theatricality.” The Cambridge Companion to Medieval French Literature, Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 181–94.
-
Solterer, H. “Making Names, Breaking Lives: Women & Injurious Language.” Cultural Performances in Medieval France: Essays in Honor of Nancy Freeman, edited by Eglal Doss-Quinby et al., Boydell & Brewer, 2007, pp. 207–21.
-
Solterer, H. “Gustave Cohen at Pont-Holyoke : The Drama of Belonging to France.” Artists, Intellectuals and World War II, edited by C. Benfey and K. Remmler, University of Massachusetts Press, 2006, pp. 145–61.
-
Solterer, Helen. “Defense of Women.” Women and Gender in Medieval Europe, edited by Susan Stuard et al., Routledge, 2005, pp. 64–68.
-
Solterer, H. “La Belle Dame sans Merci.” Medieval Women: An Encyclopedia, edited by Katharina M. Wilson and Nadia Margolis, New York: Greenwood Press, 2004, pp. 80–84.
-
Solterer, H. “The Freedoms of Fiction for Gender in Premodern France.” Gender in Debate from the Early Middle Ages to the Renaissance, edited by Thelma S. Fenster and Clare A. Lees, New York: Palgrave Press, 2002, pp. 135–63.
-
Solterer, H. “Performer le passé.” Paul Zumthor Ou l’invention Permanente. Critique, Histoire, Poésie, edited by Jacqueline Cerquiglini-Toulet and Christopher Lucken, Droz, 1998, pp. 117–59.
-
co-authored, Christopher, et al. “Feminism and the Discipline of Old French Studies: "Une Bele Disjointure".” Medievalism in a Modernist Temper, edited by R Howard Bloch and Stephen G. Nichols, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995, pp. 225–66.
-
Solterer, H. M. “"Amériques prémodernes ? Départ pour le grand Nord”.” Poétiques de Paul Zumthor, edited by H. M. éds. Jean-René Valette, Idelette Muzart-Fonseca dos Santos., Garnier.
-
-
Other Articles
-
Solterer, H., and J. Delabroy. “Teaching Abroad With Obama.” Insidehighered.Com, 2008.
-
Solterer, H. “Teaching Free Speech in Times of War.” Insiderhighered.Com, Sept. 2007.
-
-
- Teaching & Mentoring
-
Recent Courses
- FRENCH 335: Free Speech: France-USA 2020
- PJMS 335: Free Speech: France-USA 2020
- RIGHTS 335: Free Speech: France-USA 2020
- FRENCH 89S-1: First-Year Seminar in French 2019
- FRENCH 411: Biography, Life Writing, Autofiction 2019
- FRENCH 611: Biography, Life Writing, Autofiction 2019
- HISTORY 420: Biography, Life Writing, Autofiction 2019
- HISTORY 611: Biography, Life Writing, Autofiction 2019
- LIT 420: Biography, Life Writing, Autofiction 2019
- LIT 609: Biography, Life Writing, Autofiction 2019
- Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
-
Presentations & Appearances
- Another Pre-modern North : Navigating the Inuit Case. Merrilees Lecture. University of Toronto. November 2016 2016
- Schwob alias Villon. Creating is Remembering: Poetry Books, 2016-1401. Duke University. June 2, 2016 - June 4, 2016 2016
- Amériques prémodernes? Départ pour le Grand Nord. Université de Paris 10 . October 2015 2015
- “Villon, Modern Poet, Digital Actor.” . Albertine Book Store, New York. May 2015 2015
- “A Roundtable: Medieval Roles for Modern Times.”. December 8, 2012 2012
- “A Timely Villon,”. December 8, 2012 2012
- “Travail théâtral et mémoire du médiéval,”. December 8, 2012 2012
- Enrolling Medieval Culture: Politics, Performance, Public Life. November 1, 2011 2011
- Archives et éphémères : à la recherche de la théâtralité prémoderne. March 1, 2011 2011
- Un Moyen Âge républicain. Théâtre et politique. March 1, 2011 2011
- “Parcours d’un militant de théâtre,”. November 1, 2010 2010
- 3 Paradoxes of Medieval Performance: Chartres 1935-1945,”. April 1, 2010 2010
- Gustave Cohen, Moussa Abadi, and Medieval Role-Playing”. April 1, 2010 2010
- “Medieval Theater & the Battle for the French Third Republic”. March 1, 2010 2010
- Théâtre et Résistance: Moussa Abadi et Odette Rosenstock Abadi”. June 22, 2009 2009
- Forays in Cultural History. November 29, 2008 2008
- Medieval Roles for Modern Times. November 29, 2008 2008
- Nicholai Evreinov & The Art of Medieval Role-Play. November 29, 2008 2008
- Theater and Resistance. November 29, 2008 2008
-
Service to the Profession
- Co-Convenor. inTransit Arts of Migration Research group. January 2016 2016
- Member, Jury of Book Prize. Laurence Wylie Prize in French Cultural Studies. New York University & University Consortium. January 2016 - June 2016 2016
- Principal Investigator of Research Project, International Conference Organizer. Creating is Remembering : Poetry Books 2016-1401. Duke University. July 2015 - June 2016 2015 - 2016
- HDR Thesis Defense, Member of Jury, University of Paris IV / College de France. December 9, 2013 - December 9, 2013 2013
- Chair, Jury of Book Prize. Laurence Wylie Prize in French Cultural Studies. Duke University & University Consortium. November 2013 - November 2014 2013 - 2014
- Evaluator : National Humanities Center. December 6, 2011 2011
- Evaluator : University of Pennsylvania Press. December 6, 2010 2010
- Evaluator of Manuscripts, : Cornell University Press. December 6, 2009 2009
-
Service to Duke
- Director, Center for French and Francophone Studies. May 2013 - September 2017 2013 - 2017
- National Humanities Center. December 8, 2012 2012
- Exchange with Universities in France. September 2012 - May 2015 2012 - 2015
- Member of Jury. Chateaubriand Fellowship for Graduate Studies -- Embassy of France. December 6, 2010 - December 6, 2010 2010
Some information on this profile has been compiled automatically from Duke databases and external sources. (Our About page explains how this works.) If you see a problem with the information, please write to Scholars@Duke and let us know. We will reply promptly.