Dr David McCallam

BA, MA, PhD

School of Languages, Arts and Societies

Reader in French Eighteenth-Century Studies

Dr David McCallam
Profile picture of Dr David McCallam
d.mccallam@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2860
Room 3.43, Jessop West

Full contact details

Dr David McCallam
School of Languages, Arts and Societies
Room 3.43
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
Profile

I specialise in the long eighteenth century in France, covering the French Enlightenment and the French Revolution. I have worked a lot on late eighteenth-century French literature (Chamfort, Laclos, Sade, de Maistre, etc.). 

More recently, my research has focused on the environment in eighteenth-century France and Europe, specifically on dynamic geological and meteorological phenomena, such as volcanoes, avalanches and clouds. In 2019 I published a wide-ranging study on the cultural significance of . In 2022 I was awarded a Fellowship at the Camargo Foundation (Cassis, France) to undertake research into forms of socio-ecological resilience during the Marseille plague of 1720-1722.

Another recent research interest is in the poetry of the late eighteenth century and its translation. My study,   a bilingual edition of the last poems with new translations was published by Legenda in 2021.

I also have an active interest in French theatre, running an extra-curricular Moli竪re reading group and directing the annual French play as part of the University of Sheffields Modern Languages Drama Festival. 

In 2022 I was made a Chevalier dans lOrdre des Palmes Acad辿miques by the French state for services rendus la culture fran巽aise. In 2024 I was elected .

Qualifications
  • MPhil, PhD (Cambridge)
  • MA (Warwick)
  • BA (London Metropolitan)
Research interests
  • Eighteenth-century French literature
  • Environmental humanities, particularly involving mountainous areas, in eighteenth-century Europe
  • The French Revolution
  • Translation studies, especially poetry

Current Research Projects:

  • Illyria in the French Imagination: from Enlightenment to Romanticism

I would be very interested in supervising postgraduate research in the following areas:

  • Gendered and embodied responses to the French Revolution
  • Environmental humanities, especially in eighteenth-century Europe
  • Eighteenth-century travel literature, especially in the mountains and in the Adriatic
  • Late eighteenth-century French literature Laclos, Sade, de Gouges, Ch辿nier, etc.
  • Translation studies, especially poetry
Research group

Isabel Richardson (part-time 2018-): Comparative translation study of French-English translations of Twelfth-Century French texts (c.1915-2015)

Rebecca Herd (part-time 2016-2024): Gender and Violence in Works by Seventeenth-Century French Women Playwrights. Successful completion.

Harsh Trivedi (2017-2022): Les chefs-duvre inconnus: une 辿tude des uvres fictives dans La Com辿die humaine. Successful completion.

Kirsty Hemsworth (2013-2017): Translation and/as Empathy: Mapping Translation Shifts in 9/11 Fiction. Successful completion.

Morgane Guinard (2013-2016): La Parabole du Savoir Interdit, ou les interdits philosophiques et religieux sur la connaissance en France au XVIIIe si竪cle. Successful completion.

Carla Almanza-Galvez (2012-2016): Utopian Narrative in Eighteenth-Century Spain: Generic Frameworks and Social Reformism. Successful completion. Winner of the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland Postgraduate Publication Prize 2017.

Anna Jenkin (2012-2015): 'Perceptions of the Murderess in London and Paris, 1674-1789'. Successful completion.

I have also supervised numerous MA Dissertations on various topics including science/superstition in Maupassant (Liz Trueman, Winner Maria A Salgado Essay Prize 2017), womens practices of imitation in the French Revolution, the figure of Robespierre in post-revolutionary memoirs, Gothic intermediality, historical and contemporary translation studies.

Teaching activities

Postgraduate:

  • MDL6048 Advanced Translation from French
  • MDL622 Research Methods in Modern Languages

Undergraduate:

