Geoffrey Gilbert
Professor, Director of the Teaching and Learning Center
Professor, Director of the Teaching and Learning Center
- Department: Comparative Literature and English
- Office:G-108
- Office Hours:Friday 12:00鈥�14:00 or by appointment.
Professor Gilbert has taught at The American University of Paris since 1999. Before that, he taught at Cambridge University in England. He teaches courses on modern literature (with special focus on modernism, questions around translation and cultural studies, the study of prosody, and the consideration of literature in relation to economics, politics, and sexuality). His first book, Before Modernism Was: Modern History and the Constituency of Writing, was published by Palgrave-Macmillan in 2004.
All of his writing and teaching is informed by an interest in the relations between literature and culture: rather than imagining literature as a kind of representation or a particularly fabulous and problematic kind of object, he is interested in thinking writing as an impacted instance of human behaviour, neither transcending culture and history nor fully determined by it. Currently, he is interested in the practice of translation, which engages the location of that behaviour within global forces, and he is focusing that interest in a study of contemporary realist writing and contemporary economic processes.
Education/Degrees
- PhD in English Literature. Peterhouse, The University of Cambridge, 1995.听聽
- MA (Hons) in English Literature, Aberdeen University, 1989.听
News
- Gilbert, Geoff.听鈥楳arginal Pleasures and the Curve聽of Indifference: The Value of Pleasure in Late Henry James鈥�.听Revue Fran莽aise d鈥櫭﹖udes am茅ricaines聽167 (2021): 83-96.
Publications
Book
- Before Modernism Was: Modern History and the Constituencies of Writing. London: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2004. Language, Discourse, and Society Series.
- Hold! West. Co-written with Alex Houen. London: Eyewear Press, 2016. (poems)
Articles
- 鈥楾he Durability of Affect and the Ageing of Gay Male Queer Theory.听Affect and Literature.听Ed Alex Houen. Cambridge Critical Concepts series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. 133-158.
- 鈥楻imbaud, the Occasion of Poetry, and the Walls of our Schools'. Against Value in the Arts and Education. Ed. Robert McKay, Sam Ladkin, and Emile Bojeson. London: Rowman and Littlefield, 2016.
- 鈥楾radition and Modernism in the House of Fiction鈥�. Writing under the Influence: Essays on Alan Hollinghurst. Ed. Michele Mendelssohn and Denis Flannery. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2015-16.
- 鈥楾he Location of Experiment: 鈥淢odernist Paris鈥濃��. The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of Paris. Ed. Anna-Louise Milne. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. 189-211.
- 'The Location of Experiment: Modernism and Expatriate Paris'. The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of Paris. Ed. Anna-Louise Milne. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2013.
- 鈥楢mortissement: Fran莽ois Bon鈥檚 Daewoo鈥�. Textual Practice 25.2 (Winter 2011): 315-28.
- 鈥楾he Sad State of Post-Structuralism鈥�. L鈥橢sprit Cr茅ateur. 50.3 (Fall 2010): 129-43.
- 鈥楢dolescent Prosody鈥�, in The Salt Companion to Mina Loy, ed. Rachel Potter. London: Salt Publishing, 2010.
- 鈥榃ords, Flies, Jews, Joyce, Joint: Wyndham Lewis and the Unpublishing of Obscenity鈥�. Critical Quarterly 34.3 (Autumn 2004).
- 鈥楾he Origins of Modernism in the Haunted Properties of Literature鈥�. In The Victorian Supernatural. Ed. Nicola Bown, Carolyn Burdett, Pam Thurschwell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
- 鈥楾he Manufacture of Inefficiency: Blast and Other Youth Groups鈥�. In Modernist Sexualities. Ed. Caroline Howlett and Hugh Stevens. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001.
- 鈥楥an Fiction Swear? James Kelman and the Booker Prize鈥�. In An Introduction to Contemporary Fiction. Ed. Rod Mengham. Cambridge: Polity, 1999.
- 鈥楽hellshock, Anti-Semitism, and the Agency of the Avant-Garde鈥�. In Wyndham Lewis and the Art of Modern War. Ed. David Peters Corbett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
- 鈥榃yndham Lewis and the Critical Poetics of the Modernist Career鈥�. Critical Quarterly 36.3 (Autumn 1994).
