Alain Viala was appointed to the professorship of French Literature from October 2002. He was previously a Visiting Professor of French Studies at Oxford, and Professeur à l'Université de Paris III - Sorbonne Nouvelle.
After studying at the École Normale Supérieure, he began his academic career at the University of the Sorbonne-Paris III as Assistant Professor in 1978. He was appointed Professor at the same university in 1985. He has held Visiting Professorships at the universities of Chicago, Atlanta, Quebec, and lectureships at Bologna, Bangkok, Djakarta, and Giessen.
Since 1992, he has served as President of the Commission des Programmes (French and Classics) at the French Ministry of Education.
Further information can be found on his departmental webpage.
Research interests:
His specializes in 17th century literature, particularly Racine, but he has an interest in a broad range of issues. He is one of the editors of Le Dictionnaire du Littéraire which was published in 2005.
Selected publications:
- Naissance de l'Écrivain (Paris, Éditions de Minuit, 1985)
- Racine (a biography; Paris, Seghers, 1990)
- Approches de la réception (with G. Molinié, Paris, PUF, 1993)
- Le Théâtre en France des origines à nos jours (PUF, 1997)
- Histoire du théâtre (PUF, 2005)
- Lettre à Rousseau sur l’intérêt littéraire (PUF, 2006)
- La France galante. Histoire d'une catégorie culturelle de ses origines à la Révolution (Paris, PUF, 2009. The R. H. Gapper Book Prize March 2010)
- Le théâtre(with Daniel Mesguich, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 2011)
Contact