Seventeen students and three faculty members in French spent the weekend of April 17-19 in Montreal, Quebec, exploring many aspects of this bilingual city which is only five hours away from Clinton. Students viewed a piece of the Berlin Wall that was given as a gift to Montréal in 1992, for the 350th anniversary of the city. During a guided tour of the old and modern city, students -- who pledged to speak only French during the trip -- were told about the complex history of the area, and how bilingualism affects public and private life. More ...

Professor of French Martine Guyot-Bender contributed "'Les belles images': 'Sottisier,' roman prémonitoire ou récit universel?" to a special issue of German journal of French Comparative Studies, Lendemains, in honor of the 100th anniversary of Simone de Beauvoir's birth in 2008. The article examines the social content of Les belles images (1967), one of de Beauvoir's least-appreciated novels which was, at the time it was published, rebuked by critics and readers and somewhat ridiculed by de Beauvoir herself. More ...

A year ago Professor of French John C. O'Neal learned he had been promoted from "chevalier" (or knight) to "officier" (officer) in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Order of Academic Palms), originally founded by Napoleon in 1808 to recognize meritorious achievements in teaching and research. On May 27, an awards ceremony was held at the French Embassy for Cultural Services in New York City to honor O'Neal and three others, each of whom received a medal from the French cultural counselor, Mme Kareen Rispal. In addition to some of O'Neal's family members and friends, several Hamilton community members were on hand for the event including John and Mary O'Neill, Ben and Laurie Madonia, John Lytle and Sarah Ziegler '05. More ...

An essay by Professor of French Roberta Krueger has been published in the paperback edition of A Companion to Chrétien de Troyes. Krueger's essay is titled "Philomena: Brutal Transitions and Courtly Transformations in Chrétien's Old French Translation." Edited by Norris J. Lacy and Joan Tasker Grimbert, the book is published by Boydell & Brewer, Inc. More ...