Non-refereed publications
- 'Blue Light over the Bois de Boulogne, it continues', with BT天堂 student Lily Yankova. Core: International Journal of the Humanities (Fall 2009).
- 鈥樷�淢a maison, vous ne l鈥檌gnorez pas, est la maison des artistes鈥�: Naturalism, modernism, and the domestic place of art.鈥� Core: International Journal of the Humanities (Spring 2007).
- 鈥樷�漃oetry Makes Nothing Happen鈥�: Literature and Standards in English at BT天堂鈥�. Scissors and Tooth. 1 (Fall 2005).
- 鈥楬enry James鈥�, and 鈥楾obacco鈥�, in France and the Americas: Culture: Politics, History. Santa Barbara CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005.
- 鈥楲es Queer Critics鈥�. Magazine litteraire (December 2003).
- 鈥楶atrick Hamilton and the Sound of Politics鈥�. Core: International Journal of the Humanities 1.2 (Fall 2001).听
Conferences & Lectures
- 鈥楾he International of Shame鈥�, contribution to a panel on 鈥楢ffect and the Novel鈥�.听Society for Novel Studies聽annual conference. Oxford, April 2020. Conference canceled.
- 鈥樷��... as if ... the short sentence ... led straight to hell鈥�: Suspension and Imperial Transfer in Krasznahorkai's聽War and War鈥�.听Society for Novel Studies聽annual conference. Oxford, April 2020. Conference canceled.
- 鈥�Occasion: Crisis, Collective Violence, and Price-setting in Zola, 1871鈥�.听Risk, Violence, and Collective Agency.聽Conference at the Institut des 茅tudes avanc茅es, Paris. 22 May 2019.
- 鈥楲anguage, Work, and Shared Lives: Juliana Spahr鈥檚 poetics of the commons鈥�.听Cultural Literacy and Cosmopolitan Conviviality. Annual Conference of the聽Cultural Literacy in Europe聽society. Universidade Cat贸lica Portuguesa.听10-11 May 2019.
- 鈥楳inor Feelings, Queer Identities, and the Activism of Translation鈥�.听Association Fran莽aise des 茅tudes americaines, annual conference, Nice. 23-25 May 2018
- 鈥楥lose Reading in the World System: L谩szl贸 Krasznahorkai's聽War and War聽without Hungarian鈥�. Invited Talk, CRASSH, University of Cambridge. 16 November 2017.
- 聽鈥楢rt, waiting for fascism, in Paris now and in 1937, with Alexander Calder and Walter Benjamin鈥�.听Boundaries. University of Kent in Paris. 30 May 2017. Keynote.
- 鈥楯uliana Spahr鈥檚 Superfluous Lyric Realism鈥�.听Poetics: Contemporary Texts and Countertexts. Durham University. 20 November 2016.
- 鈥楽pacings, Rivets, Curves, and Value: Marginal Economics in聽The Ivory Tower鈥�.听Reading Henry James in the Twenty-First Century: Heritage and Transmission.听Conference of the European Society of Jamesians.听聽BT天堂. 20 October 2016
- 鈥楾he Refusal of Calculus and the End of Life: Value in聽The Ivory Tower鈥�.听Late and Later James, organised by the University of Sussex, held at Lamb House, Rye, Sussex. 17 October 2016.
- 聽鈥楽hame, Fiction, and the Test of Translation鈥�.听James Baldwin: A Language to Dwell In. BT天堂, 28 May 2016.
- 鈥楥alculus and Realism鈥�.听C19 Annual Conference. Penn State University. 18 March 2016.
- 聽鈥楴o Realism without shame鈥�. Politics of Translation seminar, at the University of London Institute in Paris. 28 January 2016
- 鈥楥lose Reading at a Distance: Cultural Translation and World Systems鈥�. Cultural Translation Symposium. University of Cardiff. 15 May 2015. Keynote.
