Reading by Example in Literature and Theory Doctoral Thesis Department of Comparative Literature Brown University May 2011 PhD Candidate : Denise Laura Davis Dissertation Advisor : Ellen Rooney, Department of Modern Culture and Media; English Reader : Pierre Saint-Amand, Department of French Studies; Comparative Literature Reader : Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg, Department of Comparative Literature; Italian Studies Copyright 2011 by Denise Laura Davis This dissertation by Denise Laura Davis is accepted in its present form by the Department of Comparative Literature as satisfying the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Date_____________ _______________________________________________ Ellen Rooney, Advisor Recommended to the Graduate Council Date_____________ ________________________________________________ Pierre Saint-Amand, Reader Date_____________ ________________________________________________ Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg, Reader Approved by the Graduate Council Date_____________ ________________________________________________ Dean of the Graduate School iii Denise Laura Davis Date of Birth: September 21, 1964 Place of Birth: California, USA CURRICULUM VITAE Degrees PhD candidate in Comparative Literature at Brown University, May 2011 MA in Comparative Literature at Brown University, May 1997 BA with Honors in Political Theory, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1990 Editorial Positions Managing Editor, differences. A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, 2001–present Assistant Editor, differences. A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, 1999–2001 Academic Appointments Visiting Instructor, Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, Connecticut College, Fall 2009; Fall 2007 Visiting Instructor, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Brown University, Fall and Spring 2009–10; Spring 2009; Spring 2008 Teaching Fellow, Gender Studies, Brown University, Spring 2006 Visiting Instructor, Department of French Studies, Wheaton College, Fall 2005 Visiting Instructor, Department of French, Wellesley College, 1998–1999 French Instructor, Brown Learning Community, Summer 1998; Spring 2005 Teaching Assistant, Department of French Studies, Brown University, Fall 1996 Teaching Assistant, Department of Comparative Literature, Brown University, Spring 1997; 1995–96; 1993–94 Lectrice, Faculté de Langues, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France, 1994–95 Translations “On the ‘Spiritual Automaton’: Space and Time in Modern Cinema in Gilles Deleuze” by Réda Bensmaïa. Deleuze and Space. Ed. Ian Buchanon and Gregg Lambert. Edinburgh UP, 2005. “From the Nation-State to the Transnational World: On the Meaning and Usefulness of Diaspora as a Concept” by Dominique Schnapper. Diaspora 8.3 (1999). “Postcolonial Nations: Political or Poetic Allegories?” by Réda Bensmaïa. Dissident Algeria. Spec. issue of Research in African Literatures 30:3 (1999). “Plato, the Mirror of the World, and the Book” by Claude Imbert. Diogenes 178 (1997). “Heuristic Mysteries--Invention, Language, Chance” by Béatrice Durand-Sendrail. Diogenes 178 (1997). Conference Papers Northeast American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies Conference, Dec. 13, 1997 “Marianne’s Intuition: Reflections on Taste” Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Apr. 21, 1996 “Jacob’s Ladder: Social Mobility in Eighteenth Century France” iv Invited Lectures Program in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies at Brown University, Feb. 24, 1998 “Taste without Appetite: Producing Good Consumers in Early-Eighteenth- Century France and England” Related Work Experience Assistant Editor. Women’s Studies on the Edge. Ed. Joan Wallach Scott. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008. Proofreader and Index Compiler. Exemplarity and Mediocrity. By Paul Fleming. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009. Proofreader and Index Compiler. Housing Problems. By Susan Bernstein. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008. Advisor, Feminist Theory Papers, Christine Dunlap Farnham Archives, John Hay Library, Brown University, 2003–present Community Director, Office of Student Life, Brown University, 1998–99 Instructor, The Institute for Reading Development, San Francisco, CA, 1992 Honors, Scholarships, and Fellowships Pembroke Seminar, Graduate Fellowship, Brown University, 1998–99 Manning Research Fellowship at Brown University, 1997–98 Mellon Dissertation Seminar in Literature and History, Participation with stipend, Summer 1997 Bryn Mawr College, Institut d’études françaises d’Avignon, Scholarship, Summer 1993 Dean’s Fellowship at Brown University, 1992–93 Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, 1992 Phi Beta Kappa Courses Taught Introduction to Gender and Sexuality