Read all the latest news and upcoming events from the faculty on the main News page.
The Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages and the Maison Française d’Oxford are hosting a meeting of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (https://www.auf.org/) and of UK universities on 6 - 7 June 2018. We warmly invite representatives of academic institutions to attend.
We are pleased to announce that more spaces have been opened on our Modern Languages Open Day, taking place on Saturday, April 28th at the Examination Schools. The event will run from 10.50 am to 4 pm and will offer an overview of Modern Languages at Oxford, as well as a chance for prospective students to ask our tutors any questions they might have about the degree.
Please, note that booking is required.
On April 12th-14th, 2018 international seminar Balzac et l'Angleterre / Balzac and England will be taking place at Maison Française d’Oxford.
The seminar will be conducted in both English and French, with speakers arriving from across Britain and France, but also Morocco, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, the Czech Republic, and United States. Over the course of three days this international gathering of scholars will explore the nature of Balzac's engagement with Britain, but also of Britain's — and the world's — engagement with Balzac.
A new article by Dr Huw Grange has been published by The Conversation: 'In medieval Britain, if you wanted to get ahead, you had to speak French' tells about the influence of the Normans, and of the early textbooks used to teach French to English speakers.
Dr Grange proceeds to tell about the difficulty of learning a foreign language without leaving one's home country, and about the shifts in the linguistic preferences of the British. In Oxford, French was once so popular that it was formally forbidden to neglect Latin in its favour.
The Arts and Humanities Research Council has awarded a network grant to ‘Dreaming Romantic Europe’, a project led by Catriona Seth, the Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature here at Oxford, as co-investigator, and by Professor Nicola J. Watson of the Open University as Principal Investigator.
The award will make it possible to draw together individual academics, but also scholarly associations and cultural heritage institutions across Europe, which are devoted to the study and presentation of Romanticism.
On Thursday, March 15th we present Lilian Thuram in conversation with students and members of the public. The famous football defender, who helped France win the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000 championships, is a UNICEF ambassador and promotes education as a way to battle racism. He will be speaking about his initiatives, which include a book My Black Stars, used in French schools.
This conversation will be convened by Dr Michael Abecassis and take place in the Holywell Music Room.
The event is free and open to all, and will be in French.
On Friday, March 2nd Dr Jonathan Patterson, together with Dr Jonathan Williams (Director of College Music, St Hilda's College) and the Faculty of Music, will present a unique seminar: 'Musical and Literary Approaches to the Operas of Jean-Philippe Rameau'.
Dedicated to the works of the 18th-century French composer and music theorist, the seminar will explore Rameau's legacy through the integration of literary and musical analytical techniques.
This event is free and open to all.
Our annual language competitions for schools are open for entries: choose between a French script, a short story in Spanish, or from a number of projects on the theme of ‘Freundschaft – Friendship’ in German.
The age categories are from Year 5 to Year 13, depending on the competition. Winning prizes include publication and monetary rewards.
On Friday, March 2nd we present renowned comic book author and film director Enki Bilal in conversation with students and members of the public. One of the most sought-after artists in the world will talk working across genres and cultures. The conversation will be convened by Dr Michael Abecassis and take place in the Main Hall, Taylor Institution.
This event is free and open to all, and will be in French.
Professor Catriona Seth is to receive an honorary degree from Queen's University Belfast, in acknowledgement of her achievements in the field of French literature research.
As part of the Seminar on Contemporary French Writing and Culture, author, illustrator, and graphic artist Emmanuel Guibert will be a guest in the ‘Conversations avec…’ series. The conversation will be convened by Professor Catriona Seth and Professor Seth Whidden and take place on Monday, February 19th at Queen’s College.
This event is free and open to all, and will be in French.
The Open Days for spring 2018 have now been announced! We welcome prospective applicants to meet our tutors and students, to have a look at libraries and classrooms, and to learn more about the admissions process and studying at Oxford.
The main Open Day at the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages is taking place on Saturday, April 28th, with additional language-specific days from February to March.
Compassion’s Edge: Fellow-Feeling and its Limits in Early Modern France is a new book by Professor Katherine Ibbett, Fellow of Trinity College, which was published last year by the University of Pennsylvania Press.
As part of France Culture’s focus on travel, the radio show ‘Soft Power’ devoted its last episode of 2017 to Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), one of the most important poets of the nineteenth century. Among the invited guests was Seth Whidden, who recently completed a biography of Rimbaud due out later this year.
A conference on Les Lumières au pluriel marks a stage of the ANR/DFG-funded EDULUM project. It is being held on 14-16 December at the Maison Française in Oxford and at All Souls College, with support from both organisations and from the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at Oxford.
Congratulations to Dr Andrew Counter of the French Sub-Faculty on winning the very prestigious MLA Prize:
The Modern Language Association of America have awarded the twenty-fifth annual Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for French and Francophone Studies to Dr Counter for his book The Amorous Restoration: Love, Sex, and Politics in Early Nineteenth-Century France, published by Oxford University Press.
Germaine de Staël (1766-1817), one of the greatest writers and the most famous woman of the early nineteenth century, is the subject of Radio 4’s In Our Time, hosted by Lord Bragg on November 16 2017. He is in conversation with Catriona Seth FBA, the Marshal Foch Professor of Literature and Fellow of All Souls, who recently edited Staël’s works for Gallimard’s prestigious “Pléiade” series, and with fellow academics Professor Alison Finch and Dr Katherine Astbury.
We are delighted to announce that one of our three entrants to the 2017 R.H. Gapper Undergraduate Essay Prize, Peter Tellouche, has been voted this year's winner.
If you, or any of your students, are interested in applying for 2018 entry, the Faculty is holding an information session on Modern Languages Masters courses.
International Colloquium Marking the 150th Anniversary of Baudelaire's Death and the 160th Anniversary of Les Fleurs du mal.
Organized by Ève Morisi (Oxford), André Guyaux (Paris-Sorbonne) and Bertrand Marchal (Paris-Sorbonne)