Professor of French John C. O'Neal wrote two pieces:  one for  Le Temps, the other for La Gazette des Délices, about his reflections on the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of Jean-Jacques Rousseau that are taking place this year and that reached a high point on Rousseau's birthday itself on June 28.

Professor of French John C. O'Neal recently traveled to France for a conference on the notion of authenticity in Rousseau's thought. O'Neal's paper, "Rousseau à l'âge de Facebook: l'authenticité et le défi de l'opinion publique dans les Dialogues," was given at the Université Stendhal-Grenoble 3 on Oct. 19.

At the recent meeting of the American Society of the French Academic Palms in New York City, Professor of French John C. O'Neal was re-elected to this Society's board of directors for another 3-year term. O'Neal was named a chevalier (or knight) in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques in 1998 by the French government and promoted to the rank of officier in 2007.

Professor of French John C. O'Neal was interviewed, along with several other international scholars of Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for a special issue of L'Hebdo magazine.

An article by Professor of French John C. O’Neal titled “L’âme chez Rousseau: au carrefour des philosophes, de la psychologie et du romantisme” has appeared in the special issue Rousseau et le Romantisme, published by La Société internationale des Amis du Musée Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Montmorency, France.

Professor of French John C. O'Neal presented a paper at the meeting of the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, which took place this year in Graz, Austria, from July 24-30. O'Neal's paper was titled "Cultivating Critical Readers through Complex Narrative Time Frames in Crébillon's Les Egarements du coeur et de l'esprit."

Professor of French John C. O'Neal presented a paper, "Saint-Preux comme personne transgenre dans La Nouvelle Héloïse de Rousseau," at the international colloquium "Masculin et pouvoir de Rousseau à Balzac," held at the Université Jean Monnet, May 19-20.

Professor of French John C. O’Neal has authored a new book, The Progressive Poetics of Confusion in the French Enlightenment, published by the University of Delaware Press. 

At the invitation of the Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet (NTNU) or the Norwegian University of Science and Technology at Trondheim, Professor of French John C. O'Neal participated on the doctoral dissertation jury for a Ph.D. candidate in French on Feb. 11.