Faculty

Déborah Blocker

Professor of French and affiliated professor in Italian Studies

Déborah Blocker (ENS Ulm, Lettres 1990; DEA in Political Science — Sciences Po Paris, 1993; Doctorat in French Literature and Culture, University of Paris III, 2001; HDR in Comparative Literature, University of Paris IV, 2017) is Professor of French and affiliated faculty in Italian Studies.

She has been an engaged member of the Groupe de recherches interdisciplinaires sur l’histoire du littéraire (or Grihl: http://grihl.ehess.fr...

Karl A. Britto

Associate Professor of French & Comparative Literature, Associate Dean, Arts & Humanities

Karl Britto is jointly appointed in the Departments of French and Comparative Literature. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award, the Berkeley campus's highest honor for teaching, and is currently serving as Associate Dean of Arts & Humanities. (Ph.D., Yale University)

Office Hours

My spring 2026 office hours will be held Wednesdays 3-5, and by appointment. Please sign up for a block of time here. The sign-up sheet will be...

William M. Burton

Assistant Professor of French
Office Hours

TBD

Education

Ph.D., Department of French and Romance Philology, Columbia University

M.Phil., French and Romance Philology, Columbia University

M.A., French and Romance Philology, Columbia University

Maîtrise ès arts (M.A.), Études anglaises, Université de Montréal

B.A. (First Class Honours), Lettres et traduction françaises, McGill University

Selected Publications

Avec Wittig: Anatomie d'un corp(u)s vivant / With Wittig: A living Body (of Work...

Timothy Hampton

Aldo Scaglione and Marie M. Burns Distinguished Professor of French and Comparative Literature
Office Hours:

Tuesdays 2-4 and by appointment

Selected Publications

"Joachim du Bellay and the Truce of Vaucelles." Early Modern Studies, 2022.

"The Theology of Cheer," in Positive Emotions in the Early Modern Period (Manchester University Press, 2021).

"Tangled Generation: Dylan, Kerouac, Petrarch, and the Poetics of Escape" Critical Inquiry, 39, 4 (2013).

...

Richard Kern

Professor
Office Hours:

Tuesdays & Thursdays 11-12 and by appointment (4214 Dwinelle)

Bio:

Rick Kern is Professor of French and an Affiliated Member of the Department of Linguistics. He teaches courses in French linguistics, applied linguistics and foreign language pedagogy and is involved in the training and mentoring of graduate student instructors in French. He directs the interdisciplinary undergraduate minor program in Applied Language Studies. He has also been...

Michael Lucey

Sidney and Margaret Ancker Chair; Distinguished Professor of French and Comparative Literature

To sign up for office hours, go to: https://calendly.com/mlucey-mpy/officehours

Fall 2024: Wednesdays 2-3 in 4210 Dwinelle and Fridays 11-noon on Zoom.

Selected Publications

Preface to Marcel Proust, Sodom and Gomorrah, translated by Helen Constantine, Oxford University Press, forthcoming.

“Understanding ‘Understanding Music’ in Proust.” Forthcoming in Textual Practice.

“From Phonemes and Sonemes to Qualia, Aspects, and Collateral Observation.” Forthcoming in ...

Susan Maslan

Associate Professor and Affiliated Faculty Center for Jewish Studies, Graduate Faculty Advisor
Office Hours:

Tuesday 1-2 in person; and Friday 2-3 on zoom; by appointment

Selected Publications

"Transformations of the Social Bond on the Revolutionary Stage: Equality, Language, Affect," Le pouvoir en procès. Opinion publique et légitimité politique des Lumières au Premier Empire (Classiques Garnier, 2024.)

“Comedy in the Age of Reason,” in The History of Modern French Literature, ed. Christopher Prendergast, (Princeton: Princeton University Press).

“Society and Nature in Revolutionary Rights Debates,” in The Routledge Companion...

Mairi-Louise McLaughlin

Professor of French and Affiliated Member of Linguistics and Italian Studies, Department Chair

Mairi McLaughlin is Professor in the Department of French and an Affiliated Member of the Departments of Linguistics and Italian Studies at UC Berkeley. She specializes in French/Romance Linguistics and in Translation Studies. She has published extensively on language contact in French and Romance, on the language of the media, and on journalistic and literary translation. She has a particular interest in the language of the media, especially the role that it plays in language variation and change, the use that is made of reported speech, and the linguistic and textual effects of news...

Nicholas Paige

Professor of French
Office Hours

Fall '24: M 4-5, F 11-12 (Zoom), or by appointment

Selected Publications

“Novel Artifacts” (Review essay). Modern Language Quarterly 87.2 (2026), 207-26.

“Lafayette en...

Henry Ravenhall

Assistant Professor
PhD French, King's College London (2020) MA French Literature and Culture, King's College London (2016) BA French and History, King's College London (2015)

Prior to joining UC Berkeley, I was a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Cambridge (2021–23), a Postdoctoral Fellow at Freie Universität Berlin (2020–21), and a Postdoctoral Research Associate at King's College London (2020).

Office Hours: Fall 2025: Wednesdays, 3-5pm (4217 Dwinelle) (book: ...