Barbara C. Bowen

Personal Information

Born May 4, 1937; married with two children; British subject, American resident since 1962.

University Degrees

B.A. Oxford, 1958
M.A. Oxford, 1962
Doctorat de l'Université de Paris, 1962

Academic Employment

Instructor of French, University of Illinois, 1962-3
Assistant Professor of French, University of Illinois, 1963-66
Associate Professor of French, University of Illinois, 1966-73
Professor of French, University of Illinois, 1973-87
Professor of French and Comparative Literature, Vanderbilt University, 1987-2002

Awards

Basil Zaharoff Travelling Scholarship, 1958-59
ACLS Travel Grants, Summer 1973 and October 1984
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, 1974-75
Appointment to the Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois, Fall semester 1976
NEH Summer Seminar for College Teachers, 1980
NEH Fellowship, 1981-82
Non-stipendiary Fellow, Villa I Tatti, Florence, 1981-82
NEH Fellowship, 1988-89
NEH Summer Seminar for College Teachers, 1991

Publications

A. Books

  • Les caractéristiques essentielles de la farce française, et leur survivance dans les années 1550-1620. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1964. Reprint: Ann Arbor, Michigan, UMI books on demand, 1994.
  • The Age of Bluff: Paradox and Ambiguity in Rabelais and Montaigne. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1972.
  • Words and the Man in French Renaissance Literature. Lexington, Kentucky: French Forum Monographs, 1983.
  • Enter Rabelais, Laughing. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, l998. On Choice's 36th annual list of Outstanding Academic Titles.
  • Humour and Humanism in the Renaissance. Ashgate Variorum, 2004.

B. Books Edited

  • Four Farces. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1967.
  • The French Renaissance Mind:Studies Presented to W. G. Moore. L'Esprit Créateur, vol. 14, 1976.
  • One Hundred Renaissance Jokes:A Critical Anthology. Birmingham, AL: Summa Publications, 1988.
  • Lapidary Inscriptions: Renaissance Studies for Donald A. Stone, Jr. Lexington, KY: French Forum Monographs, 1991 (with Jerry Nash).
  • Rabelais in Context: Proceedings of the 1991 Vanderbilt Conference. Birmingham, AL: Summa Publications, 1993.

