Research Interests
Contemporary France
Modern French and European intellectual history
comparative cultural criticism
French/American cultural relations
critical theory
literature and philosophy
Research Description
My first book examined representations of "America" in French texts, including novels, plays, poetry, travel narratives, philosophical essays and cultural criticism. My second book looked at transatlantic national and republican traditions and conflicting notions such as multiculturalism, universalism, and communitarianism in France and the United States. I have recently published a study of recent debates in French culture from the vantage point of the idea of melancholia, with a focus on loss, mourning, and memory.
I am currently working on the descriptions and afterlives of 9/11 in France.
Education
Ph.D. Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris 1985
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor Emeritus, French and Italian
Professor Emeritus, Program in Comparative and World Literature
Recent Publications
Jean-Philippe, M. (2017). Science/fiction/politics: Jules Verne's Floridas. Journal of Transnational American Studies, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.5070/T881036610
Mathy, J. P. (2017). Le Terroir, l'Histoire, et la Vierge Noire: ce qui ne passe pas (encore) dans Soumission de Michel Houellebecq. Contemporary French and Francophone Studies, 21(3), 257-265. https://doi.org/10.1080/17409292.2017.1396754
Mathy, J. P. (2017). Seeing is disbelieving: The contested visibility of 9/11 in France. In S. Frank (Ed.), 9/11 in European Literature: Negotiating Identities against the Attacks and What Followed (pp. 105-129). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64209-3_5
Mathy, J. P. (2016). The symptom of "American-style feminism". In R. Célestin, E. DalMolin, & I. de Courtivron (Eds.), Beyond French Feminisms: Debates on Women, Culture and Politics in France 1980-2001 (pp. 247-260). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-09514-5_23
Mathy, J.-P. R. (2013). Lignes de fuite: Michel Ragon et Les Américains. In R. Leeman, & H. Jannière (Eds.), Michel Ragon: Critique d’art et d’architecture (pp. 149-162). Presses Universitaires de Rennes.