- 鈥楶oetry and the Destruction of Our Schools鈥�. Department of English, University of Sheffield, Invited lecture. May 2015
- 鈥楽hame, Fiction, and the Test of Translation鈥�. Shame and the Act of Writing. University of Warwick. Keynote. September 2014.听
- With Anna-Louise Milne. 鈥楾eaching Cultural Translation鈥�. Interdisciplinary Teaching in Arts and Humanities. Humboldt-Universit盲t zu Berlin. June 2014
- 'Walter Benjamin at the 1937 Exposition Internationale: Spaces of Exile and the Limits of the Dialectic'. Le Regard de l'exile. Sorbonne and BT天堂. June 2013.
- 鈥楧o you know how you feel: Shame and the persistence of modernism'. Modernist Intimacies. University of Sussex. May 2013.
- 'Digital Tools for Collaborative Teaching, Learning, and Research: A Small-School's Perspective', with Mark Hayward and Claudia Roda. Mobility Shifts: Summit on the Future of International Learning. The New School. October 2011.
- 鈥楳imeses, Crisis, Shame鈥�. Rene Girard colloquium for the fiftieth anniversary of Desire, Deceit, and the Novel. University of Cambridge. May 2011.
- 鈥樷�滾es vendeurs ne sont pas au bout de solde鈥�: Translating Rimbaud or Crisis鈥�. Capital Poetics conference. Cornell Society for the Humanities. 4 March 2011.
- 鈥楥ontemporary Global Realism in fiction and economics: the case of Fran莽ois Bon鈥檚 Daewoo鈥�. Literature, Geography, Translation: The New Comparative Literature. University of Uppsala. June 2009
- 鈥楤lue Light Over the Bois de Boulogne, it Continues鈥�. Frank O鈥橦ara Symposium. Sussex University, April 2008.
- 鈥楾he Meaning of Contemporary Realism: The Amortissement of Idiom in Daewoo鈥�. Goldsmiths, London, March 2007; given in a different form at the university of Glasgow, September 2007.
- 鈥業n a Lover鈥檚 Idiom (鈥淚 do not know what women know鈥�)鈥�. Berkeley, March 2006.
- 鈥楲anguage Sex Change鈥�. The Dean鈥檚 Faculty Research Seminar. BT天堂. October 2005.
- 鈥楳odernism : Very Little Magazines, Very Big Sociological Fantasies鈥�. Les revues modernistes anglo-am茅ricaines : lieux d鈥櫭ヽhanges, lieux d鈥檈xil. Paris III. June 2005
- 鈥樷�淢a maison, vous ne l鈥檌gnorez pas, est la maison des artistes鈥�: Naturalism, modernism, and the domestic place of art.鈥� Literature and The Domestic Interior. Victoria and Albert Museum. December 2004. Invited speaker.
- 鈥榃hat Men Did Together: Literature, Sexuality, Politics鈥�. Cambridge, July 2004.
- 鈥楳odernism and Cultural Studies鈥�,聽Plenary Panel, Modernist Studies Association Annual Conference, Birmingham, September 2003. Invited speaker.
- 鈥楨xposition internationale:聽 Jean Rhys, Paris, 1937鈥�, Parisian Cultural Topographies Conference, University of Glasgow, September 2003.
- 鈥楽udden Brother:聽 Dostoevsky and the Modernist Constitution鈥�.听La Nouvelle revue fran莽aise and British Modernism.听Maison Fran莽aise, Columbia University, April 2003. Invited speaker.
- 鈥楤efore Modernism Was鈥�.听 University of Sheffield, December 2002.
- 鈥楾he Great [buk]鈥�.听Fourth International HASE (Hellenic Association for the Study of English) conference.听Athens.听May 2002.
- 鈥榃hen I had sex with myself, aged 16, in 1914, and started a revolution: On the historiography of modernist affect鈥�. University of York, 8 November 2001.听
- 鈥楴arcissism and the historiography of modernism鈥�. London Modernism research Seminar, November 2001.听
- 鈥樷�淲hen the right hand鈥檚 powerless, there鈥檚 a taste in a sailor鈥檚 mouth鈥�: James Hanley and the Scene of Queer Theory鈥�. James Hanley Centennial Symposium, Jesus College, Cambridge, 29 September 2001.
- 鈥楶atrick Hamilton and the Sound of Politics鈥�. Gender and Literature Seminar, University of Cambridge, November 2000.听
Research Areas
Modernism, contemporary literature, Marxism, queer theory, translation studies, cultural studies, cultural translation