Joan E. McRae
1000 Meadowview Lane, Farmville, VA 23901
jmcrae@hsc.edu, http://people.hsc.edu/faculty-staff/joanm
(434) 315-0275; (434) 223-6200
Education
Ph.D. (May 1997), French, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
Major field of concentration: Medieval French Literature
Dissertation: "The Trials of Chartier's Belle Dame Sans Mercy:
the Poems in Cyclical and Manuscript Context." Director: David F. Hult
MA, 1989, French, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, at Paris X (Nanterre) and
the Ecole de la Chambre de Commerce d'Industrie de Paris, France
Concentration: French Civilization and Culture
Master's thesis: "L'Extrême droite en France et aux Etats-Unis"
University of Georgia, 1987-88, Graduate Coursework
BA, 1986, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia
Major: French
Sweetbriar Junior Year in France, 1984-85.
Teaching Experience
Hampden-Sydney College, Assistant Professor of Modern Languages, 1997-
University of Virginia, Graduate Instructor, 1990-95
University of Georgia, Graduate Instructor, 1987-88
Scholarly Activity
I. Publications:
"Text and Context: the Production of Images in Yale 229" in The Illustrated Lancelot Prose of Yale 229: Essays on Yale 229. Ed. E. M. Willingham. Brepouls, 2004.
La Mort Artu: Yale 229. Edition with notes and glossary. forthcoming, Brepouls, 2004. Collaborative diplomatic edition.
Alain Chartier: the Quarrel of the Belle dame sans mercy. forthcoming, New York: Routledge, 2004.
Le cycle de la Belle dame sans mercy d’Alain Chartier: Une anthologie poétique du XV siècle.
Co-authored with David F. Hult. A critical edition of the poems with facing modern French translation.
Paris: Classiques Honoré Champion, 2003.
“Roman de la Rose: Digital Surrogates of Three Manuscripts,” Johns Hopkins University,
contributing editor. http://rose.mse.jhu.edu
Sonnet Variations: A performance of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, directed by
James Schiffer, Films for the Humanities, 2000.
II. Papers delivered:
“ Seeking Order in Disarray: Manuscripts of the Quarrel of the Belle dame sans mercy.” To
be delivered at 39th International congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2004.
“ Fairy Places, Production Spaces: doing Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies, October 2003.
“How to make a Little Video Go a Long Way.” Foreign Language Association of Virginia,
October, 2002.
“Reading Images in Arthurian Manuscripts: Codicology and Yale 229.” 37th International
Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 2002
“Suscitating Shakespeare’s Sonnets on Stage and for the Camera” Organizer, Group for
Early Modern Studies, Philadelphia, November 2001
“Does a Woman Have the Right to Say No?” South Atlantic Modern Language
Association, Atlanta, November, 2001
“Translating the Belle dame sans mercy: Richard Ros’s 15th Century Contemporary English
Translation,” Southeastern Medieval Association, New Orleans, October 2001
“Remodeling: Cueing Image to Text.” 36th International Congress on Medieval Studies,
Kalamazoo, MI, May 2001
“La Belle dame sans mercy: Principles of Editing and Translation.” Invited lecture,
Harvard University, April, 2001.
“Manuscript: The Production of Illustrations in Yale MS 229.”
Northeastern Modern Language Association, Hartford, March, 2001
"Reading Retrospectively: Using Medieval Reader Reception as an Interpretive Guide
to Chartier's Belle dame sans mercy." Southeastern Medieval Association, Knoxville, October, 1999
"Idle Hands are the Devil's Workshop: Gilles de Rais at play in 15th century France"
Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies Seventh Annual Conference, Coral Gables, FL, October, 1999
"The Murder Trials of the Belle Dame Sans Mercy: A critical Edition of the 15th Century
Poems." Work in Progress series, Hampden-Sydney College, December 1997
"The Serialized Murder Trial of the Belle Dame Sans Mercy," 32nd International
Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 1997
"Lawyers in Love: Love Poems in the Guise of Legal Text in Fifteenth
Century France," New College Conference on Medieval-Renaissance
Studies, Sarasota, FL, March 1996
Awards and Honors
Summer Stipend recipient, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2003.
"The Illuminated Manuscript" led by Roger Weiss. Rare Book School, Charlottesville, August 2002
NEH seminar fellow, Yale University, Summer 2000. “The Arthurian Illuminated
Manuscript and the Culture of the High Middle Ages,” led by Professor Howard Bloch.
Seminar fellowship, Dupont-Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges at the University of Richmond, August 1999 "Virtualia: Reproducing Language and Culture Online."
Mednick Fellow, Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, summer, 1998.
Summer Research Fellow, Hampden-Sydney College, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
Courses Taught
Quest for the Grail French Literature: Medieval-17th century
Arthurian Tradition Advanced French Conversation
Medieval French Literature Advanced Intermediate French
Topics in Contemporary French Culture Advanced French Grammar and Phonetics
French Film Intermediate French
French Business: Language and Culture Beginning French
The History of Paris through its Monuments Introduction to French Studies
The Holocaust (team-taught course) May Term Abroad, Collège International de Cannes
French literature: 18th-20 centuries May Term Abroad in Paris
Academic and Community Service at Hampden-Sydney
College Benefits Committee 2002-04
German Search Committee 2003, Spanish Search Committee 2002,
Economics Search Committee 2003, Physics Search Committee 2001
Presidential Inauguration Committee, 1999-2000
International Studies Committee, secretary, 1998-2000
Academic Affairs Committee, secretary, 1998-99
Head of French and German Divisions, Modern Language Dept., 1998-99
French and Spanish Search Committee, 1998-99
German Search Committee, 1999
Committee on Humanities Studies and Core Requirements, 97-98
French Club Founder and Advisor 2002-2004
French table. Conduct and animate weekly lunch with students and faculty to practice
oral French skills, 1997-2003
Living and Learning Communities, 2000, 2001
Quest for the Grail mini-symposium featuring Norris Lacy, 2000
Winter Formal Decorations Designer, 1999-2002
Honor Court Mock Trial discussion leader, 2000-02
Grader of Rhetoric Exams, 2000, 2001
Actor in Six Degrees of Separation, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lend Me a Tenor,
and All My Sons, directed by Shirley Kagan, spring 2003, fall 2001, fall 1999, fall 1998.
Make-up and Costumes, Fine Arts, 1997-2003
Admissions Recruiting Lecture 2002
Multicultural Affairs Coordinator of fall event, for presentation of poetry readings,
ethnic dancing, and musical arrangements, fall '99.
Costume Coordinator and Renaissance Consultant, Madrigal Feast Production, HSC Glee
Club concert, fall, '98-‘00.
Professional Affiliations
Modern Language Association, South Atlantic Modern Language Association