Eliza M. Ghil, Ph.D
Professor of French
Chair of Foreign Languages

Columbia University (New York, USA), Ph.D. in French and Romance Philology, May 1978.

University of Haifa (Israel), B. A. "With Distinction" in French and English, February 1971.

University of Bucharest (Romania), State Diploma "De Merit" in Romanian Language and Literature, July 1966.

Professional Experience

Academic:

University of New Orleans, 1984 to present; Rank of Professor of French since August 1991.

Dartmouth College, Assistant Professor, 1978-1984 (Romance Languages)

Columbia University, Preceptor and Associate of French, 1972-1975.

Research:

Institute of Literary History of the Romanian Academy, "George Calinescu", Bucharest, 1966-1967.

Areas of Expertise

Medieval French and Occitan Literature
Theory of Literature
Contemporary French civilization
Romanian Language and Literature

Main Publications

Books and Book Chapters

1. Co-editor, with Elaine S. Brooks, and S. George Wolf of Romance Studies Today: In Honor of Beatriz Varela, Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monographs, Newark, Delaware, 2004, 330 pp.
   
2. "Love's Law: From Erotic Casuist to Moral Arbiter in the Love Lyrics of the Troubadours," in Romance Studies Today: In Honor of Beatriz Varela, edited by Elaine S. Brooks, Eliza Miruna Ghil and S. George Wolf, Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monographs, Newark, Delaware, 2004, pp. 151-160.
   
3. "Literatura la Holywood: Troia," in Cultura, Vol. I, no. 21, 8/4-10/04, p. 19-20 (published by the Romanian Cultural Institute in Bucharest , Romania), in Romanian.
   
4. L'Age de Parge: Essai sur le poétique et le politique en Occitanie au XIIIe siècle, New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1989, 407 pp.

5. Chapter 20, "Imagery and Vocabulary," in F.R.P. Akehurst et al., eds., A Handbook of the Troubadours, Berkeley/Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1995, p. 421-446.

Refereed/invited journal articles

1. "The Troubadours' Legacy in the Year 2000" in Cercetarea Literara Azi: Studii dedicate profesorului Paul Cornea, Iasi (Romania): Polirom, 2000, 262-269.

2. "Crozada: Avatares of a Religious Term in Thirteenth-Century Occitan Poetry," Tenso, Vol. 10 (1995), no. 2 p. 99-109.

3. "The Triumph of the Sirventes in Thirteenth-Century Troubadour Poetry," Medieval Perspectives, IX (1994), p. 48-62.

4. "A Romanian Singer of Tales: Vasile Tetin," Oral Tradition, 3 (1986), p. 607-635.

5. "The Seasonal Topos in the Old Provençal Canzo: A Reassessment," in Studia Occitanica in Memoriam Paul Remy, Guy Mermier et als., eds., Kalamazoo: Publications of the Institute of Medieval Studies, 1986, I, p. 87-99.

6. "Ideological Models and Poetic Modes in The Song of the Albigensian Crusade," Romanic Review, 2 (1984), p. 131-146.

7. "The Romance of Flamenca: A Study of the Implied Public," in Courtly Romance, Guy Mermier ed., Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Series of Monographs, 1984, p. 109-132.

8. "Neagoe Basarab's Teachings to His Son Theodosie: An Unorthodox Reading," Southeastern Europe, 10-Part I (1983), p. 58-71.

9. "Ideological Parody in Eugene Ionesco's Rhinocéros and in A Lost Letter by I. L. Caragiale, Yearbook of Romanian Studies, VII (1982), p. 44-58.

10. "Here and Now in the Old Provençal, "Romance Philology, 1 (1981), p. 203-212.

11. "Topic and Tropeic: Two Types of Syntagmatic Development in the Old Provençal Canzo," L'Esprit Créateur, 4 (1979), p. 54-69.

Recent Lectures at Conferences and Invited Lectures in Universities

1. "Women as Patrons of the Arts in Medieval France", Loyola University, New Orleans, 6/18/01.

2. "Eleanor of Aquitaine Protector of the Troubadours", Loyola University, New Orleans, 4/2/01.

3. "Love's Law: From Erotic Casuist to Moral Arbiter in the Love Lyrics of the Troubadours." The XIXth Annual Cincinnati Conference on Romance Languages and Literatures, University of Cincinnati, 5/6/99.

4. "The Status of Comparative Literature in American Universities Today," University of Bucharest (Romania), 5/28/97.

5. "The Political Overtones of Courtliness in Thirteenth-Century Troubadour Poetry," SCMLA Meeting 1994, 11/10/94, New Orleans.

6. "Romancing the Middle Ages: Love and History in Some Popular Narratives of the 1990's," The Seventh Annual Conference on Medievalism (session on "American Medievalism"), University of Tampa, Florida, 10/1/92.

7. "Contrafactura and Political Polemics in the Thirteenth-Century Troubadour Lyric: The Case of Na Gormonda de Montpellier," SCMLA Annual Convention, San Antonio, 10/26/92.

8. "Les Mediévistes sur la liste des "best-sellers" en France aujourd'hui," University of Bucharest (Romania), 6/5/92.

9. "The Revenge of the Referent: On Some Recent Polemics in American Literary Theory," University of Bucharest (Romania), 6/2/92.

10. "Toulouse et ses poètes au Moyen Age," Université de Toulouse "Le Mirail" - Dartmouth College, 11/15/91.

11. "The American System of Higher Learning from a European Prospective: An Inside View," University of Bucharest (Romania), 2/27/90.

Officer in Professional Organizations

1. Member, Executive Committee, Study Group on Catalan and Provençal of the MLA, 1991-1995.
2. Member, Executive Committee, Study Group on Romanian of the MLA, 1986-1990.

Referee for Scholarly Publications and Presses

Romance Philology
MLA Publications
University of Florida Press.

Membership in Professional Societies

Modern Language Association of America (MLA), Southcentral MLA (SCMLA), Rencesvals Society for the Medieval Romance Epic, Internation Courtly Literature Society (ICLS), Medieval Academy of America, America Association of Teachers of French (AATF), Romanian Studies Association of America (RSAA).

Academic Administrative Positions

Chair of Foreign Languages, University of New Orleans, 8/97 - present.
Graduate Coordinator for French, same department, UNO, 8/94 - 8/97.
Graduate Coordinator for Romance Languages, 1992 - 1993.
Chair of Foreign Languages, UNO 8/88 - 12/90.

Personal Statement

I attempt to combine in my teaching and research the expertise in the forms of literature and culture of the distant past (e.g., the medieval France and Occitania), with the newest methods of inquiry available to a twenty-first century scholar. Seeing the most recent cultural phenomena with the eyes of the past, and the most distant ones with the eyes of today represents for me an exciting, ongoing challenge.

Office Phone: (504) 280-6932 Email:eghil@uno.edu