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• diana.knight@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

My main research interests are in nineteenth-century French fiction, especially that of Honoré de Balzac, and the twentieth-century French intellectual and critic Roland Barthes.

Expertise Summary

My main research specialisms are nineteenth-century realism, especially Balzac and Flaubert, and the work of Roland Barthes.

Teaching Summary

Post-war French women's writing; the French nineteenth-century novel, especially Flaubert and Balzac.

Research Summary

My current research project is a monograph on the notion of the 'Vita nova' in Roland Barthes's very late writing.

Recent Publications

• DIANA KNIGHT, 2016. Barthes deliberates: Pascal, Ignatius and the question of the diary Textual Practice. 30(2), 221–239
• DIANA KNIGHT, 2016. Dernière musique: sur l’air de Roland Barthes dans Journal de Deuil. In: CLAUDE COSTE, SYLVIE DOUCHE ET ÉRIC MARTY, ed., Barthes et la musique Presses Universitaires de Rennes. (In Press.)
• DIANA KNIGHT, 2015. What Turns the Writer into a Great Writer?: The Conversion Narrative of Barthes’s 'Vita Nova’ L'Esprit créateur. 55(4), 165–180
• KNIGHT, D., 2013. Absorption and theatricality: women at work in Balzac's "Une double famille" Dix-Neuf. 17(2), 104-123

• View all publications

Past Research

My early research was on issues of language and representation in the novels of Gustave Flaubert. I then worked extensively on Roland Barthes, publishing a monograph on Barthes as a utopian writer as well as editing two collections of essays on his work. I have also published work on other nineteenth-century French authors, and on narrative and feminist theory. From around 2000 I have worked intensively on Balzac, and published a monograph (2007) on issues of realism and representation in his artist stories. In 2013, I returned to research on Roland Barthes and I was especially active in 2015, the centenary of his birth which led to academic conferences throughout the world and to special issues of journals devoted to his work.

Future Research

I shall continue to publish on Barthes, as well as the gendering of celibacy, marriage and homosexuality in Balzac's novels.

