Skip to main content

Ourida Mostefai
Professor of French

romance languages and literatures

Academic Degrees

Ph.D., M.A., New York University; Licence de Lettres, Université de Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle

Research Areas

18th-century French Literature; Rousseau; Pamphlets and Polemical Literature; Strategies of Reading and Censorship

Honors and Awards

Professeur Invitée, Ecole Normale Supérieure (Ulm), Paris, April 2010.

Chevalier (Knight) in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques.

Elected Member, MLA 18th Century French Literature Division, 2010-2015.

Member, Advisory Board, Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College.

Books

Rousseau and l’Infâme: Religion, Toleration, and Fanaticism in the Age of Enlightenment

Rousseau and l’Infâme: Religion, Toleration, and Fanaticism in the Age of Enlightenment, co-edited with John T. Scott. Amsterdam; New York: Rodopi [Faux Titre, 326], 2009.

Approaches to Teaching Rousseau’s “Confessions” and “Rêveries”

Approaches to Teaching Rousseau’s “Confessions” and “Rêveries,” co-edited with John C. O’Neal, Modern Language Association (MLA) Publications, 2003.

journals edited

Women's Credit; Viewing Bodies; Politics & History

Women's Credit; Viewing Bodies; Politics & History: Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 32, co-edited with Catherine Ingrassia, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003.

photo of Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 31 bookcover

Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 31, co-edited with Catherine Ingrassia, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.

The Geography of the Enlightenment: Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 30

The Geography of the Enlightenment: Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 30, co-edited with Timothy Erwin, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

Allegories in Healing: Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 29

Allegories in Healing: Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 29, co-edited with Timothy Erwin, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.

Recent Articles and Book Chapters

“De Manon à Julie: ordre et désordre des passions et de l’économie domestique.” Sources et Postérités de la Nouvelle Héloïse: Le modèle de Julie, Eds. Geneviève Goubier-Robert & Stéphane Lojkine. Paris: Desjonquères, 2012, pp. 153-160.

“Singular and Exemplary: The Theory and Experience of Citizenship in Rousseau. A Response to Karma Nabulsi.” Self-Evident Truths? Human Rights and the Enlightenment. Ed. Kate Tunstall. New York; London; New Dehli; Sidney: Bloomsbury, 2012, pp. 59-71.

“De Manon à Suzette: le ‘déménagement social’ en révolution.” Le Tournant des Lumières: Mélanges en l’honneur du professeur Malcolm Cook. Eds. Katherine Astbury & Catriona Seth. Paris: Garnier, 2012, pp. 181-192.

“Illumination et Historia Calamitatum: Postures de l’échec chez Rousseau.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau en 2012: “Puisqu'enfin mon nom doit vivre.” Ed. Michael O’Dea. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, SVEC 2012:01, pp. 29-43.

“Désunion nationale et rêve de réconciliation: correspondances d’émigrés dans le roman de la Révolution française.” Débats et écritures sous la Révolution, eds. Huguette Krief & Jean-Noël Pascal. Louvain, Paris, Walpole: Peeters, 2011, pp. 223-238.

“Dall’immaginario libertino alla filosofia politica: la presenza del corpo nelle Lettres Persanes di Montesquieu.” Il corpo e la sensibilità morale nella letteratura del settecento in Francia e Inghilterra, eds. Gianni Iotti & Maria Grazia Porcelli. Pisa: Pacini, 2011, pp. 61-76.

“Une dette non avouée: Rousseau, Diderot, et l’Encyclopédie.” Rousseau & the Philosophes, ed. Michael O’Dea. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, SVEC 2010: 12, pp. 141-50.

“Les petits livres du grand homme: polémique et combat philosophique chez Voltaire.” In An American Voltaire: Essays in Memory of J. Patrick Lee, eds. E. Joe Johnson and Byron R. Wells, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009, pp. 285-296.

“Singularité et exemplarité du cas Jean-Jacques: théorie et expérience du fanatisme chez Rousseau.” In Rousseau and l’Infâme: Religion, Toleration, and Fanaticism in the Age of Enlightenment, co-edited with John T. Scott. Amsterdam: Rodopi (Faux Titre Series), 2009, pp. 98-112.

“Les Lettres du citoyen: correspondance et polémique chez Rousseau” in Annales de la Société Jean-Jacques Rousseau (volume 47) 2008: 365-379.

"De Vincennes à Ménilmontant: promenade et projet autobiographique dans les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire.' In the Nature of Rousseau's "Rêveries": Physical, Human, Aesthetic. Ed. John C. O'Neal. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century 2008: 03, 197-208.

Recent Papers and Presentations

"Johann-Heinrich Füssli, juge de la conduite et des œuvres de Jean-Jacques Rousseau,” “Amis et ennemis de Jean-Jacques Rousseau,” Colloque international de la Société Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Geneva, Switzerland, June 13-16, 2012.

Querelles, disputes et conflits:  Jean-Jacques Rousseau et les différends des Lumières," Besterman Lecture, Besterman Center for the Enlightenment, Voltaire Foundation, Oxford University, UK, June 7, 2012.

“Jean-Jacques en Oriental: l’inquiétante étrangeté de l’habit d’Arménien de Rousseau,” Rousseau et la Turquie, Colloque international, Istanbul, Turkey, May 2-4, 2012.

“De Manon à Julie: de la passion sans ordre à l’ordre sans passion,” Le modèle de Julie, Sources et Postérités de la Nouvelle Héloïse: Hommage à Henri Coulet, Aix-en-Provence, May 5-7, 2011.

“Violence, terrorisme, et legs des Lumières: querelles autour de Jean-Jacques Rousseau dans la Révolution,” Colloque Violence au Tournant des Lumières / Conference on Violence in the Late Enlightenment: Representations, Ideas, Sensibility, Institut Français, London, April 8-9, 2011.

“Rousseau in Venice: Music, Religion, and Politics in the Enlightenment,” Rousseau-Fest, Boston College, October 22, 2010.

“Polémiques dans la République des Lettres: querelles, disputes et controverses autour de la figure de Jean-Jacques Rousseau,”  Invited lectures at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, April 2010.

“Taking Sides in French Epistolary Quarrels,” Annual Meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Albuquerque, New Mexico, March 18-21, 2010.

“Rousseau’s Paradoxical Legacy,” Invited Talk, Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College, February 10, 2010.

“Postures du maître et du disciple: Candide et le dialogue entre Voltaire et Rousseau,” Les 250 ans de Candide: lectures et relectures (International Conference on the 250th Anniversary of the Publication of Voltaire’s Candide), Oxford, UK, September 16-18, 2009.

“Portrait du philosophe en Arménien: la postérité des figures de la marginalité chez Jean-Jacques Rousseau,” Rousseau Association Biennial Colloquium, Los Angeles, June 25-28, 2009.

“Responding to Censorship: the Case of Jean-Jacques Rousseau,” Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention, San Francisco, December 27-30, 2008.

“De Manon à Suzette: le ‘déménagement social’ en révolution,” International Colloquium in Honor of Professor Malcolm Cook: Le Tournant des Lumières, Institut français, London, December 10-12, 2008.

"Ecriture parisienne et écriture genevoise dans La Lettre à d'Alembert." Annual Meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Portland, Oregon, March 28-30, 2008.

 

Contact Information

Boston College
Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
Lyons Hall 302C
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-3804

Phone: 617-552-3518
FAX: 617-552-2064
Email: ourida.mostefai@bc.edu
Personal webpage

Current Courses

To view current courses taught, please access the Boston College Course Schedule and enter appropriate data.