Caroline Godard
Doctoral Candidate
Research Areas
Renaissance literature, intellectual history, history of the book, feminist historiography, history of feminist thought
Biography
I’m a PhD candidate in French with a Designated Emphasis in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies (REMS). In my dissertation, I study how French Renaissance writers variously defined, endorsed, and rejected theories of historical narrative in their literary texts. I also have a secondary field of interest in feminist historiography and intellectual histories of the feminist movement.
Before coming to Berkeley, I graduated from Miami University with a BA in French and English Literature and an MA in French. I then read for an MSt in Modern Languages at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. I finished my Oxford degree with a Distinction, having also won the faculty's Gerard Davis Prize for the best MSt dissertation on a topic in French literary studies. I was subsequently honored at Oxford's Encaenia ceremony in 2021 for my performance on the MSt.
I am a recipient of the Berkeley Fellowship and, as of 2023, I'm the REMS Graduate Representative. Outside of school, I like to play tennis, climb, hike, and watch rom coms.
Selected Publications
Peer-reviewed
"Being 'time-bound': Montaigne on touch, contagion, and the contemporary." Early Modern French Studies.
Public writing
"Women's Land and Language: Huntington, Vermont" (with Annabel Barry, Anna Park, and Jadie Stillwell). Public Books. February 29, 2024.
"Compulsory heterosexuality, past and present: Adrienne Rich and the Lesbian Masterdoc." The Heteropessimism Cluster, edited by Annabel Barry, Caroline Godard, and Jane Ward. Post45: Contemporaries. July 13, 2023.
"Introduction" (with Annabel Barry and Jane Ward). The Heteropessimism Cluster, edited by Annabel Barry, Caroline Godard, and Jane Ward. Post45: Contemporaries. July 13, 2023.
"Happening captures the horrifying everydayness of illegal abortion." LitHub. May 4, 2022.
"Residual time." Diacritics blog. August 5, 2020.