Dr Nina Rolland
Visiting Research Fellow
Areas of interest
My research interests are in comparative literature and rely on three main areas that intersect with one another:
- Word and Music Studies: I am interested in the relations between literature and music from the nineteenth century until nowadays. My PhD thesis ‘Bodies in Composition: Women, Music and the Body in Nineteenth-Century European Literature’ examined the female body as a way to incorporate music in French, British, and German novels. I have explored how fiction incorporates music but also how music uses literature, particularly through song settings of poetry when I worked as a Research Associate on the ‘Baudelaire Song Project’ (AHRC-funded led by Prof. Helen Abbott).
- Gender Studies: I am interested in rethinking musical and literary canons through discourses used around women and through the works of female composers.
- The Digital Humanities: I have used digital tools (such as Sonic Visualiser) to analyse song settings of poetry as part of my research on the ‘Baudelaire Song Project’. I also worked on the ‘SoundsFrench AI app’ project (OWRI-funded led by Prof. Helen Abbott) to help learners of French improve their pronunciation. My current project proposes a statistical analysis of the vocabulary used around music in 19th-century French literature using the R programming language.
Teaching
Whilst teaching at Reading, I convened and taught FR2HTF ‘How to Think in French’ and I co-taught on the following modules:
- FR1L3 Advanced French Languages I
- FR2L4 Advanced French Language II
- FR1IFC Introduction to French Culture
- ML1TRANS Thinking Translation
- ML3IC Identity and Conflict in Modern Europe
- ML1EN1COMP What is Comparative Literature?
Background
I have been a Lecturer in French at the University of Reading and at Queen Mary University of London. I previously held positions at the University of Birmingham, the Institut français of Düsseldorf (Germany), the University of St Andrews, the University of Kent, and Saint Bonaventure University (USA).Academic qualifications
- BA in French/Lettres Modernes (Sorbonne University)
- BA in Philosophy (Nanterre University)
- MA in Comparative Literature (Sorbonne University)
- PhD in Comparative Literature (University of Kent/ Sorbonne Nouvelle University)
- PGCHE/FHEA (University of Kent)