September, 2008
Curriculum Vitae
MARY ANN FRESE WITT
EDUCATION
Wellesley College B.A. in French 1959. Junior year in Paris, Phi Beta Kappa, Durant Scholar, honors in major.
University of California at Berkeley M.A.in French, Minor Italian, 1961.
Harvard University PhD in Comparative Literature 1968.
LANGUAGES
French--near native, Italian--fluent, German--good reading, fair speaking and writing, Latin and Spanish--reading knowledge.
TEACHING AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE
1969-71 Assistant Professor of French, Wellesley College; Lecturer in French, Boston University.
1972-76 Visiting Associate Professor of English and Director of Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities funded by the Kenan Foundation, North Carolina Central University.
1977-88 Assistant, Associate Professor, Coordinator of Italian, then Coordinator of French, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, North Carolina State University.
1988–2003 Professor, Coordinator, French, then joint chair of Foreign Languages and Literature/English World Literature program. Coordinator, Italian
1990-91 and Visiting Professor, Department of Romance Studies, Duke University.
1992-1993
1997 Visiting Professor, Department of Foreign Languages and Program in (winter quarter) Comparative Literature, University of Utah.
1999, fall Visiting Professor, Duke Program in Italy, Florence, Italy
2003-2004 Director of Graduate Programs, FLL, NCSU
2007– Professor emerita
GRANTS AND AWARDS
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend, 1974; American Philosophical Society Grant-in-Aid; Faculty Research and Development Grant, N.C. State 1980-81; Danforth Fellow, 1981; Fulbright Grant to Italy, 1982, Senior Research Fulbright Grant to Italy and France, 1985-86; N.C. State faculty research fund: 1987-88. College of Humanities and Social Sciences research award for outstanding book (Existential Prisons) 1988, CHASS travel grants, spring 1989, spring 1991, summer 1992, spring 1993, for research in Italy and France. CHASS research award summers 1994 and 1998. Eccles Fellow, Tanner Humanities Center, University of Utah, 1996-97. National Endowment for the Humanities grants to direct summer seminars for school teachers, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1995, 2003, 2007, 2009.
PUBLICATIONS
Articles
"L'Etranger au cinema et l'imagerie visuelle de Camus,"La Revue des lettres modernes, 1969 (5), pp. 111-122.
"Confinement in 'Die Verwandlung' and 'Les Sequestrés d'Altona, 'Comparative Literature, Winter 1971 vol 23, pp. 32-44.
"Imprisonment in Camus 'Modern Tragedies,'" Comparative Drama, Spring 1971 vol 5, pp. 3-20.
"Kafka et Camus," La Revue des lettres modernes, 1971 (4), pp. 71-86.
"EugPne Ionesco and the Dialectic of Space," Modern Language Quarterly, September 1972, pp. 312-326.
"Malraux's Early Prisons; Absurdity and Transcendence," Malraux Miscellany, Autumn 1976.
"Race and Racism in Native Son and The Stranger," The Comparatist, I, i, 1977.
"Buzzati's Un Caso Clinico and Camus' Malentendu: Theaters of Transition; Tragedies of Space," The Comparatist, Spring 1982.
"Malraux's Shamanism: Initiatory Death and Rebirth," in Witnessing Andre Malraux: Visions and Re-visions, Wesleyan University Press, 1984, pp. 169-178.
"Spatial Narration in Notre Dame des Fleurs and Le Balcon," in Myths and Realities of Contemporary French Theater. vol. 17, Lubbock: Texas Tech. Press, 1985 pp. 129-139.
"Six Characters in Search of an Author and the Battle of the Lexis," Modern Drama, Sept. 1987. pp. 396-404.
"Modes of Narration in Pirandello's Sei Personaggi," in Luigi Pirandello: Poetica e Presenza, Rome: Bulzoni, 1988. pp. 607-616.
"La Figliastra di Pirandello e la creazione artistica," Prometeo 7 (28), fall 1987, pp 147--152.
"Mothers and Stories: Female Presence/Power in Genet," French Forum, vol 14, no.2 May, 1989. pp. 173-186.