  • MDL115 Intersections: Text, Image, Thought in the French-Speaking World
  • MDL107 Understanding Modern France
  • FRE21001 Writing the French Revolution
  • MDL319 Litt辿rature et environnement en France aux 18e-19e si竪cles
Professional activities and memberships
  • Member of the Executive Board of the Society for Early Modern French Studies (2021-)
  • Member of the Editorial Board of Eighteenth-Century Fiction (2016-2020)
  • Member of the Executive Board of the Society for French Studies (2014-2020)
  • Member of the Voltaire Foundation Board of Management, University of Oxford (2013-2016)
  • Member of the Editorial Board, Journal Arr棚t sur sc竪ne/Scene Focus, Universit辿 de Montpellier-III (2012-)
  • Member of the Editorial Board of French Studies (2009-18)
  • Member of the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
  • Member of the European Society for Environmental History
  • External Examiner for PhD Thesis: Queens University Belfast; University of Edinburgh/Paris III Sorbonne-Nouvelle; Murdoch University, Australia; King's College London (x 2); Universit辿 de Lorraine
  • External Examiner for French, University of Edinburgh (2008-2011), University of Cambridge (2011-2014), King's College London (2014-18); University of St-Andrews (2021-)
  • Referee for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
  • Reviewer for the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Luxembourg
Publications

Authored Books and Co-Edited Volumes

Andr辿 Ch辿nier: Poetry and Revolution 1792-1794. A Bilingual Edition of the Last Poems with New Translations. Oxford: Legenda, 2021.

Volcanoes in Eighteenth-Century Europe: An Essay in Environmental Humanities. Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2019.

, special online issue, Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 2012.

LArt de l辿quivoque chez Laclos. Geneva: Droz, 2008.

Histoires de la Terre: Earth Sciences and French Culture 1740-1940, ed. Louise Lyle & David McCallam. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2008.

The Enterprise of Enlightenment, ed. Terry Pratt & David McCallam. Bern: Lang, 2004.

Chamfort and the French Revolution: A study in form and ideology. SVEC. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2002.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

La mise en fiction de la peste de Marseille dans deux textes du XVIIIe si竪cle, Romanistische Zeitschrift f端r Literaturgeschichte, 48:1-2 (2024), 35-48

Tout fr辿mit au seul nom de cette maladie: On Strategies for (Not) Naming the Plague, Marseille 1720,&稼恢壊沿;Early Modern French Studies, 2024  DOI: 

Two poems by Christophe Tarkos,&稼恢壊沿;Comparative Critical Studies, 21:1 (2024), 119-124.

La p辿trification dans limaginaire r辿volutionnaire en 1789, in Avoir une 但me pour les pierres: Arts, sciences et min辿ralit辿 du tournant des Lumi竪res au cr辿puscule du Romantisme, ed. P. Glaudes & A. Vasak. Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2024, pp. 173-187.

Terror and Oranges,&稼恢壊沿;History Today, 73:4 (April 2023), 64-69.

Vers une histoire de la r辿silience: les r辿ponses socio-辿cologiques en France l辿ruption volcanique du Laki en 1783,&稼恢壊沿;Dix-huiti竪me Si竪cle, 54 (2022), no. sp辿cial Climat et environnement, 101-114.

Illyria Remembered: On Some French Memoirs of the Illyrian Provinces 1809-1813,&稼恢壊沿;Historical Reflections/R辿flexions Historiques, 48:1 (2022), 23-45.

The Obverse View: Another Look at Jean-L辿on G辿r担mes Le 7 d辿cembre 1815, neuf heures du matin [The Execution of Marshal Ney] 1868,&稼恢壊沿;Dix-neuf: Journal of the Society of Dix-Neuvi辿mistes, 24:1 (2020), 82-98.

The Enlightenmen Redux: Autonomy in Todorov, Glucksmann, and Onfray, in Tzvetan Todorov: Thinker and Humanist, ed. H. de Berg & K. Zbinden. Rochester NY: Boydell & Brewer, 2020, pp. 55-73.

The University Now: A Provocation in Five Readings,&稼恢壊沿;Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives, 9:2 (2020), 62-74.

La marquise de Merteuil po竪te?,&稼恢壊沿;Revue dhistoire litt辿raire de la France, 1 (2019), 95-102.

The Continent of History: Montesquieu, Voltaire, Condorcet, in The Cambridge History of French Thought, ed. M. Moriarty & J. Jennings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019, pp. 249-255.

A M. le chevalier Hamilton, ambassadeur Naples, in Commentaire historique (uvres compl竪tes de Voltaire, 78C). Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2018, pp. 295-300.

