Isabelle Favre, Ph.D.

Professor, French
Isabelle Favre

Summary

Isabelle Favre specializes in 20th/21st Century French and Francophone literature and film. The focal point of her first book, La différance francophone was to showcase the vast literary diversity covered by novels and theories written in French around the world. She analyzed texts and theories coming from regions such as the French Caribbean, Québec, Africa and Europe.

Her second book De la Guyane à la diaspora africaine: écrits du silence was written in collaboration with Flo Martin. Both authors thought that part of their research in literature also consisted in paying academic attention to under-represented Francophone countries and groups such as French Guiana, and the African diaspora.

Her third book Guerre et paix: Figures du conflit dans les littératures et films francophones is a detailed analysis of the different forms of conflicts featured in recent French/Francophone novels and films. It covers collective conflicts such as the Rwandan genocide, personal conflicts such as gender related struggles, as well as socio-political conflicts related to institutional systems. By using a dialogic approach to risk-taking authors, actors, philosophers and filmmakers, her current project blurs categories separating theory from fiction.

In her research and teaching Favre emphasizes how discussing and analyzing the various situations and characters represented in literature and cinema serve an important function in our society, especially in complex times such as ours. She also aims at exposing the intersectionality between literature/film and other fields in the humanities such as philosophy, psychology, sociology, the arts and more. Without forgetting the additional plaisir du texte!

Research Interests:

  • Representation of conflicts in literature and film
  • Gender Studies
  • Post-colonialism
  • Present day French/Francophone critical theories
  • Illness Narratives
  • The modern figure of the writer philosopher
  • Risk taking in literature and film

Courses Taught:

Upper level French literature courses include:

  • "The Body in All its States: Amorous, Malade, Famished"
  • "Les Grandes Dames: From Duras to Claire Denis"
  • "From Colonial Rebellion to Postcolonial Interrogation"
  • "French/Francophone Literature and Film in Translation" (Capstone for Diversity)
  • "Revisiting Les Droits de l'Homme: From 18th Century to Present Time"
  • "Franco-Arab Women Authors and Filmmakers"

Books:

  • Guerre et paix: Figures du conflit dans les littératures et films francophones. France: Presses Universitaires de Limoges, 2018, (192pp).
  • De la Guyane à la diaspora africaine: écrits du silence. Paris: Karthala Editions, 2002. (201pp) Co-authored with Flo Martin. (Favre's contribution: 4 chapters or 100pp).
  • La différance francophone. New-Orleans: University Press of the South, 2001, (233pp).

Refereed Articles:

  • "Francophonie helvétique: ex-centricité et métonymie dans Une cuillerée de bleu d'Anne
  • Cuneo" Romance Notes. UNC Chapel Hill, September 1998.
  • "History and Kitsch in Marie-Claire Blais' L'ange de la solitude" The Rhetoric of the Other. A Collection of Selected Essays published by the University Press of the South, New Orleans, 2000.
  • "Marie Darrieussecq ou Lard de la calorie vide" Appeared in the 2001 Volume of Women In French, Ball State University.
  • "Réalisme poétique chez Marie-Claire Blais" Volume XIII of LittéRéalité. York University Toronto, 2001.
  • "Linda Lê: Schizo positive?" Volume 61 of Présence Francophone. College of Holy Cross, Indiana, 2003.
  • "Dakan: Une première en Afrique" in Aimez-vous le Queer, Lawrence R. Schehr Editor, Rodopi, 2005.
  • "Hannah Arendt, Boris Diop et le Rwanda: correspondances et commencements" Volume 67 of Présence Francophone. College of the Holy Cross/University of Québec, Montréal. 2006.
  • "Maggy Corrêa: passer le témoin" Volume 69 of Présence Francophone. College of the Holy Cross/University of Québec, Montréal, Ambroise Kom Editor, 2007.
  • "Elie Stéphenson: Un patriote apatride" in International Journal of Francophone Studies. Special Edition directed by Adlai Murdoch, 2008.
  • "White Material sous l'angle de la vulnérabilité" in Études Littéraires Africaines (ELA, Université de Metz, France), 2012.
  • "Is Testimony Too Risqué For Literature? The Gamble of a Rwandan Woman" in Women Taking Risks in Contemporary Autobiographical Novels, Anna Rocca and Kenneth Reeds Editors, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015.
  • "Patrick Decelerck: le cancer faille que faille, mais point de lose!" in La représentation du Loser dans la littérature et le film français et francophone, Carole Edwards Editor, Presses Universitaires de Limoges, 2018.

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder, 1997