"Murder as Sign and Cycle in "Les NPgres," Proceedings of the American Semiotic Society 1990.
"Towards a Theater of Immobility: Henry IV, The Condemned of Altona, and The Balcony, Comparative Drama, vol. 24 summer 1990. pp. 151-172.
"Pirandello's Sicilian Comedies and the Comic Tradition," in Pirandello and the Commedia dell'Arte, Publication of the Pirandello Society of America, vol. VI, 1990, 12-20.
"Mothers or Women? Feminine Conditions in Pirandello," in Joseph di Gaetani, ed. A Companion to Pirandello Studies, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1991. 57-72.
"Pirandellian Theater and Fascist Discourse", South Atlantic Quarterly, spring 1992, 91, 2, pp 303-331.
"Pirandello's 'La Patente': mode, genre, narrative" in Raymond Prier, ed. Aesthetics and the Text, Albany: SUNY Press, 1992. pp. 112-125.
"Reading Modern Drama: Voice in the Didascaliae," Studies in the Literary Imagination (special issue on Gérard Genette), vol. 25, no.1 Spring 1992. pp.103-112.
"Fascist Aesthetics and Theatre under the Occupation: The Case of Anouilh," Journal of European Studies xxiii (1993), pp 49-69.
"Il linguaggio femminile nel teatro di Pirandello," in Enzo Lauretta, ed. Pirandello e la lingua, Milan: Mursia, 1994.
"Authority and Constructions of Actress in the Drama of Pirandello and Genet," Comparative Literature Studies , vol. 32, no. 1, spring 1995, pp 42--57.
"Pirandellian dislocation or the dying dramatic author", in Ars dramatica, ed. Rena Lamparska, N.Y.: Lang, 1997.
"Mimesi e diegesi nella 'Patente'" in Pirandello e la sua opera, ed. Enzo Lauretta, Milan: Mursia, 1998.
Edited cluster of essays Literary Canons after the Canon Wars , ”The Comparatist, May, 2000, 5-63. Wrote “Introduction–Issues of the Canon, 5-8 and “Are the Canon Wars Over? Rethinking Great Books,”57-63.
"Pirandello's Woman Writer and the Birth Metaphor: Problems in Translation." Journal of the Pirandello Society of America, fall, 2000.
“Race in The Stranger and Richard Wright’s Native Son,” in Derek C. Maus, ed., Readings on Albert Camus, The Stranger, San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2001, 110-124.
"Aesthetic Fascism and Modern Tragedy: D'Annunzio's Fedra.” In John Burt Foster, ed. Culture/s in Contention: Differences, Affiliations, Liminalities. London: Continuum Press, 2002.
Translation: Carmen Covito, “Skeletons without Closets,” in Martha King, ed., After the War: A Collection of Short Fiction by Postwar Italian Women Writers. New York: Italica Press, 2004, 71-80.
“Retrying the Stranger Again,” (with Eric Witt). In Michael J. Meyer, ed. Law and Literature, Amsterdam and Atlanta: Rodopi Press, 2004, 1-28.
“Babies and Books: Birth as Metaphor in Nietzsche and Pirandello,” forthcoming in special issue of Comparative Critical Studies, UK.
“From Saint Genesius to Kean: Actors, Martyrs, and Metatheater,” forthcoming in Comparative Drama.
Book Reviews
"Published in Paris," The South Atlantic Quarterly, 1976
"Eugenio Montale, New Poems," McGill Literary Annual, 1977.
"Jean-Paul Sartre, Life/Situations," McGill Annual, 1978.
"Jeanette Savona, Jean Genet," The French Review, spring 1986.
"Elise Gelfland, Imagination in Confinement," L'Esprit créateur, spring 1987.
"Pirandello's Tales of Madness," (translation), The Comparatist, fall 1988.
"Gisele Bickel, Jean Genet et la transcendence," French Forum, September 1989.
"Catharine Savage Brosman, Jules Roy," South Atlantic Review, January 1990.
"Gail Finney, Women in Modern Drama," Comparative Drama, fall 1991.
