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Department of Modern Languages and Cultures

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Diana Knight

Emeritus Professor of French,

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Biography

My main research interests are in nineteenth-century French fiction, especially that of Honoré de Balzac, and the twentieth-century French intellectual and critic Roland Barthes.

Expertise Summary

My main research specialisms are nineteenth-century realism, especially Balzac and Flaubert, and the work of Roland Barthes.

Teaching Summary

Post-war French women's writing; the French nineteenth-century novel, especially Flaubert and Balzac.

Research Summary

My current research project is a monograph on the notion of the 'Vita nova' in Roland Barthes's very late writing.

Recent Publications

  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2016. Textual Practice. 30(2), 221–239
  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2016. Dernière musique: sur l’air de Roland Barthes dans Journal de Deuil. In: CLAUDE COSTE, SYLVIE DOUCHE ET ÉRIC MARTY, ed., Barthes et la musique Presses Universitaires de Rennes. (In Press.)
  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2015. L'Esprit créateur. 55(4), 165–180
  • KNIGHT, D., 2013. Dix-Neuf. 17(2), 104-123

Past Research

My early research was on issues of language and representation in the novels of Gustave Flaubert. I then worked extensively on Roland Barthes, publishing a monograph on Barthes as a utopian writer as well as editing two collections of essays on his work. I have also published work on other nineteenth-century French authors, and on narrative and feminist theory. From around 2000 I have worked intensively on Balzac, and published a monograph (2007) on issues of realism and representation in his artist stories. In 2013, I returned to research on Roland Barthes and I was especially active in 2015, the centenary of his birth which led to academic conferences throughout the world and to special issues of journals devoted to his work.

Future Research

I shall continue to publish on Barthes, as well as the gendering of celibacy, marriage and homosexuality in Balzac's novels.

