"When Freedom Returns...": Exile for Victor Hugo and Other Engagé Writers

MARVA BARNETT - Program Coordinator.

Marva Barnett (Ph.D., Harvard, 1980) is the founding director of the Teaching Resource Center (TRC), which since 1990 has promoted excellence in teaching, helped build community, and fostered innovation throughout the University of Virginia. She also holds the rank of professor at UVa, where she teaches in the Department of French (”Victor Hugo” and “The Writing and Reading of Texts”). Her current research centers on Hugo's work; she has recently published Victor Hugo on Things That Matter with Yale University Press, a reader that highlights the contemporary relevance of his ideas and presents a wide variety his writings and art work in literary and historical context. For more information, see Marva Barnett's personal webpage and the article by UVa Today (Nov. 16, 09) : U.Va. Professor Provides Insight into Victor Hugo's Views on Things That Matter.

KELLY MCCONNELL - Graduate Assistant.

Originally from Eugene, Oregon, Kelly McConnell received a B.A. in French from Dartmouth College in 2000 where she also spent a semester studying in Toulouse. She spent two years as a management consultant in Boston before returning to Dartmouth to pursue a M.A. in Comparative Literature, concentrating on the early 20th-century French romance novelist Delly. After completing her first M.A. in 2003, Kelly taught math at a public high school in New Hampshire for two years. Before entering the M.A. program at UVa in 2006, Kelly taught French language and literature at Norwich University in Northfield, VT. Kelly has also led French language programs for high school students in both Tours and Arles with Rassias Programs. Kelly's current academic interests include 17th century female authors, contemporary popular literature, and autobiographies. Kelly enjoys spending her free time with her sons, Jordan and Liam, and her husband, Steve.

PIERRE DAIRON - Graduate Assistant, Webmaster.

Pierre Dairon completed his undergraduate studies in France at the Université de Poitiers. He then spent one year at the Université de Moncton (New Brunswick, Canada) where he conducted research on the reader's section of the Acadian newspaper "L'Evangeline" and he earned a "maîtrise" in History (1999). After completing his military service duty in a French consulate in Casablanca, Morocco (2000-02), he obtained a MA in French Literature and Civilisation at Michigan State University (2004). Pierre is interested in 20th century French Literature and focuses his dissertation research on national discourse and comparative Acadian (Canada) and Cadian (Louisiana) literature and culture. He is also part of the New World Studies program.