"Wladimir Krysinski, Pirandello et le champ de la modernité," The Comparatist, 1992.
"Jack Murray, The Landscapes of Alienation: Ideological Subversion in Kafka, Céline, and Onetti," The Comparatist, 1993.
"Anna Meda, Bianche statue contro il nero abisso,"Italica, 1995.
"Carla Locatelli, ed. I Silenzi dei testi e i silenzi della critica," The Comparatist, May, 1998.
“Nicoletta Pireddu, Antropologi alla corte della bellezza,” Italian Culture, XX, 1 & 2, 237-239.
“Philip Cranston, Tones/Countertones: English Translations, Adaptations, Imitations and Transformations of Short Poetic Texts from the Latin, Italian, French, Spanish and German,” The Comparatist, vol 32, May, 2008.
“Anne Tomiche and Karl Zieger, eds, La recherche en littérature générale et comparée en France en 2007: Bilan et perspectives,” Recherche littéraire/Literary Research, 2008.
Review Essays
"Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism," The Comparatist 1994.
"Richard Golson, ed. Fascism and Culture," The Minnesota Review, 1995.
"Harold Bloom, The Western Canon," The Comparatist, 1996.
Books
The Humanities: Cultural Roots and Continuities with Instructor's Guide (controlling author), Lexington, Mass., D.C. Heath, 1980, 2 vols. Revised eds. 1985, 1989, 1993.
Fifth, sixth and seventh editions of The Humanities (2 vols) and Instructor's Guide published with Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1997, 2001, 2005.
Existential Prisons: Confinement in Mid-Twentieth Century French Literature. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1985.
Her Husband (translation, with Martha King, of Luigi Pirandello’s Suo marito), with afterword. Durham: Duke University Press, 2000.
The Search for Modern Tragedy: Aesthetic Fascism in Italy and France (chapters on D’Annunzio, Pirandello, Brasillach, Drieu La Rochelle, Montherlant, Anouilh; 350 pp). Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.
(editor) Nietzsche and the Rebirth of the Tragic (includes my 40-page introduction and 40-page essay) Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh-Dickinson Press., 2007.
PAPERS AND CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION
“Race and Racism in Native Son and The Stranger” , The Southern Comparative Literature Association, October, 1976
"Teaching Literature in Translation," Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference, October, 1980
Participant in twelve-member tri-state conference on teaching humanities in professional and technical schools, October, 1980, Spartanburg, SC.
"Buzzati's Un Caso Clinico and Camus' Le Malentendu: Theaters of Transition, Tragedies of Space," at Southern Comparative Literature Association, October, 1981
"Prisons and Quests: Spatial Paradoxes in Malraux and Sartre," at Twentieth-Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, Feb. 27, 1981
"Genet's 'Notre Dame des Fleurs': The Cell as Generator," NEMLA, New York City, 1982
"Teaching Italian Poetry at the Elementary Level," Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference, October, 1982
"Spatial Narration in Notre Dame des Fleurs and Le Balcon," Conference on Modern French Drama at Texas Tech University, February, 1984
Chair of Section: "The Criminal in Modern French Literature," NEMLA; March 1984
"Ritual in Les NPgres", Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference, October 1984
"In Search of the One True Text" (on teaching the humanities), Southern Humanities Conference, Atlanta, Feb. 1, 1985.
Chair of Section: "Self and Other in the Works of Albert Camus," Twentieth Century Literature Conference, Louisville, Kentucky, February 22, 1985.
"Fascism and Historical Regression in Pirandello's Enrico IV." Twentieth Century Literature Conference, Louisville, February 27, 1987.
"Genet's Feminine Discourse," Twentieth Century French Literature Conference, Duke University, March 14, 1987.
Participation in NCSU seminar for high school French teachers (led seminar on explication de texte and Camus) July, 1987
Chair of Comparative Literature Section in Conference for Secondary School Teachers sponsored by Wake County Collaborative, October 1987
"Murder as Sign and Cycle in Les NPgres," American Semiotic Society in Cincinnati, October, 1988
"Genet's Matriarchal Narrative," Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference, September 1989.
