Jean Blacker came to Kenyon College in 1985, having taught as a lecturer in French and Comparative Studies at the Ohio State University. She has taught language courses at all levels, as well as literature courses ranging from Arthurian Legends in Medieval French Literature and Film, Studies in the Early Lyric (all texts in early period courses taught in the original Old French or Old Occitan) to Individual and Cultural Identity in the Francophone Novel and Francophone Poetry. Her research areas include twelfth-century Anglo-Norman literary and historical texts, and twelfth-century Latin histories focusing principally on Arthurian material and the Norman Conquest, and early Old French Marian literature. She has served on the Committee on Advising and Standards, the Reaccreditation Committee (2000), the Tenure and Promotion Committee, and is currently serving the college as Kenyon Campus Facilitator for the GLCA New Directions Initiative.

Areas of Expertise

12th-century Anglo-Norman literature and chronicles, 12th-century Latin historical narrative, Arthurian legends and the Norman Conquest

Education

M.A., Ph.D., Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley
B.A., French, University of California, Los Angeles

Courses Taught

FREN 111-112 Intensive Introductory French
FREN 213-214 Intermediate French
FREN 340 Identity in the Francophone Novel
FREN 341 Francophone Lyric Poetry
FREN 350 Studies in the Early French Lyric (12th-16th c.)
FREN 354 Arthurian Legend in Literature and Film