JEAN-VINCENT BLANCHARD, Ph. D.
Swarthmore College, Professor of French Studies
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Programs
1992-1997, Yale University, Ph. D. French Studies
1991-1992, Université de Montréal, M. A. French Studies
1988-1991, Université de Montréal, B. A. French Studies
Academic Positions
1997: Assistant Professor of French Studies, Swarthmore College
2003: Associate Professor of French Studies, Swarthmore College
2011: Professor of French Studies, Swarthmore College
RESEARCH
INTERESTS
History of rhetoric in early modern France
Late Renaissance and seventeenth-century French literature, history, and culture; French history
PUBLICATIONS
Monographs, edited volumes, and critical editions in early modern studies:
Des Monuments pour Louis XIV. Architecture et littérature au XVIIe siècle. Manuscript in preparation, fall 2025. Interdisciplinary study on textual representations of the new monumental landscape in seventeenth-century Paris and its role in supporting the French state.
La Princesse de Clèves by Lafayette: A New Translation and Bilingual Pedagogical Edition for the Digital Age. With Hélène Bilis, David Harrison, and Hélène Visentin. Ann Arbor: The Lever Press, 2022.
Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France. New York: Walker and Co/Bloomsbury USA, September 2011. French version published under the title Richelieu: La Pourpre et le Pouvoir, Paris: Éditions Belin, 2013. Translated into Portuguese, Romanian.
L’Optique du Discours au XVIIe siècle: De la rhétorique des jésuites au style de la raison moderne (Descartes, Pascal), Québec: Presses de l’Université Laval, 2005.
L’Invraisemblance du Pouvoir: Mises-en-scènes de la souveraineté au XVIIe siècle, edited volume with H. Visentin, Paris: Schena-Presses de l’Université de Paris-Sorbonne, 2005.
Other monographs:
At the Edge of the World: The Heroic Century of the French Foreign Legion. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, April 2017. Translated into Italian.
Articles:
“Un Descartes libéral? De l’intérêt particulier au prisme des Provinces-Unies,” Descartes et Guez de Balzac, ed. Dan Arbib, Turnhout: Brepols.
“Pour une critique de l’imaginaire politique de l’œil du prince,” Optique, Lettres et Arts, ed. F. Libral, Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2025.
“Rhétorique,” “Littérature,” Dictionnaire des Jésuites, Paris: Laffont, 2022.
“La Rhétorique de l’architecture monumentale au dix-septième siècle,” in Convaincre, persuader, manipuler: Rhétoriques partisanes à l’épreuve de la propagande (XVIe-XVIIIe siècles), ed. I. Boitel and Y. Lignereux, Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2022.
“Les Promenades de Richelieu de Jean Desmarets et la modernité du théâtre à machines.” Dix-septième siècle, no 280, 2018, p. 461-473.
“Beyond Belief: Sovereignty and the Spectacle of Martyrdom in Early Modern France.” French Seventeenth-Century Studies, vol. XXXVI, no 2, December 2014.
“De quoi donner une jaunisse à Richelieu: Autour d’une lettre de Descartes à Guez de Balzac.” Littératures classiques, no 82, 2013, p. 219-232.
“La Description des Grandes Cascades de Saint-Cloud,” in Corps et Interprétation (XVIe-XVIIIe siècle), ed. C. Thouret and L. Wajeman, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2012.
“Dies Irae: le Coup d’État de Louis XIII, les pamphlets et l’institution du public.” Littératures classiques, no 68, 1-2009, p. 31-42.
“C.-F. Menestrier and the Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes.” Biblio 17, no 71, 2009, p. 507-514.
“Entre cités terrestre et céleste, la machine de Télémaque.” Biblio 17, no 161 (2005), p. 337-346.
“L’Imaginaire politique de la machine dans les textes du P. C.-F. Ménestrier.” In Le Spectacle politique dans la rue du XVIe au XXIe siècle : Événements, rituels, récits. Montréal: Lux Éditeur, 2005, p. 117-126.