"Revolution and Le Balcon," MIFLC, September 1989.
"Authority in the Theater of Pirandello and Genet," Philological Association of the Carolinas, Myrtle Beach South Carolina, spring 1990
"Reading Modern Drama, the Example of Pirandello," Dramatic Theory Section, Modern Language Association Washington, D.C., December, 1990
"Pirandello's Sicilian Comedies and Commedia dell'Arte," Pirandello Society, MLA Chicago, 1991
"Anouilh's 'Antigone,': A Fascist Play?" Twentieth Century French Studies Conference, Austin, Texas, March, 1991
"Reading Modern Drama, Voice in the Didascaliae," Twentieth Century French Studies Conference, Philadelphia, March 1992
"Figuring of the Law in Pirandello's 'La Giara', Philological Association of the Carolinas, Elon College, N.C., April, 1992.
"Author(ity) and Actress in the Drama of Pirandello," American Association of Italian Studies, Austin, Texas, April 1993.
"La lingua della donna nell'opera di Pirandello," International Pirandello Conference at Agrigento, Italy, Dec. 1993
"Pirandellian Dislocation or the Dying Dramatic Author," International Pirandello Conference, Boston College, October 1994.
The Modern Tragedy of Possession: D'Annunzio's Fedra," Modern Language Association, December, 1994.
Session Chair, Feminism and Francophone Literature, Southern Comparative Literature Association, October, 1995.
"Fascist Aesthetics and the Search for Modern Tragedy: D'Annunzio's Fedra." Association for Philosophy and Literature, George Mason University, May, 1996.
Mimesi e diegesi nella 'Patente', International Pirandello Conference, Agrigento, Italy, December, 1996.
"Are the Canon Wars Over? Rethinking Great Books", The American Comparative Literature Association, Austin, Texas, March 1998.
"D'Annunzio's Adaptation of Nietzsche in La CittB morta", Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, Lexington, Ky, April 1998.
"Distance Learning and the Teaching of Literature: A Personal View", The Association for Core Texts and Courses, Asheville, N.C., April, 1998.
Chair, "Great Books, Core Texts, and Historically Black Institutions," The Association for Core Texts and Courses, Ashville, N.C., April, 1998.
‘Suo marito’ for the Twenty-First Century? Translating and Evaluating Pirandello’s Woman Writer.” Modern Language Association, San Francisco, CA, December, 1998.
Chair of Session: Translating, Interpreting, Adapting Pirandello II, Modern Language Association December 1998.
“How to Kill Women”: Montherlant’s Aesthetic of Modern Tragedy”. Twentieth-century French studies conference, Chapel Hill, N.C., March 1999. Session organizer.
“Aesthetics and Tragedy in French Fascist Humanism,” American Comparative Literature Association, Montreal, Canada, April 1999.
“Aesthetic Fascism in French Modern Tragedy under the German Occupation: Montherlant and Anouilh,” American Comparative Literature Association, Boulder, Co, April, 2000.
“Ideological/Linguistic Dilemmas in translating Pirandello,” Panel on translation, Southern Comparative Literature Association, Chapel Hill, N.C., September, 2001.
“Translating/transferring a Pirandellian woman writer,”American Literary Translators’Association, Raleigh, N.C., October 2001. (Chaired session on translating from Italian.)
“D’Annunzio’s Dionysian Women or the Birth of Tragedy from Sex,” The American Comparative Literature Association, San Juan Puerto Rico, April, 2002. Organized and chaired seminar: “Nietzschean Tragedy: Translations, Reconfigurations, Implementations.”
“Sartre’s theater under the Occupation: littérature engagée?” The Southern Comparative Literature Association, October, 2002.
Chaired section, “French Postwar Thought” at Conference on Psychoanalysis and Literature, Columbia, S.C., February, 2003.
Moderator, “Aesthetics,” Southern Comparative Literature Association, Austin, Texas, September, 2003.
“The Chorus as vox populi in the Drama of Fascist Italy: Gabriele D’Annunzio.” Southern Comparative Literature Association, University of South Carolina, February 2004.