Studies (Gender and Sexuality Studies, Brown University) Advanced Feminist Theory (Gender and Women’s Studies, Connecticut College) Transnational Feminist Theory (Gender and Women’s Studies, Connecticut College) Advanced Feminist Theory: Feminism and Poststructuralism (Gender Studies, Brown University) Introductory French (Wheaton College) Advanced Conversation in French--Le mot juste (Brown Learning Community) Intermediate French (Wellesley College) Various courses at the Université de Bourgogne (including American Civilization 1980–1990, French to English translation, composition in English) Intermediate French (Brown Learning Community) Teaching Assistance Visionary Fictions (Professor Edward Ahearn, Department of Comparative Literature, Brown University) Beginners’ French (Directed by Professor Gretchen Schultz, Department of French Studies, Brown University) v Uncanny Tales (Professor Susan Bernstein, Professor of Comparative Literature, Brown University) Introduction to the Theory of Literature (Professors Karen Newman and Susan Bernstein, Department of Comparative Literature, Brown University) Dramatic Comedy (Professor Karen Newman, Department of Comparative Literature, Brown University) Proust, Joyce, and Faulkner (Professor Arnold Weinstein, Department of Comparative Literature, Brown University) Languages French Some knowledge of German Research Interests Aesthetic and Literary Theory Contemporary Feminist and Cultural Theory French and English Literature References Ellen Rooney, Professor of Modern Culture and Media, Professor of English, Brown University; Editor, differences Mab Segrest, Fuller-Matthai Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies, Connecticut College Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Interim Director of the Pembroke Center, Brown University Elizabeth Weed, Cofounding editor, differences vi Acknowledgments Thank you, first, to Ellen Rooney, to whom I cannot possibly express my gratitude. You handled my superego with a matter-of-fact compassion that enabled me to get back on track time and again. There is no way in the world I would have written these pages without your guidance and patience. To Pierre Saint-Amand, for staying on board with good humor and a willingness to take me at my word when I said, over and over, that I planned to finish my thesis, and to Suzanne Stewart-Steinberg, for agreeing to serve as a reader so late in the game, for your rousing pep talks, and for making me laugh at the most improbable times. To the Department of Comparative Literature, especially Ed Ahearn, Susan Bernstein, Karen Newman, and Arnold Weinstein, for giving me the chance. To my very esteemed colleagues at the Pembroke Center, Christy Law Blanchard, Donna Goodnow, Martha Hamblett, Kay Warren, and Debbie Weinstein. Thank you to my dazzling daughter, Sophie Tesson, who has lived with “mama’s discutation” literally her whole life. I am so very grateful for your understanding and am in awe of your exemplary good judgment. Thank you to Emmanuel Tesson, who never seemed to doubt and whose steadfast support and willingness to help buttressed me when I needed it most. To Elizabeth Weed, colleague, mentor, and dear friend, who has stepped in for me in many hours of need, teaching, editing, and grandmothering: you have gone far beyond the call of duty, friendship, and family. To Jim Nellis, who has kept the kettle aboil these past months, tending and encouraging me with love and gentleness. To Susan Bernstein, interlocuteuse extraordinaire, who always knew just what to say to nudge me toward reasonableness, thank you for your wisdom and the friendship that means so much to me. To Matthew Munich, who has understood the spectre of failure I have lived with for so unbelievably long, thank you for keeping the faith. To Ana Carmen Martínez-Ortiz Carcheri, student, editor, companion, friend, thank you again and again for having my back. To my mother, Arlene Davis, for showing me what it means to overcome, and my father, Cal Davis, who has never failed to stand behind me and support me in whatever ways you could. To Fred Jodry, for reminding me that patterns, colors, textures, sounds, smells, and good food are necessary correlatives to words on paper, words on-screen, words typed sometimes one screaming letter at a time. To Roderick Michener, from the very, very beginning; Jennifer Eyl for your delightful camaraderie; Kate Horning, for never failing to show up; Alisa Hartz, bff. To Kate Josephson, insightful and unwavering; Marianne Goldsmith, who steered me out of a trench in 1993; John Seery, teacher, mentor, mensch; and Boswell, whose oblivious and faithful companionship during some very long nights reminded me that the life of the mind is not the be-all end- all (“Where’s the ball?!”). With humility and unending sorrow, I dedicate these pages to the memory of Dicle Koğacioğlu and Renata Čumusová vii