Salem State College | Department of Foreign Languages | Dr. Blood

Elizabeth Blood - Research Interests

As a second language teacher with a background in 18th-century European literatures, my research interests are two-fold but not disconnected. In terms of literary scholarship, I am interested in the concepts of authorship and originality as they developed simultaneously with copyright law during the 18th-century. Primarily, I study literary adaptations of popular 18th-century stories--sometimes labeled plagiarisms, liberal translations, imitations, spinoffs or parodies--as a form of literary and cultural criticism. I view the writing of adaptations--what I call "literary recycling"--as a dynamic signifying process which incited critical reflection and public debate in the Enlightenment era.

My work in second language pedagogy also focuses on the concept of authorship as a means of creating dynamic social interaction. My textbook project, Intrigue, aims to combine the best of communicative teaching techniques with the intellectual draw of a mystery-story narrative, offering the student meaningful contexts in which to learn French. The fictional story invites the readers to act as detectives and to interact with the characters and plot twists presented in the book. In related pedagogical research, I also study the ways in which traditional textbook genres, which often offer limited contexts for language usage, may disempower or even alienate many students in today's American universities.

In both my literary scholarship and my pedagogical research, I am drawn to the concepts of reading and writing and the ways these activities can be used as powerful tools to incite dynamic social interaction and critical reflection.

Work-in-progress

Literary Scholarship
Literary Recycling: Authorship and Adaptation in 18th-Century Europe (book in progress, revised dissertation)

Pedagogy
Suspects: conversation, composition et enquête en français. Co-authored with Daniel O’Sullivan. [a 5th-semester French textbook adopting a task-based, student-centered approach to developing fluency in French]

Publications

·         Intrigue: langue, culture et mystère dans le monde francophone 2nd Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Publishers (2007).  (1st Edition, Prentice Hall, 2004)

·         “Review of La Scène bâtarde: entre Lumières et romantisme. Eds. Philippe Bourdin, Gérard Loubinoux.” H-France Review Vol. 5 (October 2005), No. 116.

·         "Countering the Canon: Olympe de Gouges and Molière chez Ninon, ou le Siècle des grands hommes" Eighteenth-Century Women, Volume 3 (Fall 2003): 155-183.

·         "Exploring Québec: hier, aujourd'hui, demain" AATF National Bulletin 27:3 (January 2002): 19-20.

·         "On the Teaching of Francophone Cultures to Anglophone Students" AATF National Bulletin 26:4 (April 2001): 18-19.

·         "Mystery Theater in the French Classroom" AATF National Bulletin 26:3 (January 2001): 31-32.

·         "'Barbares Européens': Colonial Oppression and Liberal Discourse in Barbault-Royer's Craon et les trois opprimés (1791)" Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques 26:3 (Fall 2000): 1-23.

·         "Adapting to the Theater: Representations of the 'Philosophe' by French Women Writers" in Altered Writings Servanne Woodward, ed. (London, Canada: Mestengo Press, 1997): 109-142.

·         "All the City's A Stage: A Brief History of Theater in Paris" Paris Notes 4:10 (January 1996): 1, 17.

·         "From canevas to commedia: Innovation in Goldoni's Il servitore di due padroni" Dino Ceravigni and Franco Fido, eds. Annali d'Italianistica 11 (Winter 1993): 111-119.

Literary Conference Presentations

• “Theatrical Rivalries: Goldoni and Benoît” American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Annual Meeting (Montréal, Canada, March 2006)

• “Theatrical Rivalries and Authorial Identities: Goldoni, Chiari and Literary Adaptation” at the Northeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (NEASECS) Annual Meeting (Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, October 2005)

• “Found in Translation: Goldoni, Adaptation and Authorial Identity in 18th-Century Europe” at the Northeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (NEASECS) Annual Meeting (Burlington, Vermont, November 2004)

• “Traddutrice Traditrice? Women, Adaptation and the Enlightenment Stage” at the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) Annual Meeting (Boston, Massachusetts, March 2004)

·   "Performing Authorship: Biographies of Moliere and the Definition of the Author in 18th-Century Europe" East-Central American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (EC/ASECS) annual meeting (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 2002)

·   "'Qui veut dire l'homme, veut dire la femme aussi': Great Women, Literary History, and Olympe de Gouges' Le siècle des grands hommes" American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (ASECS) Annual Meeting (New Orleans, Louisiana, April 2001)

