Lisa M Gasbarrone Professor of French

I have served in various administrative roles at the college as department chair, chair of Women's Studies (now WGSS), Language Studies Council convenor, and Director of International Studies

I graduated from Bowdoin College (1977) summa cum laude with a degree in Romance Languages.  I spent my junior year studying abroad in Paris.  I received my MA (1980) and PhD (1984) from Princeton University, where I was awarded a bourse du gouvernement français for a year's study at the Ecole normale supérieure in Paris.  While completing my doctoral dissertation, I accepted a visiting appointment at Tulane University in New Orleans.  I taught at Tulane for four years before coming to Franklin & Marshall College in 1986.

My research interests are eclectic.  Since leaving graduate school, I have published journal articles, essays, and translations on a variety of topics including Enlightenment authors (Rousseau and Diderot), French feminism and literary theory (Cixous, Bakhtin), and a collection of original translations on music and esthetics in 18th-century France. My most recent publications include articles on the novel in Quebec and also on Victor Hugo.  My most recent article, published in Quebec Studies, is entitled "Love, Loss, and the Sacred in Maria Chapdelaine." My book, The Sense of the Sacred in the Early Novels of Quebec, was recently accepted for publication at McGill-Queen’s University Press.

"Love, Loss, and the Sacred in Maria Chapdelaine."  Quebec Studies 54.  (Fall 2012/Winter 2013), pp. 31-46.

 “Restoring the Sacred in Les Misérables.” The Journal of Religion and Literature 40.2 (Summer 2008), pp. 1-24.
“Le Chronotope au féminin : Temps, espace, et transcendance dans Les Anciens Canadiens et Angéline de Montbrun.”

Canadian Literature 195 (Winter 2007), pp. 103-117.
“Narrative, Memory, and Identity in François-Xavier Garneau’s Histoire du Canada.” Quebec Studies 34 (Fall 2002/Winter 2003), pp. 31-46.

“Temps et Espace chez Patrice Lacombe: Une lecture bakhtinienne de La Terre paternelle.” La Revue de l'Université de Moncton 34, no 1-2 (2003), pp. 129-52.

"Other Women, Other Voices in Angéline de Montbrun." Annual Meeting of the American Council on Quebec Studies. New Orleans, November 2018.

“Surface Reading and the Sacred in the Early Novels of Quebec.” Annual Meeting of the American Council on Quebec Studies. Portland Maine, November 2016.

“Le Chronotope au féminin : Les Anciens Canadiens et Angéline de Montbrun.” Annual meeting of the American Council on Quebec Studies. Quebec City, November 2004.
“ ‘ … et le Canada vivra’ : Le Pays (ré)écrit dans Angéline de Montbrun.” Annual meeting of the Conseil International d’Etudes Francophones : Portland, Maine, May 2001.

“ ‘Quelque chose de l’exil’: François-Xavier Garneau’s Voyage en Angleterre et en France.” American Council on Quebec Studies. Montreal, October 2000.

"French Canada in History and Story:  Tocqueville's Voyage en Amérique." Colloquium on "France:  History and Story."  University of Birmingham (UK), July 1999.

In addition to courses in French, I have taught in various programs: Women and Gender Studies, Comparative Literary Studies, and International Studies. 

In our general education program, I taught a community based learning course called "Storytelling and the Construction of Community." My teaching reflects my interests in the French Enlightenment, Quebec, and Victor Hugo, as well as a broader interest in storytelling, folk tales, and fairy tales.