Dr Geneviève Young

I am a postdoctoral researcher on Professor Emma Dillon’s Musical Lives project, based in the Music Department at KCL. I recently completed a PhD in French at Cambridge which focused on the Old French and Old Occitan epic poems, called chansons de geste. I also hold degrees from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (French), King’s College London (Comparative Literature), and the College of St Catherine, in Minnesota (French). I have lived, worked, and studied in Canada, the United States, France, and the UK, and, as such, I have a keen interest in time, space, and how literature structures (or unmakes) national identities. 

Research interests and PhD supervision

• French & Comparative Studies
• Literary and Critical Theory
• Time and temporality in medieval literature

Much of my work has explored how participation in epic poetry, whether as a composer, copyist, or audience member forms and underpins communities and communal identities, whether historical or speculative, and I look forward to carrying this strand forward as part of my work on the MUSLIVE project. I am currently thinking with and around theories of performance, literary and performance communities in the epic Crusade Cycle and trouvère song, and working on a book about affective temporalities in the French and Occitan epic traditions. 

Teaching

I have taught French language courses ranging from total beginners through to advanced grammar and composition, and have also lectured on medieval epic, engaged in small group teaching on medieval French literature, and taught seminars on critical theory. My teaching experience covers a range of contexts, from undergraduates, to adult learners, to high school students, but some of my most enjoyable hours were spent volunteering at a primary school in Minneapolis, where I listened to students practicing their reading in a French immersion classroom.