Toril Moi | Scholars@Duke

Toril Moi
James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Literature

Toril Moi has three broad areas of interest: feminist theory and women's writing; the intersection of literature, philosophy and aesthetics; and ordinary language philosophy in the tradition of Wittgenstein, Cavell and Austin.

Toril Moi also works on theater. In her work on literature and theater she is particularly interested in the emergence of modernism in the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Her books include Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory (1985; 2nd edition 2002), Simone de Beauvoir: The Making of an Intellectual Woman (1994; second edition with a major new introduction 2008); and What Is a Woman? And Other Essays (1999), republished in a shorter version as Sex, Gender and the Body (2005). She is the editor of The Kristeva Reader (1986), and of French Feminst Thought (1987).

In 2006, Henrik Ibsen and the Birth of Modernism: Art, Theater, Philosphy , was published in English by Oxford University Press and in Norwegian by Pax Forlag (Oslo). The book won the MLA's Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for the best book in Comparative Literary Studies in 2007. It is now available in paperback.

Toril Moi now works on three projects: (1) The Emergence of European Modernism 1870-1914; (2) Femisist Theory and Women Writers; and (3) "Pictures of Language": on the vision of language in ordinary language philosophy. She also continues to work on Henrik Ibsen's plays.

Toril Moi enjoys working with students at all levels. She won Duke's Univeristy Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award in 1998, and the Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring of Graduate Students in 2008.

In her native Norway, Toril Moi writes a regular column for the cultural newspaper Morgenbladet.

Office Hours

Fall 2021 Office Hours:

By appointment via Zoom

Current Appointments & Affiliations

James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Literature, Literature, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1999
Professor of Literature, Literature, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1991
Professor of English, English, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2007
Professor of Romance Studies, Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1995
Professor of Philosophy, Philosophy, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2010
Professor in Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2021

Contact Information

1316 Campus Drive, 108 Friedl Building, Durham, NC 27708-0403
Box 90670, 108 Friedl Building, East Campus, Durham, NC 27708-0403
toril@duke.edu
Personal Website
Picture credit: Oscar Einzig Photography

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Dr. Art., University of Bergen (Norway) 1985
- Mag. art., University of Bergen (Norway) 1980
Previous Appointments & Affiliations
- Director of the Center for Philosophy, Art and Literature, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, University Institutes and Centers 2018 - 2021
- Director of PAL, Literature, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2009 - 2019
- Professor in the Department of Theater Studies, Theater Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2012 - 2017
- Professor of Theater Studies, Theater Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2006 - 2011
- Professor, Romance Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1992 - 1995
- Professor of the Practice, Literature, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1991 - 1993
- Adjunct Professor, Literature, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1989 - 1991
Recognition
In the News
- FEB 14, 2023 Duke Today
  