Orph辿e ou la po辿sie incarn辿e chez Andr辿 Ch辿nier,&稼恢壊沿;Op. Cit.: Revue des litt辿ratures et des arts, 17 (2017): 

Nuages et nuances r辿volutionnaires: la F棚te de la F辿d辿ration, le 14 juillet 1790, in Les Nuages : du tournant des Lumi竪res au cr辿puscule du Romantisme, 1760-1880, ed. A. Vasak & P. Glaudes. Paris: Hermann, 2017, pp. 67-81.

From Analogies to Patterns: Images in French and British Geological Texts of the Late Eighteenth Century, in Visualizing the Text from Manuscript Culture to the Age of Caricature, ed. C. Ionescu & L. Beck. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press, 2017, pp. 203-227.

Movement and Montage in Andr辿 Ch辿niers Ode Versailles (1793),&稼恢壊沿;Crossways Journal, 1:1 (2017): 

Dangerous Connections, 1784: et si traduire c辿tait s辿duire, in Laclos apr竪s Laclos, ed. C. Seth. Paris: Hermann, 2016, pp. 11-20.

Andr辿 Ch辿niers Derni竪res po辿sies: Animism and the Terror,&稼恢壊沿;Forum for Modern Language Studies, 51:3 (2015), 304-315.

Metrology: The Body as Measure in Les Liaisons dangereuses,&稼恢壊沿;Eighteenth-Century Fiction, 27:1 (2014), 83-104.

[with Eleanor Hodgson] La Reconnaissance agonistique: Lle des esclaves et La Fausse Suivante de Marivaux, Arr棚t sur Sc竪ne/Scene Focus, 2 (2013), 155-164.

Un m辿t辿ore in辿dit: les brouillards secs de 1783, in Ordre et d辿sordre du monde: Enqu棚te sur les m辿t辿ores, de la Renaissance l但ge moderne, ed. T. Belleguic & A. Vasak. Paris: Hermann, 2013, pp. 369-388.

Xavier de Maistre and Angelology, in (Re-)Writing the Radical: Enlightenment, Revolution and Cultural Transfer in 1790s Germany, Britain and France, ed. M. Oergel. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2012, pp. 239-250.

L'avalanche au tournant des Lumi竪res, in Le Tournant des Lumi竪res, ed. K. Astbury & C. Seth. Paris: Classiques Garnier, 2012, pp. 17-32.

The Terrorist Earth? Some Thoughts on Sade and Baudrillard,&稼恢壊沿;French Cultural Studies, 23:3 (2012), 215-224.

Face la mort blanche: conceptions du froid extr棚me dans les avalanches et dans les neiges au XVIIIe si竪cle, in Canicules et froids extr棚mes. L辿v竪nement climatique et ses representations, ed. J. Berchtold et al. Paris: Editions Hermann, 2012, pp. 97-108.

(Ac)claiming Illyria: Eighteenth-Century Istria and Dalmatia in Fortis, Cassas and Lavall辿e,&稼恢壊沿;Central Europe, 9:2 (2011), 125-141.

Quelques r辿flexions sur la figure de la cha樽ne au XVIIIe si竪cle: en th辿orie et en pratique, in De la th辿orie laction. Les savoirs et leur mise en uvre au si竪cle des Lumi竪res, ed. V. Kobi. Geneva: Slaktine, 2011, pp. 123-134.

A Manifesto for the Arts and Humanities: The Example of Candide&稼恢壊沿;Atelier de th辿orie litt辿raire, Fabula (2011)

Credit and Credulity in Montesquieus Lettres persanes,&稼恢壊沿;Lumen, 28 (2010), 107-116.

Pique-niquer sur le volcan: une pratique culturelle de Winckelmann Sade,&稼恢壊沿;French Studies, 63:3 (2009), 259-270.

Concevoir lEurope au XVIIIe si竪cle selon sa g辿ologie: le cas des volcans, in LId辿e dEurope au XVIIIe si竪cle, ed. L. Piccardo. Paris: Champion, 2009, pp. 232-242.

[with Ian Rotherham] Peat Bogs, Marshes and Fen as Disputed Landscapes in Late Eighteenth-Century France and England, in Histoires de la Terre: Earth Sciences and French Culture 1740-1940, ed. L. Lyle & D. McCallam. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2008, pp. 75-88.

Physiocrats and barbarians: moral economies in Chamforts comedies, in Voltaire and the 1760s. Essays for John Renwick, ed. N. Cronk. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2008, pp. 65-75.

