Proust: Questions d'identité
Julia Kristeva
Special Lecture Series 11 May 1998

  • ‘Raises some intriguing questions... which must clearly be meditated over by serious students of Proust.’ — Nola M. Leov, New Zealand Journal of French Studies 22.1, 2001, 29
  • ‘The questions addressed in this short text are all compelling and fascinating.’ — Marion Schmid, Modern Language Review 95.3, 2000, 844 (full text online)
  • ‘Kristeva presents Proust as the first writer to show - not unambiguously, yet to devastating effect - the sado-masochistic basis of identity pursued as a form of belonging.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 37.1, 2001, 103
  • ‘An incisive examination of the complex nature of identity, whether it be national, religious or sexual.’ — notice, The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies 60, 1998, 166

History Painting and Narrative: Delacroix's 'Moments'
Peter Brooks
Special Lecture Series 21 February 1999

  • unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies xxxvi.4, 2000, 450
  • ‘Suggestive and persuasive... As Brooks candidly points out, this is the very style of book illustration, from the great lithographs of the Romantic era down to children's story-books of the 1920s and well beyond.’ — David Bellos, French Studies LIV.4, 2000, 523
  • ‘Shows the cultural influence of particular paintings during our period and beyond.’ — John Whittaker, The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies 62, 2000, 169
  • unsigned notice, Gazette des Beaux-Arts Octobre, 1999, 24

L'écriture testamentaire à la fin du Moyen Age: Identité, dispersion, trace
Jacqueline Cerquiglini-Toulet
Special Lecture Series 31 November 1999

  • Glynnis M. Cropp, New Zealand Journal of French Studies 22.1, 2001, 29
  • ‘A fascinating and wide-ranging overview from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries of the literary use of testamentary writing in French.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies XL.1, 2004, 98

Le Partage de la Parole
Luce Irigaray
Special Lecture Series 41 August 2001

A Self-Administered Poison: The System and Functions of Soviet Censorship
Arlen Blyum
Special Lecture Series 51 December 2003

  • ‘The title of this marvellous little book relates both to Soviet propaganda and to the Soviet censorship system in general... This well-translated booklet will, I hope, stimulate more Western scholars to work in this fascinating field.’ — Martin Dewhirst, Slavonic and East European Review 84.2, 2006, 319-20 (full text online)

Forming Couples: Godard's Contempt
Leo Bersani and Ulysse Dutoit
Special Lecture Series 61 December 2003

  • ‘Perhaps more than those of any other director, the films of Jean-Luc Godard attract the attention of smart people who devote immense time and energy into figuring out what they mean... Certainly, Bersani and Dutoit are masters of this game and their recent essay represents something of a model exercise in this genre of criticism.’ — William S. Lewis, French Review 80.5, 2007, 1134-35