Read, Kirk D.

Professor Read specializes in Early Modern French Literature.

Kirk Read, Ph.D Princeton University

Kirk Read is Professor of French and Chair of the Division of Humanities. A specialist in Early Modern French literature, he concentrates mainly on pre-revolutionary France as well as Francophone North Africa. His book, Birthing Bodies in Early Modern France: Stories of Gender and Reproduction (Ashgate 2011), investigates gender, sex and sexuality in medical discourse and across various literary genres. He presented current research on Renaissance women’s writing and lamentation at the Renaissance Society of America annual conference in Montreal this spring. In collaboration with colleagues and students over his 20-year tenure at Bates he has developed a course in oral French that follows the adventures of a fictional North African heroine, Marie Malika d’Alger–an endeavor that combines his interests in language, culture and theatre. Professor Read also currently serves as Chair of the newly-formed Arts Collaborative and will be Chair of French in the Winter semester and Short Term.  In the fall of 2011 he will lead a semester abroad program in Nantes, France with his colleague Josesph Hall in History.