“Metatheatricality and Modernity.” The American Comparative Literature Association,
Princeton University, March, 2006.
“Teach the Translation.” The American Comparative Literature Association, Puebla Mexico, April, 2007. (Also organizer of seminar on translation.)
“World Literature and the Question of Cultural Roots: Confessions of a Controlling Author.” Plenary Session, Southern Comparative Literature Association, Raleigh, N.C., September, 2007.
INVITED LECTURES
"Teaching Interdisciplinary Humanities," Pinellas County, Florida, teacher's workshop, February, 1983
"Ionesco et La Cantatrice Chauve," Alliance Francaise, Raleigh, November, 1982
"Postmodernism and the Absurd in Literature," North Carolina Museum of Art, 1983
"The Importance of Foreign Language and Literature for the International Curriculum," International Studies, NCSU, February, 1983
"Jean Genet et la prison," North Carolina Association of Teachers of French, May, 1983
"Literature of Imprisonment," Duke University and Meredith College, November, 1986
"Modernism and Postmodernism in Literature," N.C. Museum of Art (seminar for French teachers) July 16, 1987
"Author Surrogates and the Construction of Gender in Pirandello", Colloquium on the Politics of the Body in Italian Culture, U. of Pennsylvania, Oct. 1993.
"Thoughts on Popular Culture, Art, Literature, Standards, and Ideology" Keynote Speech, Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Orientation, N.C. State, June, 1995.
"On Opening and Closing Texts" Keynote Speech in the Humanities, The Association for Core Texts in Education, Temple University, Philadelphia, April, 1996.
"Fascist Aesthetics and the Search for Modern Tragedy" University of Utah, February, 1997.
“Aesthetic Fascism and Modern Tragedy: The Franco-Italian Connection.” Program in Comparative Literature, University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C., October, 2001.
“Aesthetic Fascism and Modern Tragedy: The Franco-Italian Connection.” Faculty Research Seminar, Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures, N.C. State University, February, 2002.
“Theater and Fascism in Italy.” The Italian Club, UNC-Chapel Hill, March 2002.
“Interdisciplinary approaches to teaching the Humanities.” LaGrange College, Georgia, November, 2002.
“Theater and Fascism in Italy.” Universities of Wisconsin-Michigan-Duke program in Florence, Italy. May, 2005.
RADIO AND TELEVISION APPEARANCES
Leader of panel discussion on Harold Bloom, The Western Canon, televised at N.C. State, April, 1995.
Interviewed for RAI-New York (Italian television) on translating Pirandello, March, 1999.
Spoke for PBS radio program “What”s the Word?” on the trial in Camus’s The Stranger, taped September 2000.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Modern Language Association, American Association of Teachers of French, American Association of Teachers of Italian, International Comparative Literature Association, American Comparative Literature Association, organizer and coordinator, annual conference of the Southern Comparative Literature Association, Raleigh, Sept-Oct 1994; Editorial Board, The Comparatist, 1977-82, Assistant Editor, 1982-91, Associate Editor, 1991-present; panel participant for selection of directors of summer seminars for school teachers and reader of grant proposals, National Endowment for the Humanities; reviewed manuscripts for Publications of the Modern Language Association, Comparative Drama, The Comparatist, Comparative Literature, Duke University Press, Florida University Press; vice president, Southern Comparative Literature Association, 1998-2000, President, 2000–2002; Advisory Board, American Comparative Literature Association, 1999-2003. Judge for best graduate student essay in comparative literature: Aldridge Prize (ACLA) 2001, 2003; Rutledge Prize (SCLA): 2002, 2003, 2004. Editor-in-Chief, The Comparatist, 2004–2007. Consultant to George Mason University Program in World Literature, May 2006.
COURSES TAUGHT
As Teaching Assistant: Beginning and intermediate French (Berkeley, Harvard), English conversation and American literature (University of Lyon, France), Humanities, Epic and Drama, (Harvard).
At Wellesley College and Boston University: Beginning and intermediate French, honors theses, modern French theater.
At North Carolina Central University: World literature, Interdisciplinary Humanities.