PUBLIC LECTURES
Invited lectures and conference papers
“La description de la Fête de Versailles de 1668 au prisme de la phénoménologie politique,” Colloque Le Corps du sensible. Lectures et écritures phénoménologiques du littéraire (16e-18e siècles), UC Louvain, March 2025.
“Les Lettres à Richelieu dans le recueil de 1624,” Colloque 1624-2024: Qu’est-ce qu’un événement littéraire? La Querelle des Lettres de Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, Paris, 21-22 novembre 2024
“De l’intérêt particulier au prisme des Provinces-Unies,” Colloque Descartes et Guez de Balzac, Centre d’études cartésiennes, Société d’étude du dix-septième siècle and Académie française, Paris, September 28, 2022.
“Rhétorique de l’architecture, temporalité et souveraineté au sein de la Petite Académie,” Séminaire: Peut-on écrire le temps de la monarchie absolue? Université Jean Monnet (Saint-Etienne) and ENS de Lyon, Lyon, April 11, 2022.
“Pour une approche matérialiste et littéraire de l’Œil du Prince,” Colloque Optique et Lettres, September 2021, Toulouse.
“La Guerre de la mère et du fils,” Journée d’étude at the NYU Department of French Literature, October 12, 2018.
“La Politique de Descartes et les émotions publiques,” Panel at MLA conference, January 2018.
“La Notion de propagande à travers l’œuvre rhétorique et architecturale des frères Perrault,” Conference La Propagande existe-t-elle?, Universités de Picardie et Nantes, Amiens, April 26-27, 2017.
“Descartes et l’optique de l’économie politique,” Conference La Vision comme opérateur de figurabilité, Université de Louvain-la-Neuve, June 12-14, 2014.
“Richelieu: Machiavellian despite himself,” NEH seminar, Hood College, March 26, 2014.
“Cardinal Richelieu: History’s Favorite Villain,” Yale University, February 14, 2012.
“La Correspondance Descartes-Guez de Blazac: De quoi donner une jaunisse à Richelieu,” Conference Regards Croisés, Harvard University, 2010.
“Interprétation et monumentalité: la Description des Grandes Cascades de la Maison Royale de SaintCloud (1709),” Conference Corps et interprétation, Paris VII and Paris IV-Sorbonne, 2010.
Conference papers
“La princesse de Clèves in the Digital Classroom,” SE17, Rochester, October 2023.
“Literature as Dissociation: La Fayette and Darrieussecq In and Out of Trauma-Informed Pedagogy,” SE17, Reykjavik, October 2022.
“Du luxe comme catégorie spatiale,” MLA, Seattle, January 2019.
“La Guerre de la mère et du fils,” SE17, U. Fribourg, December 2018.
“Le Mercure Galant, Architecture, and the Public Sphere,” SE17, UCLB, November 8-10, 2013.
Conference Direction and Organization
2009 SE17, The Society for French Interdisciplinary Seventeenth-Century Studies Annual Meeting, Philadelphia and Swarthmore, October 22-24. 45 speakers and 2 guest-speakers.
Conference panel chair
2024 January, MLA Philadelphia (PA), session: “Monuments and Rituals”
2017 January, MLA Philadelphia (PA), session: “Biographies.”
2016 January, MLA Austin (TX), session: “Secrecy.”
2015 November, SE17 Oakland and Palo Alto (CA), session: “Figures exemplaires.”
2015 October, SE17 New Brunswick (NJ), session: “Voix libertines.”
Co-organizer: AALAC collaborative workshop “Blended Learning Approaches to Teaching Early Modern France in a Liberal Arts Context,” Wellesley College, October 16-17, 2015.
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE AND SERVICE
2019-2022: Associate Dean of the Faculty for Academic Programs
Assisted the Provost in promoting and maintaining the excellence of education at the College, focused on the organization and integrity of academic programs in general, including departments and interdisciplinary programs. Worked in close collaboration with the Associate Dean of the Faculty for Diversity, Recruitment, and Retention, as well as with the Dean of Students’s staff (Office of Academic Excellence, Registrar, etc.). Co-chaired the Curriculum Committee and the Assessment Committee. Acted as liaison with the Honors Program, the Lang Center, Off-Campus Study, Sponsored Programs, Tri-Co Philly, AALAC. Co-organized the yearly Chairs Orientation with campus partners: Title IX Office, Human Resources, etc. Worked in a variety of capacities with Admissions, Advancement, Communications, Campus bookstore and TAP program, Public Safety, and General Counsel to acquire a broad knowledge of campus administration. In collaboration with the Office of Academic Excellence, helped to organize the transition to remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic, with a focus on maintaining good pedagogical practices; co-wrote the Report on Academic Continuity.