C. Articles

  • "Towards a Definition of French Farce as a Literary Genre." Modern Language Review 56 (1961), 558-560.
  • "Some Elements of French Farce in Molière." L'Esprit Créateur 1966, 167-75.
  • "Rabelais and the Comedy of the Spoken Word." Modern Language Review 63 (1968), 575-80.
  • "What does Montaigne Mean by marqueterie?" Studies in Philology 67 (1970) 147-55.
  • "Cornelius Agrippa's De vanitate: Polemic or Paradox?" Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance 34 (1972), 249-56.
  • "Nothing in French Renaissance Literature." In From Marot to Montaigne: Essays on French Renaissance Literature, ed. R. C. La Charité. Kentucky Romance Quarterly 19, Sup. No. 1 (1972), 55-64.
  • "Le théâtre du cliché." Cahiers de l'Association Internationale des Etudes Françaises 26 (1974), 33-47.
  • "Montaigne's anti-Phaedrus: `Sur des vers de Virgile' (Essais III.5)." Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 5 (1975), 107-21. Reprinted in Montaigne: A Collection of Essays, ed. Dikka Berven (New York: Garland, l995).
  • "Jacques Tahureau Revisited." French Studies 30 (1976), 19-27.
  • "La revanche verbale dans la farce française de la Renaissance." Kwartalnik Neofilologiczny 23 (1976), 57-64.
  • "Rabelais and P. G. Wodehouse: Two Comic Worlds." In The French Renaissance Mind (see Books Edited, above), 63-77.
  • "Metaphorical Obscenity in French Farce, 1460-1560." Comparative Drama 11 (1977-8), 331-344. Reprinted in The Drama of the Middle Ages: Comparative and Critical Essays, ed. Clifford Davidson et al. New York, AMS Press, 1982, 89-102.
  • "Geofroy Tory's Champfleury and its Major Sources." Studies in Philology 76 (1979), 13-27.
  • "Lingua quo tendis? Speech and Silence in Renaissance Emblems." French Forum 4 (1979), 249-60.
  • "Lenten Eels and Carnival Sausages." L'Esprit Créateur 21 (1981), 12-25.
  • "L'épisode des Andouilles (Rabelais, Quart Livre, chs. 25-42): esquisse d'une méthode de lecture." In Le comique verbal en France au XVIe siècle: Actes du Colloque...avril 1975. Warsaw: Les Cahiers de Varsovie, 1981, 111-121.
  • (With N. Frederick Nash, major author) "An Unrecorded First Edition of Artus Désiré." Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance 43 (1981), 573-76.
  • "Béroalde de Verville and the Self-Destructing Book." In Essays in Early French Literature Presented to Barbara M. Craig, ed. Norris J. Lacy and Jerry Nash. French Literature Publications, 1982, 163-177.
  • (With David F. Bright, major author) "Emblems, Elephants and Alexander." Studies in Philology 80 (1983), 14-24.
  • "Dialogue entre langue parlée et langue écrite chez Jacques Tahureau et Béroalde de Verville." Réforme, Humanisme, Renaissance 15/2, déc. 1982, 76-82.
  • "Speech and Writing in the 1580 Text of `Du parler prompt ou tardif'." In Actes du Colloque International Montaigne...28-30 mars 1980, ed. Marcel Tetel. Paris: Nizet, 1983, 54-74.
  • "Is French Farce a Medieval Genre?" Tréteaux 3 (1981, pub. 1983), 56-67.
  • "Le motto dans le Moyen de Parvenir." In Mélanges sur la littérature de la Renaissance à la mémoire de V. L. Saulnier. Geneva: Droz, 1984, 581-87.
  • "Honeste et sens de l'humour au XVIe siècle." In La catégorie de l'honneste dans la culture du XVIe siècle: Actes du Colloque International de Sommières II, Université de Saint-Etienne, 1985, 101-106.
  • "Roman Jokes and the Renaissance Prince, 1455-1528." Illinois Classical Studies 9 (1984), 137-48.
  • "Two Literary Genres: the Emblem and the Joke." Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 15 (1985), 29-35.
  • "Paolo Cortesi's Laughing Cardinal." In Renaissance Studies in Honor of Craig Hugh Smyth, ed. Andrew Morrogh et al., Florence: Giunti Barbera, 1985, vol I, 251-59.
  • "Mercury at the Crossroads in Renaissance Emblems." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 48 (1985) 222-29.
  • "Renaissance Collections of facetiae, 1344-1490: A New Listing." Renaissance Quarterly 39 (1986), 1-15.
  • "Rabelais and the Rhetorical Joke Tradition." In Rabelais's Incomparable Book: Essays on His Art, ed. Raymond C. La Charité. Lexington, Kentucky: French Forum, 1986 (FFM 62), 213-25.
  • "Renaissance Collections of facetiae, 1499-1528: A New Listing." Renaissance Quarterly 39 (1986), 263-75.
  • "La souris dans le goudron (mus in pice): Montaigne, Essais, III.13." Kwartalnik Neofilologiczny 34 (1987), 123-30.
  • "Rire est le propre de l'homme." Etudes Rabelaisiennes t. XXI: Colloque de Tours 1984. Geneva: Droz, 1988, 185-90.
  • "Facezie franco-italiane a Lione nel 1559." In Il Rinascimento a Lione, ed. A. Possenti and A. Mastrangelo, Roma: Ateneo, 1988, I, 115-26.