At North Carolina State University: All levels of French and Italian language, Modern European Criticism, Survey of French Literature I and II, French Seminar, Modern French Novel, Modern French Drama, Traditional French Drama, French “cultures and contexts”, French conversation and contemporary culture, French for Graduate Students, Italian Reading and Conversation, Italian Novel, Italian Drama, Scholars of the College Seminar ("Great Books,"), Interdisciplinary Humanities (team), Independent Studies, Survey of Western Literature I and II, Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Seminars--"Theatricality and Reality in Modern European Drama," "Modern European Drama and Politics," "The Existentialist Generation," "Visions of Hell" (Dante and modern European writers), Graduate Seminar on World Drama), European Modernism, World Literature Seminar, “Theater and Modernity,” Graduate French seminar, French theater and Society.
At Duke University: "Italian Women Writers" (in Italian)
NEH Summer Seminars for School Teachers at N.C. State, Duke, and Avignon, France: "Theatricality and Reality in Modern European Drama," "Modern European Drama and Politics," "Theatricality and Reality in Modern French Drama" (in French)
At University of Utah (winter, 1997): "Modern European Drama and Politics"
At Duke in Florence, Italy program (fall, 1999): “Visions of Hell” (Dante and modern writers); Modern Italian Novel.
DEPARTMENTAL AND UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Faculty Advisor, Italian Club, 1977-78, 1979-1983
Member, Oxford Committee, 1979-1980, Personnel Committee 1981-1984, Phi Beta Kappa Committee 1982--1988, NEH Summer Stipend Committee 1982-85, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Committee 1982-85, 1988-1989, departmental representative to university Humanities Commission, member of core curriculum sub-committee, 1984-85.
Chair of departmental committee to establish guidelines for tenure and promotion of departmental faculty members and of departmental committee to nominate faculty members for leave, 1984-85, 1991-92, 1994-95, Chair inter-departmental Comparative Literature Committee 1986-1990, Departmental library liaison 1986-87, member of search committee German 1986, member of search committee French 1987, 1988, 1994. Participant in Scholars of the College Program, Spring, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985. Coordinator of Italian 1977-78, 1979-83, 2000–, Coordinator of French 1983-85, 1986--1990, Advisor, (French) 1977--, (MALS) 1989–2003
Member of board of directors, Friends of the Gallery, 1986--1990, Member of advisory board to MALS program, 1987–2002, CHASS Research Committee, 1988-89, Departmental Representative to CHASS Graduate Committee 1989--1993, Chair 1991. Chair, Committee on M.A. in French and Spanish, 1989--, Ten-Year Curriculum Review Committee, Co-Chair, FLL/English Committee on World Literature, 1990–,Departmental Honors Committee, 1990–1996, University Fulbright Committee, 1992--1996, Faculty Senate, 1993-95, Ad Hoc University Committee on Teaching and Research, 1993-95, Senate Academic Policy Committee 1993-95, Senate Personnel Committee 1993-94, Chair 1994-95, Thesis director and committee member for M.A. students in English and MALS,1994-1997, Committee member for PhD students in Education, 1994, 1996, Chair, departmental exit interview committee 1995-96. Chair, departmental strategic plan committee, 1995-96, member, University mediation panel 1995-96, member, English Department search committee for position in Modern Drama, 1995-96, chair, FLL search committee for position in Latin American Studies, 1998-99, chair departmental leave committee, 1998--99, Director and author of proposal for successful grant for Summer Institute for Teachers of World Literature, 1999; Co-Director, 2000, 2001, Resident Scholar (seminar on MoliPre, Tartuffe), 2000, search committee, FLL department Head, 2000-2001. Departmental Policies Committee, 2001, NCSU representative, Foreign Language Access Committee (UNC system-wide), 2001-02. Member, PhD committee, Department of Romance Studies (French), Duke University, 2002–, Director of Graduate Programs, 2003-04 organizer, Southern Comparative Literature Association annual meeting, held at NC State, September 27-29, 2007. M.A. committee member and thesis advisor for graduate student in world literature, 2007–2008..