  Spring Books from Duke Authors from Wittgenstein to Capoeira
- JUL 19, 2016
  
  Toril Moi Elected as Fellow of the British Academy
Expertise
Subject Headings
Research
External Relationships
- Norwegian National Library
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Books
  - Anderson, Amanda, Rita Felski, and Toril Moi. Character Three Inquiries in Literary Studies. Trios, 2019.
  - Moi, Toril. Revolution of the Ordinary Literary Studies After Wittgenstein, Austin, and Cavell. University of Chicago Press, 2017.
  - Moi, Toril. Toril Moi leser A.O. Vinje [Toril Moi reads A. O. Vinje]. Oslo: Nasjonalbiblioteket, 2016.
  - Moi, T. Henrik Ibsen and the Birth of Modernism: Art, Theater, Philosophy. Oxford University Press, 2006.
  - Moi, T. Sex, Gender and the Body: The Student Edition of What Is a Woman? Oxford and New York: Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
  - Moi, T. What Is a Woman? and Other Essays. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
  - Moi, T. Simone de Beauvoir: The Making of an Intellectual Woman. Oxford & Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1994.
  - Various, T. French Feminist Thought. Edited by T. Moi. Oxford and New York: Blackwell, 1987.
  - Kristeva, Julia. The Kristeva Reader. Edited by Toril Moi. Oxford: Blackwell, and New York: Columbia, 1986.
  - Moi, T. Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory. London and New York: Methuen, 1985.
- Academic Articles
  - Moi, Toril. “Acknowledging the Other: Reading, Writing, and Living in The Mandarins.” Edited by Lauren du Graf, Julia Elsky, and Clémentine Fauré. Yale French Studies 135–136 (2019): 100–115.
  - Moi, Toril. “Acknowledging the Other: Reading, Writing, and Living in The Mandarins.” Edited by Lauren du Graf, Julia Elsky, and Clémentine Fauré. Yale French Studies 135–136 (2019): 100–115.
  - Moi, T. “Thinking through Examples: What Ordinary Language Philosophy Can Do for Feminist Theory (Accepted).” New Literary History 46, no. 3 (June 1, 2015).
  - Moi, T. “Thinking through examples: What ordinary language philosophy can do for feminist theory.” New Literary History 46, no. 2 (March 1, 2015): 191–216. https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.2015.0014.
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  - Bauer, Nancy, Sarah Beckwith, Alice Crary, Sandra Laugier, Toril Moi, and Linda Zerilli. “Introduction.” New Literary History 46, no. 2 (2015): v–xiii. https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.2015.0012.
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  - Moi, Toril. “Fem røde epler: Fra navn til bruk. En kommentar til §1 i Wittgensteins Filosofiske undersøkelser” [Five red apples: from names to use, A commentary on §1 in Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations].” Edda 114, no. 4 (2014): 348–53.
  - Moi, T. “Afterword: How the French Read.” New Literary History 44 (2013): 299–314.
  - Moi, T. “Shame and Openness: On Karl Ove Knausgård.” Translated by T. Moi and A. F. Lunde. Salmagundi Magazine 107, no. Winter (2013): 205–10.
  - Moi, Toril. “Hedda's Silences: Beauty and Despair in Hedda Gabler.” Modern Drama 56, no. 4 (2013): 434–56. https://doi.org/10.3138/md.S89.
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  - Toril, M. “Henrik Ibsen and idealism: Rethinking literary history of the XIX century.” Etudes Germaniques 62, no. 4 (December 1, 2007): 915–32.
  - Dupont, N., and T. Moi. “The poetic piping of Christian Prigent: Ventiloquits framework and glottic phrase.” Contemporary French and Francophone Studies 10, no. 2 (December 1, 2006): 127–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/17409290600560229.
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  - MOI, T. “ANOTHER COLETTE - THE QUESTION OF GENDERED WRITING - HUFFER,L.” French Forum 20, no. 2 (1995): 250–52.
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  - Moi, Toril. “"Am I That Name": Reply to Deborah Knight.” New Literary History 26, no. 1 (1995): 57–62. https://doi.org/10.1353/nlh.1995.0013.
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  - MOI, T., and J. MITCHELL. “PSYCHOANALYSIS, FEMINISM, AND POLITICS, A CONVERSATION WITH MITCHELL,JULIET.” South Atlantic Quarterly 93, no. 4 (1994): 925–49.
