Research
Research interests
- My current research interests include the relation between science and literature, and the representation of ‘the monstrous family' in Francophone literature and Film.
Current research
I am currently completing a monograph on Fleurs monstrueuses: histoire d'une métamorphose, Littérature, femmes et botanique. This analyses the links between visual and textual representations of flowers, and the monstrous representation of women during the late nineteenth century.
Publications
Supervision
Current PhD Students
External roles and responsibilities
Biography
Following studies in Semiology and History of Science at Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7 and Trinity College Dublin, my PhD dealt with the relationship between these two disciplines. The thesis - "Le Monstre et l'hybride" - concerns the often subversive use of classificatory systems and terminology from Natural History within French literature in the latter half of the nineteenth century. It focuses specifically on novelistic descriptions of biological oddities, especially exotic flowers. Since then, I have published articles on these themes in relation to novels by Joris-Karl Huysmans and Émile Zola. I have extended my interest in themes of the monstrous and the alien to contemporary Francophone writing and notably in relation to the works of Wajdi Mouawad.