  • "La fortune dans les Facetie de Lodovico Carbone." In Il tema della Fortuna nella letteratura francese e italiana del Rinascimento: Studi in memoria di Enzo Giudici. Florence: Olschki, 1990, 364-70.
  • "French Farces, Morality Plays and Soties." In A New History of French Literature, ed. Denis Hollier, Harvard University Press, 1989, 124-27.
  • "Tabourot facetus: le sieur Gaulard." In Tabourot, Seigneur des Accords: un Bourguignon poète de la fin de la Renaissance. Paris: Klincksieck, 1990, 101-107.
  • "Montaigne et Plutarque sur la parole." In Montaigne et la Grèce: Actes du Colloque de Calamata et de Messène, 23-26 septembre 1988, ed. Kyriaki Christodoulou. Paris: Aux Amateurs de Livres, 1990, 26-33.
  • "Rabelais and the Library of Saint-Victor." In Lapidary Inscriptions (see B), 159-70.
  • "Facétie/sententia/apophtegme: les Divers propos memorables de Gilles Corrozet." In Narrations brèves: Mélanges de littérature ancienne offerts à Krystyna Kasprzyk (Warsaw, 1993), 229-36.
  • "Rabelais et le propos torcheculatif." In Poétique et Narration... (Mélanges Demerson), Paris: Champion, 1993, 371-80.
  • "Facetia et farce française." In L'ancien théâtre en France et en Pologne (Actes du Colloque de Varsovie, 1987), Warsaw: Cahiers de Varsovie, 1992, 101-06.
  • "The Rhetoric of the Essays." In Approaches to Teaching Montaigne, ed. Patrick Henry. New York: MLA Publications, l994, 4l-47.
  • "Rabelais and Folengo Once Again." In Rabelais in Context (see B), 207-31.
  • "Festive Humanism: The Case of Luscinius." In Explorations in Renaissance Culture l9 (l993), l-l8.
  • "The Collection of facezie Attributed to Angelo Poliziano." Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance 56 (l994), 27-38.
  • "Rabelais's Unreadable Books." Renaissance Quarterly 40 (l995), 742-758.
  • "Porcus troianus et paon doré: l'exotisme culinaire de la Renaissance." In Les représentations de l'Autre du Moyen Age au XVIIe siècle: Mélanges en l'honneur de Kazimierz Kupisz (Publications de l'Université de Saint-Etienne, l995), l09-ll7.
  • "Les géants et la nature des tripes." In Etudes Rabelaisiennes 3l (Geneva: Droz, l996), 65-73.
  • "Bragueta juris: Notes sur Rabelais et le droit." In Conteurs et romanciers de la Renaissance: Mélanges offerts à G.-A. Pérouse, ed. James Dauphiné and Béatrice Périgot (Paris: Champion, l997), 9l-99.
  • "Le rire dans la littérature française du Moyen Age à la Renaissance." In La comédie sociale, ed. Nelly Feuerhahn et Françoise Sylvos (Paris: Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, l997), 5l-58.
  • "Ciceronian Wit and Renaissance Rhetoric." Rhetorica 16 (1998), 402-429.
  • "Rabelais's Panurge as homo rhetoricus." In In laudem Caroli: Renaissance and Reformation Studies for Charles G. Nauert, ed. James V. Mehl (Kirksville, MO: Thomas Jefferson University Press, 1998), 125-133.
  • "Janotus de Bragmardo in the Limelight." French Review 72 (1998), 229-237.
  • "Drama, French," in Scribner's Encyclopedia of the Renaissance (1999), II.205-10.
  • "Humor," in Scribner's Encyclopedia of the Renaissance (1999), III.235-9.
  • "'Il faut donner dedans:' sexe ou/et rhétorique dans le Moyen de Parvenir. In A French Forum: Mélanges de littérature française offerts à Raymond C. et Virginia La Charité, ed. G. Defaux and J. Nash (Paris: Klincksieck, 2000), 107-114.
  • "Lasciuetez et scatologie: la rhétorique des Escraignes dijonnoises." Réforme Humanisme Renaissance 51-2 (2000-2001), 209-15.
  • "A Neglected Renaissance Art of Joking." Rhetorica 21 (2003), 137-148.
  • "The 'Honorable Art of Farting' in Continental Renaissance Literature." In Fecal Matters in Early Modern Literature and Art: Studies in Scatology, ed. Jeff Persels and Russell Ganim (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004), 1-13.
  • "Changing Places at the Crossroads." Emblematica 14 (2005), 1-22.
  • "Rabelais scatologue?", Humoresques 22 (2005), 17-27.
  • "Obscure Men and Smelly Goats in Neo-Latin Satire." in Laughter and Power, ed.  John Parkin and John Phillips. Oxford: Lang, 2005, 19-36.
  • "A Response to 'Across the pale parabola of Joy: Wodehouse Parodist'."  Connotations 13.3, 2003/4, 271-3.
  • "Rabelais, Claude Cotereau et la tranquillite d'esprit." in Les Grands Jours de Rabelais en Poitou... ed. Marie-Luce Demonet (Geneva: Droz, 2006), 173-181.
  • "Francois Beroalde de Verville" and "Henri II Estienne," in Dictionary of Literary Biography vol. 327: Sixteenth-Century French Writers, ed. Megan  Conway (Thompson-Gale, 2006).