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  - Moi, T. “Review Article Femininity Revisited.” Journal of Gender Studies 1, no. 3 (May 1, 1992): 324–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.1992.9960503.
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  - Moi, T. “She died because she came too late…" knowledge, doubles and death in thomas's tristan.” Exemplaria 4, no. 1 (January 1, 1992): 105–33. https://doi.org/10.1179/exm.1992.4.1.105.
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  - Moi, Toril. “Simone de Beauvoir's L'Invitée: an existentialist melodrama.” Paragraph 14, no. 2 (July 1991): 151–69. https://doi.org/10.3366/para.1991.0012.
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  - MOI, T. “Review. Subject to Change: Reading Feminist Writing. Miller, Nancy K.” French Studies 45, no. 1 (January 1, 1991): 112–112. https://doi.org/10.1093/fs/45.1.112.
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  - MOI, T. “Review. Politics, Philosophy, Culture: Interviews and Other Writings 1977-1984. Edited with an introduction by Lawrence D. Kritzman. Foucault, Michel.” French Studies 44, no. 3 (July 1, 1990): 370–370. https://doi.org/10.1093/fs/44.3.370.
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  - MOI, T. “BOOKS OR SPINNING-WHEELS - ON WOMEN, PHILOSOPHY, ET-CETERA - FRENCH - LEDOEUFF,M.” Tls the Times Literary Supplement, no. 4549 (1990): S13–S13.
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  - MOI, T. “SEXUAL SUBVERSIONS - 3 FRENCH FEMINISTS - GROSZ,E.” Tls the Times Literary Supplement, no. 4549 (1990): S13–S13.
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  - MOI, T. “A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE - JOHNSON,B.” Sub Stance, no. 59 (1989): 120–22.
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  - MOI, T. “Review. Simone de Beauvoir: Witness to a Century. Wenzel, Helene Vivienne (ed.).” French Studies 42, no. 2 (April 1, 1988): 235–36. https://doi.org/10.1093/fs/42.2.235.
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  - Moi, T. “Leo Bersani, The Freudian Body: Psychoanalysis and Art, New York: Columbia University Press, 1986, £15.45, 126 pp.” History of the Human Sciences 1, no. 2 (January 1, 1988): 276–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/095269518800100208.
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  - DANIUS, S., and T. MOI. “AN INTERVIEW WITH MOI,TORIL ON LITERATURE AND SEXUAL POLITICS.” Blm Bonniers Litterara Magasin 57, no. 4 (1988): 258–64.
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  - MOI, T. “Review. Theory as Fiction. Bowie, Malcolm, Freud, Proust and Lacan.” French Studies 41, no. 4 (October 1, 1987): 469–469. https://doi.org/10.1093/fs/41.4.469.
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  - MOI, T. “Review. Feminism in France. From May '68 to Mitterrand. Duchen, Claire.” French Studies 41, no. 4 (October 1, 1987): 494–494. https://doi.org/10.1093/fs/41.4.494.
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  - MOI, T. “Review. Cross-References. Modern French Theory and the Practice of Criticism. Kelley, David and Llasera, Isabelle (eds).” French Studies 41, no. 3 (July 1, 1987): 371–371. https://doi.org/10.1093/fs/41.3.371.
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  - MOI, T. “FRENCH FEMINIST CRITICISM, WOMEN, LANGUAGE, AND LITERATURE, AN ANNOTATED-BIBLIOGRAPHY - GELFAND,ED, HULES,VT.” French Studies 41, no. 1 (1987): 114–16.
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  - MOI, T. “FEMMES, RECENT WRITINGS ON FRENCH WOMEN - WEITZ,MC.” French Studies 41, no. 1 (1987): 114–16.
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  - MOI, T. “Review. The Knowledge of Ignorance. From Genesis to Jules Verne. Martin, Andrew.” French Studies 40, no. 2 (April 1, 1986): 246–246. https://doi.org/10.1093/fs/40.2.246.
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  - MOI, T. “Review. Cousins, Mark and Hussain, Athar, Michel Foucault.” French Studies 40, no. 1 (January 1, 1986): 113–113. https://doi.org/10.1093/fs/40.1.113.
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  - MOI, T. “CIXOUS,HELENE, WRITING THE FEMININE - CONLEY,VA.” Quinquereme New Studies in Modern Languages 9, no. 1 (1986): 80–83.