La machine: Sade, the Guillotine and Eroticism, in Marquis de Sade and the Scientia and Techne of Eroticism, ed. F. Burwick & K. Tucker. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007, pp. 54-71.

Chamfort entre m辿moires, r辿cits de voyage et litt辿rature moraliste,&稼恢壊沿;Cahiers de lAssociation Internationale des tudes Fran巽aises, 59 (2007), 207-220.

Les modalit辿s du d辿sir dans Les Liaisons dangereuses,&稼恢壊沿;Dix-Huiti竪me Si竪cle, 38 (2006), 589-609.

Anecdote et Lumi竪res: le cas de Chamfort, in Quest-ce que les Lumi竪res? ed. K. Tunstall & G. Pigeard de Gurbert. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2006, pp. 185-195.

Exploring Volcanoes in the Late French Enlightenment: the Savant and the Sublime,&稼恢壊沿;British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 29:1 (2006), 47-59.

The Volcano: From Enlightenment to Revolution,&稼恢壊沿;Nottingham French Studies, special edition, Revolutionary Culture: Continuity and Change, ed. M. Darlow. 45:1 (2006), 52-68.

Chamfort et loptique moraliste, in LOptique des moralistes de Montaigne Chamfort, ed. B. Roukhomovsky. Paris: Champion, 2005, pp. 347-358.

D辿molir pour 辿difier: morale et architecture chez Chamfort,&稼恢壊沿;SVEC, 7 (2005), 327-338

Monstre figure humaine: Portraits des r辿volutionnaires dans Le Nouveau Paris de Louis-S辿bastien Mercier, in Le m但le en France 1715-1830: Repr辿sentations de la masculinit辿, ed. K. Astbury & M.-E. Plagnol-Di辿val. Bern: Peter Lang, 2004, pp. 219-231.

Third Person Singular: The Liberation of the Marquise de Sade 1789-1790, in The Age of Letter Writing. Gender and Politics 1750-2000, ed. C. Bland & M. Cross. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004, pp. 45-55.

Stendhal, Siey竪s and the Literary Aristocracy,&稼恢壊沿;French Studies Bulletin, 91 (2004), 10-12.

The Nature of Libertine Promises in Lacloss Les Liaisons dangereuses, Modern Language Review, 98:4 (2003), 857-869.

Encountering and Countering the Uncanny in Descartess 珂辿糸庄岳温岳庄看稼壊,&稼恢壊沿;French Studies, 57:2 (2003), 135-147; Reprinted in Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800, vol. 150, ed. by Tom Schoenberg (Detroit; London: Gale, 2008).

Une forme frondeuse: the function of discontinuity in La Rochefoucaulds Maximes,&稼恢壊沿;Seventeenth-Century French Studies, 24 (2002), 239-248.

Waxing Revolutionary: Reflections on a Raid on a Waxworks at the Outbreak of the French Revolution,&稼恢壊沿;French History, 16:2 (2002), 153-173.

Chamfort, Doctor of Morals: The Maxim and the Medical Aphorism in Late Eighteenth-Century France,&稼恢壊沿;British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, 25:1 (2002), 103-111.

Breaking the Code: Passion and Narrative in Stendhals La duchesse de Palliano,&稼恢壊沿;Arachnofiles: A Journal of European Languages and Cultures, 2 (2001): https://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/delc/arachnofiles/index-issues

Cast in a new light: clich辿s in Prousts Combray,&稼恢壊沿;French Studies Bulletin, 78 (2001), 15-17.

From Authority to Authorship: Chamforts maxims and the transferral of power in late eighteenth-century France,&稼恢壊沿;Trivium, 32 (2000), 45-58.

Les petites phrases dans la politique anglo-saxonne,&稼恢壊沿;Communication et langages, 126 (2000), 52-59.

The Significance of Scars in some Writings of La Rochefoucauld, in Corporeal Practices: (Re)figuring the body in French Studies, ed. J. Prest & H. Thompson. Bern: Peter Lang, 2000, pp. 33-43.

Re-writing the Revolution as popular spectacle in Chamforts Tableaux historiques de la R辿volution fran巽aise, in Dialogues 3: Re-writing the Political, ed. D. Hall & B. McCann. Exeter: Elm Bank Publications, 2000, pp. 19-27.