D. Reviews
Total of 76, in 21 different journals

E. Invited Papers
(Apart from keynote speeches, I am listing only the ones which were not, or have not yet been, published.)

  • "Rogue and Fool in Medieval French Farce," University of Illinois Medieval Club, 1964.
  • "An état présent of Rabelais Studies," University of Illinois French Department Journal Club, 1965.
  • "Rabelais and the Art of Bluff," Rabelais Symposium at SUNY, Albany, 1969.
  • "A New Look at French Renaissance Literature," University of Illinois French Department Journal Club, 1969.
  • "Medieval French Farce and the Problem of Genre," Medieval House, University of Rochester, 1973.
  • "The Art of P. G. Wodehouse," University of Illinois Gutenberg Galaxy, 1973.
  • "Janotus de Bragmardo et le XXe siècle," Université de Clermont-Ferrand, 1975.
  • "Le mot et la chose: Comic Obscenity in French Renaissance Farce," Harvard University, 1976.
  • "Venus as Emblem in Renaissance Art and Literature," Marquette University, 1976.
  • "Transformations of a Goddess in Renaissance Art," University of Illinois Art Historical Society, 1977.
  • "Theatre of Action or Theatre of Words? French Farce, 1450-1570," Keynote Speech, University of Tennessee Medieval Festival, 1977.
  • "Fools and Folly in Renaissance Emblems," University of Missouri-Columbia, 1979.
  • "Geofroy Tory and the Restoration of Good Letters," University of Pittsburgh, 1979.
  • "Mercury at the Crossroads: the History of a Renaissance Emblem," Villa I Tatti, Florence, 1982.
  • "Venus: Two Thousand Years on the Half-Shell," Franklin College, Lugano, Switzerland, 1982.
  • "Cicero's Jokes in Renaissance France and Italy," University of New Orleans, 1982.
  • "Roman Letters and Renaissance Humanism: Geofroy Tory," Tulane University, 1982.
  • "The Rhetoric of Laughter in Renaissance France and Italy," Keynote speech, Ball State CAES Conference, 1982.
  • "Les emblèmes de la Renaissance: un genre nouveau?" University of Arizona, Tucson, 1983.
  • "Renaissance Emblems: Proverbial Wisdom in Speaking Pictures," University of Illinois Library Friends, 1983.
  • "Wit and Non-Wit in Fifteenth-Century Joke Collections," University of Illinois Medieval Club, 1985.
  • "Feminist and Anti-Feminist Humour in the Renaissance," University of Illinois Women's Studies Forum, 1986.
  • "Cabbages and Kings in Renaissance Jest-Books." Northern Illinois University, De Kalb, 1987.
  • "Rabelais facetus." Keynote speech, Central Renaissance Conference, St. Louis, 1987.
  • "The Rhetorical facetia in 16th-c. Europe." Tours, Biennial Conference of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric, 1987.
  • "How Rabelaisian is Rabelais?" University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1987.
  • "Tabourot facetus." Colloque Tabourot, Dijon, 1988.
  • "Rabelais, Folengo et le rire épique" Université Lyon II, 1988.
  • "Comment lire Rabelais en 1989?" University of Warsaw and University of Kraków, 1989.
  • "Humanism and Science in Gargantua ch. 13." Central Renaissance Conference, Chicago, 1990.
  • "Table Manners and Table Talk: The Convivial Renaissance." Keynote speech, Southwestern College Renaissance Festival, Kansas, 1990.
  • "From Tripe to Peacocks: Gargantuan Meals." Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, St. Louis, 1990.
  • "Renaissance Cookery as imitatio." Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, 1991.
  • "Rabelais and the Real Folengo." Vanderbilt Rabelais Conference, 1991.
  • "Renaissance Laughter: Theory and Practice." University of Nevada (Las Vegas) University Forum Series, 1992.
  • "Le rire français du 12e au 16e siècle." 10th International Humor Congress, Paris VIII, 1992.
  • "Trivial Pursuit in Renaissance Humanism." Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Atlanta, 1992.
  • "Festive Humanism, or, 'Was Your Mother Ever in Rome?'" Keynote speech, South Central Renaissance Conference, 1993.
  • "Why Laugh at Janotus de Bragmardo?" RSA/Central Renaissance Conference, 1993.
  • "Rabelais's Unreadable Books." Josephine Waters Bennett Memorial Lecture, Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, l994.
  • "Les géants et la nature des tripes." Tables Rondes: Rabelais et la nature, Tours, l994.
  • "Problèmes de la la connaissance dans le Tiers Livre de Rabelais." Lycée Albert Châtelet, Douai, l995.
  • "Panurge as Orator in Pantagruel 2l-22." International Society for the History of Rhetoric, Edinburgh, Scotland, l995.
  • "Prefacing Jokes: Some Introductory Strategies." Sixteenth-Century Studies Conference, San Francisco, l995.
  • "Housewife on Tortoise: A Renaissance Emblem topos." Sixteenth-Century Studies Conference, Saint Louis, l996.
  • "From Tintin to Talon: The Classic French-Language Comic Book." International School, Atlanta, l996.
  • "Changing Places at the Crossroads: Hercules/Mercury/Paris." Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, l997.
  • "Cicero's Jokes Recycled (l528-l598)." Biennial Conference of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, l997.
  • "Shoes and Ships and Sealing-wax: Rabelais blasonneur." Renaissance Society of America annual meeting, College Park Maryland, 1998.
  • "Alector et Baldus." Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, 1998.
  • "Trivial Pursuit: Hercules and Sixteenth-Century Moral Choices." Newberry Library Emblem Conference, Chicago, 1998.
  • "Comic Sex in the Moyen de Parvenir." Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Toronto, 1998.
  • "Rabelaisian copia: Panurge and the Golden Age." Biennial Conference of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric, Amsterdam, 1999.
  • "Comedy and Community: Rabelais's Critique of Civilisation." Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, St. Louis, 1999.
  • "Tabourot et la rhétorique des lasciuetez." Tabourot Conference, Lyon, 1999.
  • "Laughter in Utopia." Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, 2000.
  • "Sens et non-sens chez Bridoye." International Rabelais Colloquium, Cerisy-la-Salle, France, 2000.
  • "Laughter in the Loo: Scatological Joking in Renaissance Joke Collections." Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Cleveland, 2000.
  • "As Long As You're Up, Get me a Joke: or, Why Recycle the Old Chestnuts?" Renaissance Society of America Annual Conference, Chicago, 2001.
  • "An Overlooked Genre: the Narratopedia." Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, 2001.
  • "Farting for Fun and Profit." International Society for Humor Studies annual conference, U. of Maryland, 2001.
  • "A Neglected Renaissance Art of Joking: Matthaeus Delius's De arte iocandi (1555)." International Society for the History of Rhetoric biennial conference, Warsaw, 2001.
  • "Rabelais, Claude Cotereau et la tranquillité d'esprit." Colloque Jean Bouchet, Poitiers, 2001.
  • "Laughter in the Kitchen: Culinary Comedy in Renaissance France." Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, San Antonio, 2002.
  • "Staging the incovenant." Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, 2003.
  • "Obscure Men and Smelly Goats in Neo-latin Satire." Renaissance Studies Conference, University of Bristol, 2003.
  • "Henri Estienne and Me."Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, 2004.