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- Book Sections
  - Anderson, Amanda, Toril Moi, and Rita Felski. “Introduction & Rethinking Character.” In Character Three Inquiries in Literary Studies, 1–76. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019.
  - Anderson, Amanda, Toril Moi, and Rita Felski. “Introduction & Rethinking Character.” In Character Three Inquiries in Literary Studies, 1–76. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2019.
  - Moi, Toril. “Lidenskapens grammatikk: Om Vigdis Hjorth og Annie Ernaux (The Grammar of Passion: About Vigdis Hjorth and Annie Ernaux).” In Fem Kvinner, Tre Menn Og En Datter Skriver Om Vigdis Hjorth, edited by Eva Grøner, 77–88. Oslo: Cappelen Damm, 2019.
  - Moi, T. “From femininity to finitude: Freud, lacan, and feminism, again.” In Dialogues on Sexuality, Gender and Psychoanalysis, 93–135, 2018.
  - Moi, T. “Hedda’s words: The work of language in Hedda Gabler.” In Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler: Philosophical Perspectives, 152–73, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190467876.003.0008.
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  - Moi, T. “The adulteress wife.” In On Ne Nait Pas Femme: On Le Devient the Life of a Sentence, 103–13, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190608811.003.0006.
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  - Moi, T. “'Nothing Is Hidden’: From Confusion to Clarity, Or Wittgenstein on Critique.” In Rethinking Critique, edited by E. Anker and R. Felski. Duke University Press, 2016.
  - Moi, Toril. “Foreword.” In The Utopian, by Michael Westlake, VII–XIV. Verbivoracious Press, 2016.
  - Moi, T. “‘Øyeblikkets bedrageriske fylde’: Handling, språk og eksistens i Liv Køltzows forfatterskap.” In Å Forsvinne i Teksten, edited by L. Køltzow and H. P. Blad. Oslo: Flamme Forlag, 2015.
  - Showalter, E., and T. Moi. “Elaine showalter a literature of their own.” In Feminist Literary Criticism, 24–52, 2014. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315846163.
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  - Moi, T. “Stumhet og kjærlighet: En lesning av Amtmandens Døttre [Muteness and Love: A Reading of The District Governor’s Daughters].” In Å Bli En Stemme: Nye Studier i Camilla Colletts Forfatterskap, edited by Trond Haugen, 33–54. Oslo: Novus Forlag, 2014.
  - Moi, T. “Ibsen’s Late Style.” In Henrik Ibsen, The Master Builder and Other Plays. Penguin Books, 2014.
  - Moi, T. “’Something That Might Resemble a Kind of Love’: Fantasy and Realism in Henrik Ibsen’s Little Eyolf.” In Understanding Love Through Philosophy, Film, and Fiction, Ed. Susan Wolfe and Christopher Grau, 185–208. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
  - Moi, T. “‘To Make them Other, and Face Them’: Literature, Philosophy and ‘La Femme rompue’.” In Women, Genre and Circumstance: Essays in Memory of Elizabeth Fallaize, edited by Margaret Atack, Diana Holmes, Diana Knight, and Judith Still, 11–24. Oxford: Legenda, 2012.
  - Moi, T. “Access to the Universal: Language, Literature and the Humanities.” In The Critical Pulse: Thirty-Six Credos by Contemporary Critics, edited by Jeffrey Williams and Heather Steffen, 183–87. Columbia University Press, 2012.
  - Moi, Toril. “Introduction.” In Camille The Lady of the Camellias, by Alexandre Dumas Fils. New York: Signet Classics, 2003.
- Other Articles
  - Moi, Toril. “Response to eight respondents to my book Revolution of the Ordinary.” Nonsite.Org. Emory University, May 9, 2019.
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  - Moi, Toril. “Describing My Struggle.” The Point, December 27, 2017.
  - Moi, Toril. “Naised: sugu, soolisus ja vabadus [Translation of “Women: Sex, Gender, and Freedom: Thoughts about Equality and Difference” Manuscript written for the Ministry for Equality’s Feminist Research Conference in Tallinn, Estonia, on June 1, 2015].” Translated by Lea Larin and Roosi Talvik. Sirp: Eesti Kultuurileht, July 3, 2015.
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Education, Training, & Certifications

Previous Appointments & Affiliations

In the News

Subject Headings

External Relationships

Selected Publications

Books

Academic Articles

Book Sections

Other Articles