Society for Interdisciplinary French Seventeenth-Century Studies
Société d’études pluridisciplinaires du dix-septième siècle français
Dear Colleagues,
Bonne année! On behalf of the members of the SE17 Executive Board, I wish you all the very best as you begin the new year! Please read on for news and updates on the activities of our Society and the opportunity to vote on next year’s conference sessions.
For our community of seventeenth-century scholars the close of 2024 was marked by sadness, with the passing of beloved friend, mentor, teacher, and scholar Michèle Longino on November 21. I hope that you had the opportunity to read Faith E. Beasley and Ellen Welch’s moving tributes to Michèle on earlymodernfrance.org, which beautifully convey the sentiments so many of us share. We will honor Michèle’s memory when we gather in person for our annual conference this coming fall.
The year ahead will be one of exciting transition for the Society. As announced last year, I have decided to step down from my role as Executive Director of SE17 at the close of the calendar year. It has been an absolute joy and privilege to have served our Society for these many years. SE17 is dear to my heart, and I look forward to participating in new ways in the years to come.
I could not be more thrilled to announce that, by a vote of our membership in December, David Harrison has been elected as our next Executive Director! David and I will be working closely together this year to ensure a smooth transition of the SE17 directorship into his highly capable hands. I’m very pleased to warmly welcome him to this role and to share below the official announcement of his election prepared by Kathrina LaPorta and Deborah Steinberger. Great thanks to Deborah and Katie for their work chairing the nominations and election process this fall!
Congratulations to Dr. David Harrison, Professor of French at Grinnell College, who was enthusiastically elected Executive Director of the Society for Interdisciplinary French Seventeenth-Century Studies (SE17). He will serve as Executive Director-Elect in 2025 and, at the start of 2026, will succeed Katherine Dauge-Roth, Associate Professor of Francophone Studies at Bowdoin College, who has led the Society since 2005.
An accomplished scholar of 17th-century French literature whose interests range from Saint-Simon’s Mémoires to Madame de Villedieu’s narrative fiction, David has also recently co-authored the award-winning translation and bilingual pedagogical edition of La Princesse de Clèves (Lever Press, 2022; co-authors: Hélène Bilis, Jean-Vincent Blanchard, and Hélène Visentin), for which he translated the English edition and provided several critical essays. In addition to his publication record and areas of expertise, David also brings to this role a wealth of experience in university administration, having served as department chair and as the Director of the Center for International Studies at Grinnell. David's aim, in his own words, is to rekindle “the delight that we find in the objects of our study” and to “make SE17 the site for celebrating such pleasure and nourishing the friendships that develop out of it.”
Félicitations chaleureuses, David! Great things lie ahead for SE17 under your leadership!
I write, too, with immense gratitude to Ellen McClure and Larry Norman for the fond memories we share of the 2024 Chicago conference they so beautifully orchestrated this past October. I want to thank them once again for their hard work and extraordinary attention to every detail in organizing such a dynamic conference across sites at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Chicago, the Newberry Library, and the Chicago Institute of Art. I know all those who attended left with full hearts and minds, reinvigorated in the work we do, thanks to the stimulating intellectual exchange and warm conviviality shared during our time together. Heartfelt thanks to them both for hosting such an inspiring conference!
A reminder to all graduate students who presented at the Chicago conference: Please send your revised maximum 10-page conference paper (double spaced, not counting endnotes) to Prize Committee Chair, Abby Zanger (abby.zanger@gmail.com) by February 1st for consideration by the Prize Committee for this year’s Graduate Student Prize. Beginning this year, the winner will receive a monetary prize, in addition to some precious SE17 swag.
We now look ahead with anticipation to our next meeting November 6-8, 2025 on the beautiful campus of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, thanks to the generous invitation of Hélène Visentin. I’m pleased to share the following welcome from our 2025 SE17 President:
C’est avec grand plaisir que je me joins à Katherine Dauge-Roth pour vous souhaiter tous mes meilleurs vœux pour la nouvelle année ! Je me réjouis d’accueillir le colloque annuel de la SE17 en novembre prochain sur le joli campus de Smith College, une institution de premier cycle universitaire qui fait partie des Seven Sisters et qui fête cette année son 150ème anniversaire. Niché dans les montagnes de la Pioneer Valley, dans l’ouest du Massachusetts, et situé à Northampton, une charmante petite ville de la Nouvelle-Angleterre souvent surnommée « Paradise City », Smith College se trouve à une distance d’environ 160 km (100 miles) de Boston et 260 km (160 miles) de New York City et est facilement accessible en transports en commun.