  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2016. Textual Practice. 30(2), 221–239
  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2016. Dernière musique: sur l’air de Roland Barthes dans Journal de Deuil. In: CLAUDE COSTE, SYLVIE DOUCHE ET ÉRIC MARTY, ed., Barthes et la musique Presses Universitaires de Rennes. (In Press.)
  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2015. L'Esprit créateur. 55(4), 165–180
  • KNIGHT, D., 2013. Dix-Neuf. 17(2), 104-123
  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2012. French Studies. 56(2), 290-92
  • MARGARET ATACK, DIANA HOLMES, DIANA KNIGHT AND JUDITH STILL, ed., 2012. Women, Genre and Circumstance: Essays in Memory of Elizabeth Fallaize Legenda.
  • KNIGHT, D., 2012. Balzac's 'Honorine', or, The rape of the independent woman. In: ATACK, M., HOLMES, D., KNIGHT, D. and STILL, J., eds., Women, genre and circumstance: essays in memory of Elizabeth Fallaize Legenda. 60–73
  • KNIGHT, D., 2012. Nineteenth-Century French Studies. 40(3 & 4), 273-286
  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2010. 'Structuralism Utopian and Scientific'; 'S/Z, Realism and Compulsory Heterosexuality'; 'Barthes and Orientalism' (reprints of essays first pubished 1997; 1995; 1993). In: BADMINGTON, NEIL, ed., Roland Barthes: Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory Routledge. vol. I, pp. 115-133; vol. IV, pp. 27-40; 157-171. (In Press.)
  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2010. 'La seule statue qui ait marché!': L'ateler de Pygmalion et les vivants chefs-d'Å“uvre de Balzac Cahiers de l'Association Internationale des Etudes Francaises. 62, 49–65
  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2010. French Studies. 64(2), 244-47
  • DIANA KNIGHT AND JUDITH STILL, ed., 2009. Theory-Tinged Criticism: Essays in Memory of Malcolm Bowie Edinburgh University Press.
  • KNIGHT, D., 2009. "Sauf quand le soir tombe": ensemble et seul dans "Comment vivre ensemble". In: BADIR, S. and DUCARD, D., eds., Roland Barthes en Cours (1977–1980): un style de vie Editions Universitaires de Dijon. 107–115 (and 201-206 for bibliography)
  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2009. Flaubert's Characters: The Language of Illusion paperback reprint. Cambridge University Press.
  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2008. Paragraph: A Journal of Modern Critical Theory. 31(1), 50–60
  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2007. Balzac and the Model of Painting: artist stories in La Comédie humaine London: Legenda.
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2007. French Studies. 60 (Jan 2007), 130-131
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2007. French Studies. 60 (Jan 2007), 132-133
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2005. From Gobseck's Chamber to Derville's Chambers: Retention in Balzac's Gobseck Nineteenth-Century French Studies. VOL 33(PART 3/4), 243-257
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2004. Celibacy on Display in Two texts by Balzac: Le Cabinet des Antiques and the Preface to Pierrette Dix-Neuf. 2, 1-15
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2004. Le Réel et la beauté? dans le roman balzacien French Studies. VOL 58(NUMBER 3), 419-420
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2004. French Studies. VOL 58(NUMBER 2), 269-270
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2004. Review of Farrant, T., Balzac's Shorter Fictions: Genesis and Genre Modern and Contemporary France. 12(2), 243-244
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2004. French Studies. VOL 58(NUMBER 2), 270-271
  • DIANA KNIGHT, 2004. Paragraph. VOL 27(PART 1), 79-95
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2004. L'homme-Roman, ou Barthes et la biographie taboue FRENCH STUDIES BULLETIN. ISSU 90, 13-16
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2003. French Studies. 57(2), 167-180
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2003. Review of Moi, T., <em>What is a Woman? And Other Essays</em>, 27-30. In: Contemporary Literary Criticism 172. Detroit, MI : Gale Research. 288-292
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2003. Barthes and Orientalism. In: GANE. M. and GANE, N., eds., Roland Barthes, Vols 1-3 2. London : Sage. 233-248
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2003. Roland Barthes in Harmony: The Writing of Utopia. In: Twentieth Century Literary Criticism 135. Detroit, MI : Gale Research. 130-137
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2002. Par où commencer? Critique et cosmogonie. In: GEFEN, A. and MACÉ, M., eds., Barthes au lieu du roman Paris : Nota Bene. 23-35
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2002. French Studies. VOL 56(PART 3), 415
  • KNIGHT, D., 2002. French Studies. VOL 56(PART 1), 107
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2002. French Studies. VOL 56(PART 2), 284
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2002. Review of Finch, A, Women's Writing in Nineteenth-Century France Modern and Contemporary France. 10, 128
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2002. Vaines pensées: la <em>Vita Nova</em> de Barthes. In: COSTE, C., ed., Sur Barthes (special issue of Revue des Sciences Humaines 268. 93-107
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2002. French Studies. VOL 56(PART 2), 254
  • KNIGHT, D., 2001. The Yale Journal of Criticism [Special issue: Back to Barthes: Twenty Years After]. 14(2), 493-501
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 2001. Barthes and Orientalism. In: Edward Said 2. Sage Publications Ltd, London, UK. 138-152
  • KNIGHT, D., 2001. French Studies. VOL 55(PART 3), 404
  • KNIGHT, D.M., ed., 2000. Critical Essays on Roland Barthes Hall, G. K. and Company, New York, NY.
  • KNIGHT, D., 2000. MLN: Modern Language Notes. VOL 115(PART 4), 827-829
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 1999. Whatever happened to Bouvard and Pécuchet?. In: New Approaches in Flaubert Studies Edwin Mellen Press, Ceredigion, New York. 170-174
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 1998. The Merits of Inarticulacy. In: Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism NCLC-62. 100-108
  • KNIGHT, D.M., ed., 1997. Roland Barthes
  • KNIGHT,D.M., 1997. French Studies. 51, 520-521
  • KNIGHT, D., 1997. Idle Thoughts: Barthes's Vita Nova Nottingham French Studies. VOL 36(NUMBER 1), 88-98
  • KNIGHT, D.M., ed., 1997. Roland Barthes: special issue of Nottingham French Studies ÌÇÐÄÔ­´´, Nottingham.
  • KNIGHT, DIANA, 1997. Barthes and Utopia : space, travel, writing Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.
  • KNIGHT, D.M., 1997. Roland Barthes, or the Woman without a Shadow. In: Writing the Image after Roland Barthes 132-143
  • KNIGHT,D.M., 1996. Review of Jouve. V, L'Effet-personnage dans le roman (Paris: PUF. 1992) French Studies. 51, 105-106
  • KNIGHT, D., 1996. Modern Language Review. VOL 91(NUMBER 1), 234
  • KNIGHT, D., 1995. S/Z, realism and compulsory heterosexuality. In: Spectacles of Realism: Body, Gender, Genre University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN, US. 120-136

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