Emmanuel Buzay

Assistant Professor

Emmanuel Buzay is an assistant professor of French and Francophone Studies in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. He received degrees from the Université de Paris III – Sorbonne Nouvelle and the Université de Paris XIII – Villetaneuse, prior to earning his Ph.D. in French and Francophone Studies from the University of Connecticut, where he subsequently taught for several years.

A twentieth- and twenty-first-century modernist specializing in French and Francophone literature, Professor Buzay also has a professional background in the fields of cinema and new media studies, which inform his research and teaching. In addition, Professor Buzay studies and gives courses on French and Francophone video games and films. He is also certified by the French Embassy and the Paris Chamber of Commerce in the teaching of French for specific purposes in the fields of Diplomatic French, Medical French, and Scientific and Technical French. 

With a focus on the posthuman imaginary in French and Francophone literature, Professor Buzay’s current research project examines how futuristic novels explore the very limits of that which refers to humankind and the perception of its origins. He does this by honing in on a recurrent concern rooted in the mythologies that represent the invention of writing as the “double of mankind”, exemplifying a trend that he terms “the longing to be written and… its refusal”.
 

Research Areas

• French and Francophone contemporary literature
• Futuristic novels
• Utopias and dystopias
• Science fiction and fantasy
• Narratology and new media
• The intersection of cognitive sciences and literature
• Critical posthumanism
• Film and media studies
• Videogames
• Digital humanities

Publications

 “Mythologies de l’écriture, argile et électricité : la figure du monstre de Frankenstein chez Alberto Manguel.” L’ombre de Frankenstein ou le pouvoir d’une œuvre. Presses de l’université de Montréal. (Forthcoming Fall 2023)

Contemporary French and Francophone Futuristic Novels: The Longing to Be Written and Its Refusal. Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.  https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-16628-0

“À l’origine du cinéma la figure de l’automate : de l’invention de Hugo Cabret à Hugo.” Australian Journal of French Studies, vol. 60, no. 1, 2023, pp. 52–61.  https://doi.org/10.3828/ajfs.2023.05.

“Contrôle des médias - environnementalisme et démocratie sous surveillance dans le roman de Jean-Christophe Rufin Globalia (2004).” Nouvelles Études Francophones, vol. 37, 2022, pp. 82–93. 

“De la bibliothèque au « Tesseract » : une représentation borgésienne de la littérature dans le film de Christopher Nolan Interstellar (2014) .” Res Futurae N17 (20190610), 2019. https://doi.org/10.4000/resf.9230.  

“Le Monde selon Google dans le roman d’Aurélien Bellanger La théorie de l’information.” Contemporary French and Francophone Studies, vol. 23, no. 4, 2019, pp. 480–489. https://doi.org/10.1080/17409292.2019.1707490.  

“Le Golem : généalogie et postérité d’une figure paradigmatique du post-humanisme.” Contemporary French and Francophone Studies, vol. 22, no. 3, 2018, pp. 353–361. https://doi.org/10.1080/17409292.2018.1494260.  

“L’expérience de l’espace dans la mise en scène technologique du jeu vidéo Retour sur l’île mystérieuse (2005). L’île mystérieuse, Alexandra W. Albertini and Jacques Isolery, Éditions Pétra, coll. « Fert’îles », 2018, pp. 145-161.

“Le désir d’être écrit : étude comparative de deux modèles d'écriture computationnels dans La Possibilité d'une île de Michel Houellebecq et La Théorie de l'information d'Aurélien Bellanger.” Lectures croisées de l'œuvre de Michel Houellebecq, edited by Antoine Jurga and Sabine van Wesemael, Classiques Garnier, 2017, pp. 93-104.

Awards and Accolades

• Small Grant from the Institute for Teaching & Learning, University of Connecticut (Spring 2014) 
• Graduate Award for Outstanding Scholarship, University of Connecticut (Spring 2009) 

Courses Recently Taught

• French 321: Introduction to French and Francophone Science Fiction and Fantasy
• French 331: French for Diplomacy and International Relations
• French 332: French for the Science Professions
• French 350: French Film
• French 351: Contemporary French Cinema
• French 352/652: Introduction to French and Francophone Videogames
• French 371: Advanced Grammar and Composition I
• French 485/685: Jules Verne and French Steampunk
• French 487/687: Introduction to French and Francophone Science Fiction and Fantasy
• French 670: Expository Prose