·   "Molière Imitated/Molière Inimitable: Authorship at the Turns of the 18th Century" Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Meeting (Washington DC, December 2000)

·   "Mercier's Guadeloupe: An Island of (Ex)Change" Northeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (NEASECS) Annual Meeting (Portland, Maine, October 2000)

·   "The Century of Great Women: Olympe de Gouges' Revision of French History" Northeast Modern Language Association (NEMLA) Annual Meeting (Buffalo, New York, April 2000)

·   "Who Wrote Pamela ?" ASECS Annual Meeting (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 1999)

·   "Binary Oppositions and Multicultural Politics: Barbault-Royer and the Afro-Caribbean/French Perspective" Group For Early Modern Cultural Studies (GEMCS) Annual Meeting (Newport, Rhode Island, November 1998)

·   "'Barbares Européens': Barbault-Royer's Craon et les trois opprimés (1791)" NEASECS Annual Meeting at Williams College (Williamstown, Massachusetts, Sept. 1998)

·   "Intrigues Romanesques: Plotting Changes in the 18th-Century French Theater" NEMLA Annual Meeting (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 1997)

·   "'Pamela's Version': Adaptation in/of Richardson's Pamela" NEMLA Annual Meeting (Montréal, Canada, April 1996)

·   "Play Rights: the 'Philosophe' Plays of Olympe de Gouges and the Marquise de Gléon" ASECS Annual Meeting at the University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas, March 1996)

·   "Playing in the Public Sphere: Three Dramatic Adaptations of Pamela" ASECS Meeting at the University of Arizona (Tucson, Arizona, April 1995)

·   "Re-forming the Gambler: Regnard's Le Joueur and Goldoni's Il Giuocatore" American Association of Italian Studies (AAIS) Conference at Arizona State University (Phoenix, Arizona, April 1995)

Pedagogical Conference Presentations

·         "Using Art to Teach Language, Culture, and Literature" Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL) Annual Meeting (to be held in New York, New York, April 2007)

·         “Preparing for the Spanish and French MTEL: Strategies for Success” Massachusetts Foreign Language Association (MaFLA) Annual Meeting (Sturbridge, Massachusetts, October 2005)

·         “Global Stimuli: Collaborative Learning Projects for Teaching and Promoting French” American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) Annual Meeting (Québec City, Canada, July 2005)

·         “Building Community Connections with Service-Learning Projects” American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Annual Meeting (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 2003)

·         "Constructing Active Language Learners: Inclusiveness, Empowerment and the Second Language Textbook Genre" Modern Language Association (MLA) annual meeting (New York, New York, December 2002)

·         "Teaching Imperialism? Non-Western Francophone Cultures and Film" MLA annual meeting (New York, New York, December 2002)

·         "Teaching Francophone Cultures with Service Learning Projects" American Association of Teachers of French (AATF) annual meeting (Boston, Massachusetts, July 2002)

·         "Teaching Culture with Service Learning Projects" Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL) annual meeting (New York, New York, April 2002)

·         "Practical Uses of Technology in the Foreign Language Classroom" World Languages Workshop Series at Mercyhurst College (Erie, Pennsylvania, January 2001)

·         "Career Clarification Process for Adult Students" (Panel Moderator) & "McNair Roundtable" New England Association of Equal Opportunity Program Personnel (NEAEOPP) Annual Meeting (Hyannis, Massachusetts, April 1998)

·         "WWW.ForeignLanguage.Fun: Using the Web in Your Classroom" Massachusetts Foreign Language Association (MaFLA) Annual Meeting (Sturbridge, Massachusetts, October 1997)

·         "Learning Fun: Games for the Classroom" MaFLA Annual Meeting (Sturbridge, Massachusetts, October 1996)

·         "Curriculum Customs: Crossing Disciplinary and National Boundaries" Presentation for the inauguration of
the Comparative Studies in Culture program at Connecticut College (New London, Connecticut, September 1996)

·         "Optical Allusions: Using Visuals to Teach Reading" Boston College Teaching Fellow Workshop (Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, January 1994)

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Salem State College - Department of Foreign Languages
URL: http://www.lrc.salemstate.edu/blood/research.htm
Last updated: September 13, 2003
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