Affiliated Departments & Programs

Mortimer Martin Guiney joined the faculty of Kenyon College in 1987, after completing his doctoral dissertation in comparative literature on early twentieth-century theories of the novel. Since then, his research has focused primarily on the relationship between literature, education and the state in nineteenth-and twentieth-century France. His two books on that subject, "Teaching the Cult of Literature in the French Third Republic" and "Literature, Pedagogy, and Curriculum in Secondary Education," were published by Palgrave Macmillan Press.

Guiney has served as chair of the Modern Languages and Literatures Department, as director of Kenyon's intensive language program (KILM), and as chair of the Kenyon faculty. He received the Distinguished Faculty Service Award in 2014 and was named to the William P. Rice Professorship in Literature in 2019.

Areas of Expertise

Nineteenth- and twentieth-century French literature, comparative literature and cultural studies, French language teaching

Education

1987 — Doctor of Philosophy from Yale University

1983 — Master of Arts from Yale University

1980 — Bachelor of Arts from Univ Mass Amherst

Courses Recently Taught

This course is designed for students interested in further developing their ability to speak, write and read French. The course includes a comprehensive grammar review and short cultural and literary readings, which serve as points of departure for class discussion. This course includes required practice sessions with a teaching assistant, which are scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Attendance at a weekly French table is strongly encouraged. Students enrolled in this course are automatically added to FREN 214Y for the spring semester. Prerequisite: FREN 111Y-112Y or equivalent. Offered every fall.

This course is the continuation of the first semester of intermediate French and includes a comprehensive grammar review and short cultural and literary readings, which serve as points of departure for class discussion. This course includes required practice sessions with a teaching assistant, which are scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Attendance at a weekly French table is strongly encouraged. Prerequisite: FREN 213Y or placement. Offered every spring.

This course is designed to provide advanced students with the opportunity to strengthen their abilities to write, read and speak French. The conversation component of the course focuses on the discussion of articles from the current French and Francophone press, films and web sites, with the aim of developing students' fluency in French and their performance of linguistically and culturally appropriate tasks. Through the composition component, students seek to improve their ability to write clearly and coherently in French in both analytic and creative modes. To foster these goals, the course also provides a review of selected advanced grammatical structures and work on literary excerpts. Prerequisite: FREN 213Y–214Y or equivalent. Offered every year.

In this course, we examine representative texts — lyric poems, plays, short stories and novels — from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution. In addition to gaining a greater understanding of French literary history and related social and philosophical trends, students develop skills necessary for close reading, explication de texte and oral discussion. It is especially recommended for students with little or no previous exposure to French literature. FREN 321 is recommended. Prerequisite: FREN 213Y-214Y or equivalent. Offered every year or alternating with FREN 324.

We examine some of the social, cultural and political issues in contemporary France, as well as their historical context, by analyzing representative films and texts from the 20th and 21st centuries. Students are regularly required to view films outside of class. We also read a textbook on contemporary France to supplement the films, and students are required to complete an independent research project on a topic related to class discussions. FREN 321 is recommended. Prerequisite: FREN 213Y–214Y or equivalent. Generally offered every other year.

Though centered on the novel, this course may examine various genres including drama, short narrative and even film. Close readings of classic modern texts illuminate questions such as the role and nature of the subject, narrative coherence and incoherence, the incorporation of marginal voices into the literary mainstream, and the relationship between literature and modernism. These texts are situated in historical and intellectual context. Authors studied may include Marcel Proust, Samuel Beckett and Marguerite Duras. This course is designed to accommodate advanced students as well as those with less experience in French literature. FREN 321 is recommended. Prerequisite: FREN 213Y-214Y or equivalent. Generally offered every third year.

We explore the relationship between poetry and modernity, as well as learn techniques for the close reading of French poetic texts, covering the period from Romanticism to the "Belle Epoque" (early to late 19th century). Authors include Lamartine, Hugo, Desbordes-Valmore, Baudelaire and Rimbaud. The literary and philosophic consequences of the development of a poetic language that rejects all reference to the outside world, striving toward the pure or absolute text, constitutes the primary focus of the course. FREN 321 is recommended. Prerequisite: FREN 213Y-214Y or equivalent. Generally offered every third year.

The Honors Program is designed to recognize and encourage exceptional scholarship and to allow able students to do more independent work than is otherwise feasible. The senior honors candidate works with members of the international studies faculty to prepare an extended essay on a topic of mutual interest, which is defended before an outside examiner in May. For more detailed information about honors in international studies, see the department chair. Students standing for honors must also take the senior seminar. This interdisciplinary course does not count toward the completion of any diversification requirement. No prerequisite. Permission of instructor and program director required.

This course offers independent study for senior candidates for honors under the direction of the honors supervisor. Normally offered in the spring semester, this course may be offered in the fall with the approval of the student's honors supervisor and the chair of modern languages and literature. Permission of instructor and department chair required.