Dr Delphine Grass

Lecturer in French

Current Teaching

FREN101: French Culture and Society

DELC215: Language and Identity in France, Germany and Spain

DELC342: Imagining Modern Europe: Post-Revolutionary Utopias and Ideologies in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century

DELC347: Modernity of Forms and Forms of Modernity in French Literature 1850-2000

DELC416: Academic and Practical Methods in Translation

DELC 420: MA Translation Project

DELC 425: Translation as Creative Critical Practice

Research Overview

My research focuses primarily on modern and contemporary French literature, theory and criticism. In among that, I am particularly interested in creative critical practices, or forms of art writing, around translation, as well as in translation as a creative writing and art practice in itself. Another aspect of my research into contemporary writing practices focuses on the relationship between literature, art and politcs. I have written and published works on translation, writing technologies, posthumanism and the archive. I have also written several articles on Michel Houellebecq and am the translator, with Tim Mathews, of his poetry collection The Art of Struggle. My new research project, funded by the AHRC/MEITS, is entitled 'Translation as Creative Critical Practice'. It researches the ways in which translation can stimulate creative approaches to the reading and interepretation of texts. I am currently working on a short monograph entitled Translation as Creative Critical Practice (under contract with Cambridge University Press). I am also a praticing poet and have published works in both French and English.

Research Grants

Arp Foundation Fellowship: 'Moving Lines: Translation as Performance in Hans/Jean Arp' (2020)

AHRC/MEITS 'Translation as Creative Critical Practice' (2019 for 24 months)

The Society for French Studies Conference Fund: Awarded (with Dr. Charlotte Baker) in support of the conference "Multilingual French Identities" taking place in January 2014 at Lancaster University.

My PhD research was funded by the UCL Graduate School Scholarship (Fees and Maintenance Scholarship awarded on merit and excellence accross UCL faculties)

PhD Supervision Interests

Literary translation, modernism, creative criticism, postcritique, comparative literature, literature and political philosophy.

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Publications
Projects
Activities
PhD Students
Research Groups

Selected Publications Show all 28 publications

Ghosts in the Text: Writing Technologies, Authorial Strategy and the Politics of Reactionary Autoimmunity in Houellebecq's Works
Grass, D.B. 1/04/2019 In: The Australian Journal of French Studies. 56, 1, p. 53–69.
Journal article

The Democratic Languages of Exile: Reading Eugene Jolas and Yvan Goll's American Poetry with Jacques Derrida and Hannah Arendt
Grass, D.B. 1/07/2017 In: Nottingham French Studies. 56, 2, p. 227-244. 18 p.
Journal article

World literature at the Borderland: The Frontier Poetics of Claude Vigée and André Weckmann’s Alsatian Poetry
Grass, D. 09/2015 In: Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies. 11, 3, p. 1-19. 19 p.
Journal article

Domesticating Hierarchies, Eugenic Hygiene and Exclusion Zones: The Dogs and Clones of Houellebecq's La Possibilité d'une île
Grass, D. 07/2012 In: L'Esprit Créateur. 52, 2, p. 127-140. 14 p.
Journal article

The disappearing subject: language, transparency and modern architecture in the works of Michel Houellebecq
Grass, D. 06/2011 In: Contemporary French and Francophone Studies. 15, 3, p. 339-347. 9 p.
Journal article

All Publications Show only selected publications

"Our Reading Woes"
Grass, D. 21/04/2020
Web publication/site

Translation as performance in “Found in Translation: Literary Dispatches from the Peripheries of Europe”
Grass, D. 13/12/2019
Blog

Black Nettles Blaze in the Wind (poetry translation of Claude Vigée)
Grass, D. 5/09/2019 In: Poems from the Edge of Extinction. Chambers ISBN: 1473692997, 9781473692992.
Chapter

On Peripheries: graphic short story
Gregori Labarta, I., Grass, D. 2019
Digital or Visual Products

Art, Literature and the Multilingual Spaces of post-Brexit Democracy
Grass, D.B. 2018
Other contribution

The Multilingual Spaces of French and Francophone Writing
Grass, D.B., Baker, C.A. 07/2017 In: Nottingham French Studies. 56, 2
Special issue

Introduction
Grass, D., Baker, C. 1/06/2017 In: Nottingham French Studies. 56, 2, p. 115-118. 4 p.
Journal article

Feuilles Doubles
Grass, D. 2017 Amorces collection ed. Paris : A Verse. ISBN: 9791093694030.
Book

Untitled: Hommage à Yves Bonnefoy
Grass, D.B. 09/2016
Other contribution

Translation of Houellebecq's poetry for "Rester Vivant"/"To Stay Alive" exhibition at Palais de Tokyo
Grass, D.B. 1/06/2016
Other contribution

Multilingual Francophone African Identities
Grass, D.B., Baker, C.A. 03/2015 In: International Journal of Francophone Studies. 18, 1
Special issue

Houellebecq’s Soumission gives us a vision of Islam tailored for Western fantasies
Grass, D. 2015
Other contribution

Introduction: Multilingual Francophone African identities
Baker, C., Grass, D. 2015 In: International Journal of Francophone Studies. 18, 1, p. 11-18. 8 p.
Journal article

La Traversée
Grass, D., Wiame, S. 07/2013 Les Céphéides.
Anthology

Oyster, Oyster! (Contre-histoire de l'huître)
Grass, D., Wiame, S. 07/2013 Les Céphéides.
Anthology

"Black Nettles Blaze in the Wind"
Grass, D. 2011
Other contribution

Michel Houellebecq et les préromantiques allemands: une lecture poétique du roman Houellebecqien
Grass, D. 2011 In: Michel Houellebecq à la Une . Amsterdam : Rodopi ISBN: 978-90-420-3340-5.
Chapter

Review of Hédi Kaddour’s Treason, trans. by Marilyn Hacker
Grass, D. 2011 In: Modern Poetry in Translation. 3, 16
Book/Film/Article review

Review of Jean Folain, 130 poems
Grass, D. 2011 In: Modern Poetry in Translation. 16, 3
Book/Film/Article review

Review of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Orchards, trans. by Peter Oram and Alex Barr
Grass, D. 2011 In: Modern Poetry in Translation. 3, 16
Book/Film/Article review

Preface to Houellebecq's The Art of Struggle
Grass, D., Mathews, T., Houellebecq, M. 2010
Foreword/postscript

The Art of Struggle
Houellebecq, M., Grass, D., Mathews, T. 2010
Other contribution

Houellebecq and the novel as site of epistemic rebellion
Grass, D. 2006 In: Opticon1826. 1, 10 p.
Journal article

Moving Lines: Translation as Performance in Hans/Jean Arp
01/06/2020 → 30/06/2020
Research

ISF: Translation as Creative Critical Practice
30/01/2019 → 30/06/2020
Research