Duane Kight

Biography

Duane Kight’s path to French began as a child, when he lived in a suburb of Paris and attended an international school, run by the French educational system, where instruction was in French. He got his BA (with a major in French) from Hobart College (Geneva, NY) in 1977, then went on to get a MA and a PhD (both in French) from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was trained as a medievalist. His dissertation was on the poetics of medieval pilgrimage, focusing on the pilgrim guide to Compostela contained in the 12th-century Codex Calixtinus. Since coming to Haverford in 1988, he has been responsible for teaching beginning and intermediate French, as well as for introductory courses in culture and literature. Outside the French department, he has occasionally taught courses on Alfred Hitchcock and regularly teaches a first-year writing seminar on monsters. His research interests still include the medieval period, particularly the 12th century, but have expanded beyond that to include the French Second Empire and Belle Epoque, the English Victorian period, opera and music-literature relations, queer theory, cultural studies, film studies, and monsters. He is also interested in computer-assisted language pedagogy. His main outside interest lies in studying voice and in singing with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, a 155-year-old symphonic chorus.

Education

B.A., Hobart College

M.A. and Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

Courses: Spring 2012, Haverford