Tessa Sermet
Specialization
French and Francophone literature and cultures
Science fiction studies
French film, graphic novels, visual culture
Research Interests
French Feminism
Gender & Women Studies
Twentieth- and twenty-first century French and Francophone literature
Seventeenth century French classical utopias
Science fiction studies, utopian and dystopian literature
Spatial studies
French film, graphic novels, visual culture
Education
PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison (French)
MA, University of Geneva, Switzerland
BA, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Courses Taught
FREN110 – Beginning French I
FREN112 – Beginning French II
FREN210 – Intermediate French: Cultural Emphasis
FREN212 – Advanced Intermediate French: Literary Emphasis
FREN228 – Oh là là: Stereotypes, Media, & Marketing
FREN230 – The Art of Adapting: French Literature and Cinema
FREN255 – Composition & Conversation: Visions of the Future
FREN265/GSWS265 – Feminist Voices of the Francophone World
FREN325 – Fairy Tales, Fantastique, & Fantasy
FREN326 – Chanson & Société
FREN338/CINE338 – Cinéma français
FREN380 – Utopia to Science fiction (senior seminar)
LCTR/GSWS224 – Decoding the ‘feminine’: A.I., Robots, & Gender
PORT/LNAM/MUSC/LING223 – Brazilian Music, Language, Culture
FIYS140 – Global Science Fiction
Publications
Continuum: French Science Fiction Short Stories. Edited by Annabelle Dolidon and Tessa Sermet, Ooligan Press, 2024.
Translator: “The Bubbles” (1956) by Julia Verlanger; “The City, that Night” (2019) by Jean-Claude Dunyach.
“Utopia and Constraints: The Testimonial Function in Perec’s W ou le souvenir d’enfance” The French Review, Vol. 95.4 (2022).
“Imperfect Words for an Imperfect World: Language and Translation in Chroniques du Pays des Mères by Élisabeth Vonarburg.” In: Campbell I. (eds) Science Fiction in Translation. Studies in Global Science Fiction. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham., 2021.
“Comment vivre sans lui? Anthropocentrisme et Posthumanisme dans Sans l’Orang-outan d’Éric Chevillard.” In “La Science-fiction en langue française,” edited by Paul Scott and Antje Ziethen. Special issue, OEuvres et Critiques, vol. 44, no. 2 (2019).
“Le Transperceneige et Snowpiercer: figuration, sas et espaces de transit(ion).” ReS Futurae [Online], no. 14, 2019, doi:10.4000/resf.3902. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/resf/3902.
“Blaise Cendrars e o Modernismo Brasileiro: a (Re)descoberta do Brasil.” Spanish & Portuguese Review, vol. 2, January 2017.
“Transparence Utopique et Scientifique: La Nuit des Temps de René Barjavel.” Chimères – A Journal of French and Francophone Literatures and Cultures, vol. 32 (New Series), Fall 2015.
Book Review
Science Fiction Studies of Lord, Christina, Reimagining the Human in Contemporary French Science Fiction. University of Liverpool Press, 2023.
Review of Jacques Spitz: le mythe de l’humain, by Patrick Guay (2017). Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 28, no. 2, Summer 2018.
Presentations
2023 “Utopie, Genre, et Reproduction dans la science-fiction française.” PAMLA – Annual conference, University of Portland State, OR. – Session: Women in French II: Réalités Alternatives Contemporaines
2023 “The Importance of Teaching French Science Fiction in Translation.”Roundtable. PAMLA – Annual conference, University of Portland State, OR.
“Desert vs. Space: the utopian impulse of Ayerdhal’s Demain, une oasis.” 20th & 21st Century French & Francophone Studies International Colloquium – Annual conference, Tuscon, AZ (2023).
“Dystopia, consumerism, and the myth of eternal youth in Houellebecq’s The Possibility of An Island (2005).” 20th & 21st Century French & Francophone Studies International Colloquium – Annual conference, Pittsburg, PA (2022).
“Beyond the threshold: viral, spatial, and bodily transformations in Catherine Dufour’s 2005 Le Goût de l’immortalité.” MLA – Annual conference, Washington D.C. (2022)
“Posthumanism in «Le Monde enfin» by Jean-Pierre Andrevon.” 20th & 21st Century French & Francophone Studies International Colloquium – Annual conference, Lincoln, NE, 2020. (NB: cancelled due to Covid-19)
“Reproductive Labor and Biopower: Surviving the Anthropocene in In the Mothers’ Land by Élizabeth Vonarburg.” 20th & 21st Century French & Francophone Studies International Colloquium – Annual conference, Oklahoma City, OK, 2019. Session: “Surviving Apocalyptic Shifts,” Chair.
“Rites of Passages and Biopower: Towards Posthumanism in Snowpiercer and Le Transperceneige.” PCAS/ACAS – Annual conference, New Orleans, LA, 2018.
“Reproduction, Sex, & Gender: Variations on the Concept of Labor in Élisabeth Vonarburg’s In the Mothers’ Land.” SFRA – Annual conference, Milwaukee, WI, 2018.
“Devolution and Simian Genesis in Chevillard’s Sans l’orang-outan.” MMLA – Annual conference, Cincinnati OH, 2017.
“La Garderie du Pays des Mères de Vonarburg: une Hétérotopie Éducationnelle?” PAMLA – 114th Annual Conference, Pasadena CA, 2016.
“Contraintes Spatiales et Progrès Social: Études des Phases de Transition dans le Transperceneige/Snowpiercer.” Congrès Boréal – Exodes et Voyages Infinis, Mont-Laurier, Québec, Canada, 2016.
“Transparence Utopique et Scientifique: La Nuit des Temps de René Barjavel” Annual Graduate Student Conference. Department of French and Italian, University of Kansas, 2015. Awarded the Professor Samira Sayed Prize for best conference paper.
“Utopia(s) and Constraints: the Testimonial Function in Perec’s W ou le souvenir d’enfance.” Annual Graduate Student Symposium, “GAFIS.” Department of French and Italian, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015.
“Blaise Cendrars e o Modernismo Brasileiro: a Redescoberta do Brasil.” Annual Graduate Student Conference, “Kaleidoscope.” Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015.