About

French literature of 18th and 19th centuries, French Revolution and its aftermath in literature, English–French relations, popular culture. I am most interested in the reappropriation of symbolic stories from the past into present-day media. My latest book, _The Frankenstein of 1790 and Other Lost Chapters from Revolutionary France_ (UChicago Press, 2012), has been translated into French with the help of former students Pierre André (currently PhD candidate at NYU) and Alexane Bébin (Univ. de Rennes), and is under review.
Since 2012, I have been leading a writing workshop for kids called “Write YOUR Story” at the public library in South Bend. We write stories and create altered books (based on used hard-bound children’s books). This is one way I have devised to get out of the academy and use my skills to enable a new public to experience the joys of writing and book-creation.