Committee and Administrative Experience (selected)

1. University of Illinois
  • Campus Honors Council, 1972-73
  • Committee on the Status of Women, 1971-74
  • Executive Committee of the School of Humanities, 1973-74
  • Associate Head of French Department, 1973
  • Friends of the Library Committee, 1975-79
  • President, University of Illinois Renaissance Seminar, 1972-74 and 1977-78
  • Chair, School of Humanities Renaissance Studies Committee, 1976-78
  • College of LAS Executive Committee, 1977-79
  • Unit One Advisory Committee, 1979-81
  • World Heritage Museum Committee, 1980-81
  • Campus Promotion and Tenure Committee, 1981 and 1983
  • LAS Religious Education Committee, 1984-85
  • Graduate College Subcommittee on Humanities and Creative Arts, 1985-87

2. Vanderbilt University

  • Chair, Department of French and Italian, 1987-92
  • Committee on the Humanities (Chair 1989-90)
  • Comparative Literature Advisory Committee
  • Humanities Center Advisory Committee, 1987-88
  • Faculty Senate, 1991-92
  • Newberry Renaissance Consortium Representative, 1988-
  • Organiser, Early Modern Studies discussion group, 1995-

3. Other

  • Organizing Committee, Central Renaissance Conference, 1973-87
  • Chair, MLA French Sixteenth Century Division, 1975 and 1977
  • Illinois Rhodes Scholar Nominating Committee, 1976-80
  • Program Chairman, Central Renaissance Conference, 1980
  • Executive Council of Modern Language Association, 1978-81
  • Executive Council, Medieval Association of the Midwest, 1982-85
  • Harvard University Senior Appointment Committee (Romance Language Department), 1981
  • Harvard University Visiting Committee (Romance Language Department), 1984 and 1986
  • NEH panels for Research Division and Public Programs, 1982, 1986, and 1990
  • President, Renaissance Society of America, l996-8

4. Editorial

  • Assistant Editor, French Review
  • Advisory Board, Emblematica
  • MSS read for Bucknell Press, Princeton University Press, Peter Lang Publishers, French Forum Monographs, Yale University Press, Vanderbilt University Press

Revised September 2005

For more information, please contact Elizabeth Shadbolt.
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