Reviews: Theatre, Economics, Peace and Conflict, Writing Program, Chinese, Study Abroad
Planning: Library Masterplan Committee, Teaching and Learning Commons Searches: Director of Facilities, Registrar, College Librarian
2018-2019: Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Led a department of 35 staff members. Facilitated the creation of the Spanish Department.
2017-2018: Working Group 5 in the Middle-States Self-Study
2016-2017: AdHoc Committee on the Provost’s Search
2014-2015: Interdisciplinary Programs Representative and member of COFP.
2013-2014: Interdisciplinary Programs Representative.
2011-2012: Faculty Mentor
2010-2011: Chair of Division of the Humanities
2009-2010: Faculty Secretary
2007-2008: Interdisciplinary Programs Representative
2006-2008: Interpretation Theory Program Coordinator
2005-2008: Assessment Planning Committee
2002-2004: College Judiciary Committee/alternate
2002-2003: Interpretation Theory Program Coordinator
2000-2001: Associate Provost Search Committee
1999-2000: Sager Committee Chair
Rotating coordination of the French and Francophone Studies section.
GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS
2021 Mellon Foundation Grant for Humanities Faculty Leadership Development
The $871,000 program aims to draw humanities faculty into leadership roles, with a focus on diversity. With project co-leaders, I developed the proposal, designed the program for five sessions and held a gathering of 15 faculty participants from five institutions in the Philadelphia region. Session 2023 is currently under planning.
2004 Fédération canadienne des sciences humaines (FCSH): aide à l’édition savante.
1994 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: Doctoral Fellowship
Other
2022 (June 12-19) Academic Exchange study trip to Israel and the Palestinian Authority territories.
2003 School for Criticism and Theory at Cornell University
1997 Dartmouth College, Institute for French Cultural Studies
1994-1995 École Normale Supérieure, rue d’Ulm, Paris: Pensionnaire étranger
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIENCE IN RESEARCH
Editor, Cahiers du dix-septième, An Interdisciplinary Journal (2014-2023)
Executive Committee member MLA, French Literature, XVII-Century Division, 2016-2020.
President, SE17, The Society for French Interdisciplinary Seventeenth-Century (2009-2010).
Member at large, Executive Committee, North American Society for Seventeenth-Century French Literature (2007-2009).
Manuscript reviews: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (post-doctoral fellowships, research grants), EMF, Comparative Literature (article manuscript reviews); University of Toronto Press.
Tenure and promotion reviews: Yale University, Barnard College, CUNY Hunter College, Wellesley College, New York University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Minnesota, Vanderbilt University, UNC Charlotte, Northwestern University.
COURSES
I have taught a wide range of courses since I have been at the College, including as co-teacher of the Interpretation Theory Program seminar with faculty from Biology, History, Philosophy, Sociology, and Political Science. Here are two of my French advanced courses.
FREN 016: French Conversation. Paris: Mémoire d’une ville.
FREN 044: Tyrans et Révolutionnaires. Cinema and literature offer an interesting vantage point to understand the historical events that led to the French Revolution of 1789. Through films such as La Reine Margot, Danton, Les Trois Mousquetaires, and a variety of texts related to the circumstances that these films depict, the course aims to provide an overview of early modern French culture and politics.
FREN 051: Littérature et médecine. We will study portrayals of doctors and their interactions with patients in works by authors such as Molière, Flaubert, and Proust. What is at stake when physicians interact with patients? We will seek to understand how the dialogue between doctors and patients exists as a text, and how literature can be understood as therapeutic. At the end of the semester, students will meet with a practicing physician to draw further conclusions from their readings.
Jean-Vincent Blanchard 