Susan Blood
Associate Professor of French Studies
Background
Susan Blood received her B.A. in French Literature from Reed College and her
Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University. She taught in the French Department at
Yale University from 1986 until 1998 when she came to the University at Albany.
Research:
Blood's research has focused on modernism, both as a theoretical
and as an historical problem. Her book, Baudelaire and the
Aesthetics of Bad Faith (1997), examines the relationship between
Baudelaire's canonization and the development of a modernist
consciousness in the critical debates of the 20th century. She is currently working on two
projects: 1) a study of 4 literary debates in France, from the 17th through the 20th
centuries, in which the definition of the "modern" is at stake; and 2) a study of art and
ideology in the French Romantic period.
Teaching:
Blood's teaching covers a wide range of topics. Courses with a general focus, exploring
literature in its cultural contexts, include: "Writers and Revolutions," "Literary Debate in
France," and "French Romanticism." Courses that examine key moments in the
development of modern literary theory include: "Racine and the Question of Classicism
in Contemporary Criticism," "Rousseau and Literary Theory," and "Literature and the
Economy of the Aesthetic." In addition to these, Blood has taught numerous poetry
seminars and courses that relate verbal media and the visual arts.
email: srblood@albany.edu or srblood@compuserve.com