• DIANA KNIGHT, 2016. Barthes deliberates: Pascal, Ignatius and the question of the diary Textual Practice. 30(2), 221–239
• DIANA KNIGHT, 2016. Dernière musique: sur l’air de Roland Barthes dans Journal de Deuil. In: CLAUDE COSTE, SYLVIE DOUCHE ET ÉRIC MARTY, ed., Barthes et la musique Presses Universitaires de Rennes. (In Press.)
• DIANA KNIGHT, 2015. What Turns the Writer into a Great Writer?: The Conversion Narrative of Barthes’s 'Vita Nova’ L'Esprit créateur. 55(4), 165–180
• KNIGHT, D., 2013. Absorption and theatricality: women at work in Balzac's "Une double famille" Dix-Neuf. 17(2), 104-123
• DIANA KNIGHT, 2012. Margaret Whitford (1987–2011) French Studies. 56(2), 290-92
• MARGARET ATACK, DIANA HOLMES, DIANA KNIGHT AND JUDITH STILL, ed., 2012. Women, Genre and Circumstance: Essays in Memory of Elizabeth Fallaize Legenda.
• KNIGHT, D., 2012. Balzac's 'Honorine', or, The rape of the independent woman. In: ATACK, M., HOLMES, D., KNIGHT, D. and STILL, J., eds., Women, genre and circumstance: essays in memory of Elizabeth Fallaize Legenda. 60–73
• KNIGHT, D., 2012. Conjugal secrets in Balzac's "La Muse du département" Nineteenth-Century French Studies. 40(3 & 4), 273-286
• DIANA KNIGHT, 2010. 'Structuralism Utopian and Scientific'; 'S/Z, Realism and Compulsory Heterosexuality'; 'Barthes and Orientalism' (reprints of essays first pubished 1997; 1995; 1993). In: BADMINGTON, NEIL, ed., Roland Barthes: Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory Routledge. vol. I, pp. 115-133; vol. IV, pp. 27-40; 157-171. (In Press.)
• DIANA KNIGHT, 2010. 'La seule statue qui ait marché!': L'ateler de Pygmalion et les vivants chefs-d'œuvre de Balzac Cahiers de l'Association Internationale des Etudes Francaises. 62, 49–65
• DIANA KNIGHT, 2010. Elizabeth Fallaize (1950–2009) French Studies. 64(2), 244-47
• DIANA KNIGHT AND JUDITH STILL, ed., 2009. Theory-Tinged Criticism: Essays in Memory of Malcolm Bowie Edinburgh University Press.
• KNIGHT, D., 2009. "Sauf quand le soir tombe": ensemble et seul dans "Comment vivre ensemble". In: BADIR, S. and DUCARD, D., eds., Roland Barthes en Cours (1977–1980): un style de vie Editions Universitaires de Dijon. 107–115 (and 201-206 for bibliography)
• DIANA KNIGHT, 2009. Flaubert's Characters: The Language of Illusion paperback reprint. Cambridge University Press.
• DIANA KNIGHT, 2008. 'Except when night falls': Together and Alone in Barthes's Comment vivre ensemble Paragraph: A Journal of Modern Critical Theory. 31(1), 50–60
• DIANA KNIGHT, 2007. Balzac and the Model of Painting: artist stories in La Comédie humaine London: Legenda.
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2007. Review of Lucey, M., The Misfit of the Family: Balzac and the Social Forms of Sexuality French Studies. 60 (Jan 2007), 130-131
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2007. Review of Wing, N., Between Genders: Narrating Difference in Early French Modernism French Studies. 60 (Jan 2007), 132-133
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2005. From Gobseck's Chamber to Derville's Chambers: Retention in Balzac's Gobseck Nineteenth-Century French Studies. VOL 33(PART 3/4), 243-257
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2004. Celibacy on Display in Two texts by Balzac: Le Cabinet des Antiques and the Preface to Pierrette Dix-Neuf. 2, 1-15
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2004. Le Réel et la beauté? dans le roman balzacien French Studies. VOL 58(NUMBER 3), 419-420
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2004. Trauma and its Representations: The Social Life of Mimesis in Post-Revolutionary France French Studies. VOL 58(NUMBER 2), 269-270
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2004. Review of Farrant, T., Balzac's Shorter Fictions: Genesis and Genre Modern and Contemporary France. 12(2), 243-244
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2004. Eavesdropping in the Novel from Austen to Proust French Studies. VOL 58(NUMBER 2), 270-271
• DIANA KNIGHT, 2004. From Painting to Sculpture: Balzac, Pygmalion and the Secret of Relief in Sarrasine and The Unknown Masterpiece Paragraph. VOL 27(PART 1), 79-95
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2004. L'homme-Roman, ou Barthes et la biographie taboue FRENCH STUDIES BULLETIN. ISSU 90, 13-16
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2003. Skeletons in the Closet: Homosocial Secrets in Balzac's La Comédie Humaine French Studies. 57(2), 167-180
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2003. Review of Moi, T., <em>What is a Woman? And Other Essays</em>, 27-30. In: Contemporary Literary Criticism 172. Detroit, MI : Gale Research. 288-292
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2003. Barthes and Orientalism. In: GANE. M. and GANE, N., eds., Roland Barthes, Vols 1-3 2. London : Sage. 233-248
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2003. Roland Barthes in Harmony: The Writing of Utopia. In: Twentieth Century Literary Criticism 135. Detroit, MI : Gale Research. 130-137
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2002. Par où commencer? Critique et cosmogonie. In: GEFEN, A. and MACÉ, M., eds., Barthes au lieu du roman Paris : Nota Bene. 23-35
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2002. Brigitte Le Juez, Le Papegai et le papelard dans `Un coeur simple' de Gustave Flaubert French Studies. VOL 56(PART 3), 415
• KNIGHT, D., 2002. Patricia A. McEachern, Deprivation and Power: The Emergence of Anorexia Nervosa in Nineteenth-Century French Literature French Studies. VOL 56(PART 1), 107
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2002. Armine Kotin Mortimer, Writing Realism: Representations in French Fiction French Studies. VOL 56(PART 2), 284
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2002. Review of Finch, A, Women's Writing in Nineteenth-Century France Modern and Contemporary France. 10, 128
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2002. Vaines pensées: la <em>Vita Nova</em> de Barthes. In: COSTE, C., ed., Sur Barthes (special issue of Revue des Sciences Humaines 268. 93-107
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2002. Mary Orr, Flaubert: Writing the Masculine French Studies. VOL 56(PART 2), 254
• KNIGHT, D., 2001. Where to begin? The Yale Journal of Criticism [Special issue: Back to Barthes: Twenty Years After]. 14(2), 493-501
• KNIGHT, D.M., 2001. Barthes and Orientalism. In: Edward Said 2. Sage Publications Ltd, London, UK. 138-152
• KNIGHT, D., 2001. Margaret Cohen, The Sentimental Education of the Novel French Studies. VOL 55(PART 3), 404
• KNIGHT, D.M., ed., 2000. Critical Essays on Roland Barthes Hall, G. K. and Company, New York, NY.
• KNIGHT, D., 2000. Toril Moi. What is a Woman? And Other Essays MLN: Modern Language Notes. VOL 115(PART 4), 827-829
• KNIGHT, D.M., 1999. Whatever happened to Bouvard and Pécuchet?. In: New Approaches in Flaubert Studies Edwin Mellen Press, Ceredigion, New York. 170-174
• KNIGHT, D.M., 1998. The Merits of Inarticulacy. In: Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism NCLC-62. 100-108
• KNIGHT, D.M., ed., 1997. Roland Barthes
• KNIGHT,D.M., 1997. Review of Andrew Leak, Barthes, 'Mythologies' French Studies. 51, 520-521
• KNIGHT, D., 1997. Idle Thoughts: Barthes's Vita Nova Nottingham French Studies. VOL 36(NUMBER 1), 88-98
• KNIGHT, D.M., ed., 1997. Roland Barthes: special issue of Nottingham French Studies University of Nottingham, Nottingham.
• KNIGHT, DIANA, 1997. Barthes and Utopia : space, travel, writing Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.
• KNIGHT, D.M., 1997. Roland Barthes, or the Woman without a Shadow. In: Writing the Image after Roland Barthes 132-143
• KNIGHT,D.M., 1996. Review of Jouve. V, L'Effet-personnage dans le roman (Paris: PUF. 1992) French Studies. 51, 105-106
• KNIGHT, D., 1996. Marie Maclean, The Name of the Mother: Writing Illegitimacy Modern Language Review. VOL 91(NUMBER 1), 234
• KNIGHT, D., 1995. S/Z, realism and compulsory heterosexuality. In: Spectacles of Realism: Body, Gender, Genre University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN, US. 120-136