Paule Carbonnel

Paule Carbonnel holds a Ph.D. in French and Francophone literature from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research sits at the crossroads of literature, science, and the history of science, examining how early science fiction engaged eschatological discourse to imagine the planet's environmental future—and how 19th-century literature began to articulate theories about the end of the Earth as we know it.

Recent Courses Taught

Written & Oral Argumentation
Speculative Futures in French

Research Interests

Environmental humanities, literature and science, eco-criticism, 19th-century science fiction, history of science, history of medicine

Distinctions

• Dissertation Completion Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania (2023?2024)
• Henry C. Daly Memorial Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania (2017?2018)
• Benjamin Franklin Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania (2017?2023)

Selected Publications

• La question environnementale chez Jules Verne. Écrire, prédire, prévenirla catastrophe écologique, by Kevin Even. Nineteenth-Century French Studies, Spring 2025.
• "Des humains comme vous," Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan, Le Magasin du Dix-Neuvième siècle no. 10, 2020

Appointed to the Faculty

2026

Educational Background

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
M.A., University of Pennsylvania
M.A., Université Toulouse II Jean-Jaurès
B.A., Université Toulouse II Jean-Jaurès

Dissertation

To the Ends of the Earth with Jules Verne and Beyond: Explorations of Limitedness in Nineteenth-Century France