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Dr Nina Rolland

Dr Nina Rolland profile picture

Visiting Research Fellow

Areas of interest

My research interests are in comparative literature and rely on three main areas that intersect with one another:

  • Word and Music Studies: I am interested in the relations between literature and music from the nineteenth century until nowadays. My PhD thesis ‘Bodies in Composition: Women, Music and the Body in Nineteenth-Century European Literature’ examined the female body as a way to incorporate music in French, British, and German novels. I have explored how fiction incorporates music but also how music uses literature, particularly through song settings of poetry when I worked as a Research Associate on the ‘Baudelaire Song Project’ (AHRC-funded led by Prof. Helen Abbott).
  • Gender Studies: I am interested in rethinking musical and literary canons through discourses used around women and through the works of female composers.
  • The Digital Humanities: I have used digital tools (such as Sonic Visualiser) to analyse song settings of poetry as part of my research on the ‘Baudelaire Song Project’. I also worked on the ‘SoundsFrench AI app’ project (OWRI-funded led by Prof. Helen Abbott) to help learners of French improve their pronunciation. My current project proposes a statistical analysis of the vocabulary used around music in 19th-century French literature using the R programming language.

Teaching

Whilst teaching at Reading, I convened and taught FR2HTF ‘How to Think in French’ and I co-taught on the following modules:

  • FR1L3 Advanced French Languages I
  • FR2L4 Advanced French Language II
  • FR1IFC Introduction to French Culture
  • ML1TRANS Thinking Translation
  • ML3IC Identity and Conflict in Modern Europe
  • ML1EN1COMP What is Comparative Literature?

Background

I have been a Lecturer in French at the University of Reading and at Queen Mary University of London. I previously held positions at the University of Birmingham, the Institut français of Düsseldorf (Germany), the University of St Andrews, the University of Kent, and Saint Bonaventure University (USA).

Academic qualifications

  • BA in French/Lettres Modernes (Sorbonne University)
  • BA in Philosophy (Nanterre University)
  • MA in Comparative Literature (Sorbonne University)
  • PhD in Comparative Literature (University of Kent/ Sorbonne Nouvelle University)
  • PGCHE/FHEA (University of Kent)

Publications

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