Hélène Julien

Back to Directory
hmjulien

Hélène Julien

Professor of French and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Chair, Department of Romance Languages & Literatures

Department/Office Information

Romance Languages, Women's Studies
  • W 1:00pm - 2:30pm (207A Lawrence Hall)
  • R 3:00pm - 5:00pm (207A Lawrence Hall)

How do we come to be who we are? How do we tell our own stories? What can we learn from each other? What does it mean to be a human community?

These questions inform both my pedagogy and my scholarly trajectory. Whether we are analyzing the meaning of a text or considering fine nuances of French grammar, I aim to make the classroom a space of individual and collective exploration, critical reflection, and dialogue. The study of literature to which my research is devoted is but another form of this interpersonal engagement. With a specific focus on contemporary French literature and literature from North Africa and its diaspora, I study the ways in which personal and collective selves find their voices in relation to history, memory, gender, race, sexuality, and culture.

  • PhD: Princeton University (French Literature) 
  • "DEA": Université de Paris IV-Sorbonne (Comparative Literature)
  • "Maîtrise":  Université de Paris IV-Sorbonne (Classics, Art History)
  • École Normale Supérieure (Classics)

20th and 21st century French and francophone literatures and cultures; francophone literatures from the Maghreb and its diaspora; self-writing and first-person narratives; women's and gender studies.

Arizona State University; Princeton University

Fall 2023 Courses
  • FREN 354, Introduction to Literature in French IV: The Francophone World (TR, 9:55-11:10)
  • FREN 445, Writing the Self in the Twentieth-century: Autobiography in French (TR, 1:20-2:35)
Past Courses
  • FSEM 171, Discovering African Literature (also counts for African Studies and WMST)
  • FREN 202, Intermediate French (counts for GE as of Spring '19)
  • FREN 222, Francophone Literature from Africa (also counts for African Studies, WMST)
  • FREN 353, Literary Innovations in the 20th and 21st Centuries (also counts for WMST)
  • FREN 354, The Francophone World (also counts for African Studies and GE)
  • FREN 361, Advanced Composition, Grammar, and Conversation
  • FREN 445, 20th-century French Autobiography (also counts for WMST and LGBTQ Studies)
  • FREN 450, 20th-century French Literature (also counts for WMST and LGBTQ Studies)
  • FREN 453, Contemporary Literature in French (also counts for African Studies, MIST, WMST Studies, and GE)
  • FREN 455, Voices from North Africa (also counts for African Studies, MIST, WMST Studies, and GE)
  • FREN 482, From Plague to Covid: Epidemics in Contemporary Literature in French

Book

  • Le Roman de Karin et Paul: le Journal de Catherine Pozzi et les Cahiers de Paul Valéry, (L’Harmattan, Paris, 2000)


Articles

  • “Nina Bouraoui, Maïssa Bey, Fatima Daas : l’écriture qui comble.” (Women in French Studies, 2023)
  • “La voix est la voie : quête de soi et récit labyrinthique dans Cette Fille-là et Surtout ne te retourne pas.” In Maïssa Bey: Two Decades of Creativity (1996-2016), ed. by Houda Hamdi. (L’Harmattan, 2019)
  • “’L’odeur est là’ : odeurs et olfaction dans Surtout ne te retourne pas de Maïssa Bey” (French Review, 2018)
  • “L’art de la fugue : identité, espace et narration dans Shérazade de Leïla Sebbar et Cette Fille-là de Maïssa Bey” (French Review, 2016)
  •  “’Au sang ! Ô sang !’ : corps féminin et écriture dans La Voyeuse interdite” (Nouvelles Études Francophones, 2015)
  • “(Se) peindre, (s’)écrire : le Journal de Marie Bashkirtseff” (Excavatio, 2002)
  • Edition and preface of “Retour à la Méditerrannée,” special issue of the Bulletin des Études Valéryennes (2002)
  • “Christiane Rochefort : une vie de femme, revue et corrigée” (Dalhousie French Studies, 2002)
  • “Catherine Pozzi : lecture du journal, écriture de la fiction” (Bulletin des Etudes Valéryennes, 2001)
  • “Voyage, référentialité et la question des origines dans L’Immoraliste et La Modification” (French Literature Series, 1999)
  • “Catherine Pozzi” (The Feminist Encyclopedia of French Literature, 1999)
  • “Catherine Pozzi : parcours de l'initiation, parcours poétique” (Romanic Review, 1998)
  • “L’Orphée meurtrier des Cahiers” (Bulletin des Études Valéryennes, 1997)
  • “Les Cahiers de Valéry 1920-1928 : problèmes de genre et de statut.” (Rocky Mountain Review, 1996)