Front Quad of Lincoln College, the walls covered in bright green ivy

Professor Edward Nye

Professor Edward Nye

  • Tutorial Fellow in French
  • Associate Professor of French
  • Senior Dean

Profile

I became a Fellow of Lincoln after an undergraduate degree in French and Philosophy at Leicester University, a Master's in Linguistics and Computing at Leeds University, a DPhil. in French at Merton College, Oxford, and the Kathleen Bourne Junior Research Fellowship at St Anne’s College, Oxford.

College teaching

I teach French literature and language to undergraduates reading for a four-year degree (with one year abroad), focusing mostly on the period 1500-1840. I supervise graduate students in eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century French literature.

Research

In the past, I have mainly focused on aesthetic theories of literature, the aesthetics of stage dance, and the theatrical, literary and cultural impact of mime in the nineteenth century. My current research lies in Deaf Studies, notably the history of sign language, the change of attitude to the deaf in the eighteenth century which constitutes one of the greatest social, cultural and philosophical legacies of the Enlightenment, and the subsequent significance of Deaf Culture in literature and the arts.

Select publications

Deburau: Pierrot, Mime and Culture (Routledge, 2022)

‘La Mise en scène au Théâtre des Funambules : spectaculaire, mime et poésie’, Romantisme, 188 (2020), pp. 60-59

À Bicyclette (Les Belles Lettres, 2000, 2013)

Mime, Music and Drama on the Eighteenth-century Stage: The Ballet d’Action (CUP, 2011)

Literary and Linguistic Theories in Eighteenth-century France: From Nuances to Impertinence (OUP, 2000)