L’organisation de ce colloque marque une transition dans ma carrière professionnelle. Après avoir occupé un poste administratif à temps plein depuis les cinq dernières années, je vais très bientôt retourner à la faculté et retrouver mon identité d’enseignante-chercheuse. Et comme je serai en congé sabbatique l’automne prochain, j’aurai tout le temps nécessaire pour finaliser les préparatifs de la conférence. J’espère que vous serez nombreux·ses à y participer !
À très bientôt,
Hélène Visentin
Session topics nominated at the Chicago business meeting for our Northampton conference now await your selection. To vote, please renew your SE17 membership for 2025 or join the Society if you are not yet a member today. Already registered members should log in to display your dues status. Thank you for your continued support of the work of SE17. Your contributions support our Early Modern France website, Cahiers-Débats journal, conference travel fund, inclusion, diversity, equity and access work, and conference-related expenses. Once your membership is completed or renewed, please proceed to the SE17 Societal page here and use the " *** 2025 Conference Session Poll *** " menu item to access the ballot. Please note that you must be logged in to see the session poll link. Members are invited to cast their vote from Wednesday, January 22 thru 5 PM Friday, January 31st.
Our treasurer, Deborah Steinberger, joins me in encouraging you to consider making a recurring or one-time donation to the Francis Assaf Graduate Student Fund. All contributions go directly to supporting the attendance of graduate students at our annual conference. You may add your contribution when paying dues, or you will find the contribution link at the top right of each page on our website, earlymodernfrance.org. We encourage you to set up a recurring donation to do your part in supporting the students who are the future of our field.
Deborah is also happy to provide the year-end accounting of our SE17 business transactions for calendar year 2024. Thank you, Deborah, for keeping our books straight! Click here to download the 2024 year-end Treasurer's Report.
Ongoing Society projects and announcements:
Curious about hosting SE17 at your home institution? While we have several possible sites for future years that have already been generously offered by members, SE17 is seeking a president for our fall 2026 annual conference. As we attempt to hold the conference in different regions from year to year, we would especially welcome interest from members outside of New England, though we welcome all inquiries. Please be in touch with me (kdauge@bowdoin.edu) and David Harrison (harrissod@grinnell.edu) to explore the possibility of hosting SE17 in 2026 or in the future.
Cahiers-Débats Editors Hélène Billis and Sylvaine Guyot, Associate Editor Heather Kirk, and their team have been very hard at work on several fronts: digitizing and archiving all past volumes of the Cahiers du dix-septième: An Interdisciplinary Journal and moving the journal to a new platform, all while shepherding the first volume in their new exciting Cahiers-Débats series to publication. Please see the project concept on the former Cahiers site here. Many thanks to them and to their team for their extraordinary dedication and energy! Stay tuned for an announcement regarding the exciting new volume soon!
The Early Modern Race Reading Group (EMRRG) continues to meet over Zoom on a monthly basis. Our first meeting of the new year is this Thursday, January 23, 2-3pm Eastern Time. IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) Officers, Jennifer Row and Ashley Williard, encourage anyone interested in joining our discussions to contact Ashley (awilliar@mailbox.sc.org) to be added to the list and to receive this week’s readings.
Christophe Schuwey and I encourage you to submit references to primary sources, scholarship, websites, and other resources for inclusion on our crowd-sourced list of “Resources for anti-racist scholarship and teaching” linked from our EMF website. The list was created in 2020 and needs your updates! You’ll find a short form at the bottom of the page for sending references for inclusion, or, if you have a longer list and prefer to provide it in an email, we welcome that as well. Thank you!
The earlymodernfrance.org team continues their great work. EMF editors, Katrina LaPorta and Christophe Schuwey, invite anyone who might be interested in joining the website team to contact them to discuss possible roles for you (kal397@nyu.edu and christophe.schuwey@univ-ubs.fr).
Please remember that it is easy to submit your announcements and share resources of all kinds on the EMF website by selecting Announcements in the top menu and then the link “Click here to announce something on Early Modern France,” which will take you to a short form to complete.
Thank you for reading! Please take a moment to join or renew your membership now and cast your vote for next fall’s sessions. See the SE17 Societal page here. Following voting, we anticipate issuing the call for papers for Northampton 2025 in early February, with a proposal submission deadline of April 1.
I wish you all the very best for a successful semester ahead and look forward to seeing many of you in Northampton!
Sincerely,
Katherine Dauge-Roth
Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures
Bowdoin College
SE17 Executive Director