Meet the Professor: Laurie Postlewate

Professor Postlewate is a Senior Lecturer in the Barnard French Department.

What are some of your favorite classes you teach/have taught at Barnard?

Very happily, I am able to teach a variety of courses, all of which I love! 

First of all, I really enjoy classes where students engage in reflection on and creative work with language. Translation courses are favorites of mine for that reason. In "Transatlantic Translation" we have the opportunity to work with a partner student group in Lyon, France on collaborative translation; "Translating Theatre" takes place every summer in Paris and we combine translating plays with actually seeing them produced on the stage. The whole experience of summer study abroad in Paris is always fun and interesting. Another course that involves thinking about language from a different angle is "History of the French Language" which allows us to examine how the French language has evolved over the centuries and to explore linguistically the francophone world outside of France. Finally, I am currently teaching a new advanced conversation course, "Podcasting in French Workshop," in which we explore current events through this (relatively) new medium of podcasting. Students are also producing their own podcasts in French and it's been great fun so far. 

I also teach medieval to early modern literature and culture courses, and here I like to emphasize the sociohistorical context of cultural production: "The Golden Age of Versailles" and "Women & Writing in Early Modern" are two such courses that I currently teach and that students seem to particularly appreciate.

Could you please talk about some of your current or recent research you’re excited about?

My teaching about language and culture has very much inspired my research and writing projects. I am currently finishing an anthology of translations from a fourteenth-century Franciscan poet, Nicole Bozon. He was a very prolific writer with an incredibly varied output in Anglo-Norman, a dialect of French in medieval England. Along different lines, I am writing at this moment with my teaching partner in France a piece on our collaborative course in which students do collaborative translation.

Do you find there are any differences to teaching at a women’s college as opposed to a co-ed college?

I have been teaching full-time at Barnard since 1997, so for most of my career I have had the privilege of working with Barnard women. At Barnard there is a high level of student engagement and a special dynamic both between students and between students and faculty. I can't really compare that experience in opposition to a co-ed environment today, but I feel certain it is the result of Barnard's commitment to creating an environment that is inclusive and that opens opportunities for women. 

 What is your favorite work of French literature?

Tough question!! One work I would definitely take to a desert island is the Heptameron by the sixteenth-century writer Marguerite de Navarre. This collection of 72 stories that are connected by the storytellers who narrate them are endlessly entertaining, funny, and surprising in their insights on the human condition. I can never get enough of reading and re-reading it!