Olivia DrakeNorm Shapiro, professor of romance languages and literatures, translated and edited the book Preversities: A Jacques Prevert Sampler, published by Black Widow Press, September 2010. Jacques Prevert (1900-1977) was a poet and screenwriter who actively participated in the Surrealist Movement as well as the Rue du Chateau group with Raymond Queneau and Marcel Duchamp. His poetry is taught in schools in France and his works appear in countless anthologies throughout the world. This comprehensive anthology, drawing from all time periods of his work, is the first in English to present a picture of the whole of Prevert's poetic achievement. Shapiro…
Khachig Tölölyan, professor of letters, professor of English, founder and editor of Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, was interviewed by the French weekly publication L’Express about Thomas Pynchon on Oct. 6. The article is online, in French.
Fernando Degiovanni, associate professor of romance languages and literatures, associate professor of Latin American studies, was awarded the prestigious Alfredo Roggiano Prize for his Los textos de la patria: Nacionalismo, politicas culturales y canon en Argentina (2007). This prize is awarded every three years by the International Institute of Ibero-American Literature to the author of an outstanding scholarly book on any phase of Latin American literature or culture. The International Institute of Ibero-American Literature is the oldest association of scholars devoted the study of Latin American literature and culture in the United States.
Q: Kristine, when did you come to Wesleyan? A: I started working at Wesleyan in January of 2006, originally as an AA in University Relations. Q: What are your main job responsibilities? A: My job responsibilities are wide and varied. My job is to provide support to the Romance Language Department, including 23 faculty members and five foreign teaching assistants. Specifically, that can mean anything from supervising student workers and organizing information to planning events and travel, as well as accounting for more than 50 accounts, and troubleshooting any manner of old building (more…)
In July 2010, the board of the New York Academy of Medicine elected Andrew Curran, professor of French, Department of Romance Languages, a Fellow of the Academy in the history of medicine. Curran had previously received the Paul Klemperer fellowship in the history of medicine at the Academy and had given a lecture there on “natural history and slavery.” While at the Academy, Curran finished a book on 18th-century life sciences, The Anatomy of Blackness: Science and Slavery in an Era of Enlightenment (Johns Hopkins University Press, forthcoming 2011).
Norm Shapiro, professor of romance languages and literatures, was decorated as Officier de Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Minister of Culture and Communication in France on April 23. France has a long history of official government distinctions for exceptional achievement. The "Order of Arts and Letters" was established in 1957 to recognize eminent artists, writers and people who have contributed significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world. Shapiro is the author of dozens of books on French culture, literature and poetry. Many are award-winning. The Order of Arts and Letters is given out twice annually to…
Paula Paige, adjunct professor of romance languages emerita, won the online Gordon Award for Flash Fiction, sponsored by Our Stories Literary Magazine, for a story titled "Moshiach is Here." Although she’s been writing fiction for a long time, this is her first publication. She was long-listed for the Fish International Fiction Prize, and received Honorable Mentions in the “New Millennium Writings” winter competition of 2009 and in the 2010 Richard Bausch Short Story Prize. She was Writer in Residence at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, in 1991. A segment of the story follows: "The garage on 87th disgorged a big…
(more…)
Norman Shapiro, professor of romance languages and literature, translated Jean de La Fontaine's poems in La Fontaine's Bawdy, Revised Edition: Of Libertines, Louts, and Lechers. The 273-page book was published by Black Widow Press/Commonwealth Books, Inc. in Boston, Mass. on Jan. 16. David Schorr, professor of art, illustrated the book. The Contes et nouvelles en vers of Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) were published at various times throughout his life, often these works threatened to get him in trouble with both Church and Academie. This translation covers the entire corpus in all their variety. The mildly suggestive mingle with the frankly bawdy…
The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) has presented the 2009 National Translation Award to Norman Shapiro, professor of romance languages and literatures, for French Women Poets of Nine Centuries: The Distaff and the Pen (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008). The prize was announced on Nov. 12 at the organization's annual conference in Pasadena, Calif. Shapiro has been one of the foremost translators of French literature for almost four decades. Also a writer-in-residence at Adams House, Harvard University, he has translated numerous works of fiction, theater, and poetry, including Four Farces by Georges Feydeau, which was nominated for the National Book Award for…
Norm Shapiro, professor of romance languages and literatures, is the author and translator of the book Labiche & Co: Fourteen One-Acts by a French Comic Master, published by Performing Books. The book will be released in December 2009. Among the plays included are Bosom Friends, The Brat, A Bee or Not a Bee, It's All Relative, The Unshakeable Suitor, A Nest-Egg Well Scrambled, and A Slap in the Farce, which is currently being performed at Harvard University. In addition, Yale University Press has accepted Shapiro's recent collection of translations from the poetry of French Romantic poet Théophile Gautier to appear in…
Norman Shapiro, professor of romance languages and literature, translated the book To Speak, to Tell, by Sabine Sicaud (1913-1928). The book was published by Black Widow Press in April 2009. The 175-page book features Sicaud's original French poems side by side with Shapiro's English translations.