Dr Penny Simons

Senior Lecturer in French

Telephone: (0114) 222 2866

email : p.simons@sheffield.ac.uk

Qualifications

MA, Cambridge; PhD, University of Sheffield

Biography

After graduating in Modern & Medieval Languages from Newnham College, Cambridge, I spent a few years working in museums and administrative roles, before coming to the University of Sheffield to undertake doctoral research on the portrayal of education in twelfth- and thirteenth-century French literature. Upon completing this, I joined the staff as a lecturer in 1991. From 2000-2002 I was seconded as an Adviser in Learning and Teaching to the University's Staff Development Unit. I rejoined the French Department in 2002 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2003.

Research interests

My research centres on romance texts written in the crucial last third of the twelfth century when this form of literary production became established in France. I am especially interested in texts that are ususally labelled 'non-canonical', or that have been unfairly neglected. This does occasionally take me into the thirteenth century.

My current work focuses upon the romances Partonopeus de Blois, Aimon de Varennes' Florimont, and Floire et Blancheflor, and on the relationships between them.

Professional activities

• University of Sheffield leader for Yorkshire Universities' Consortium for 'Routes into Languages', funded by HEFCE (current)
• External examiner for research degree at University of Durham, 2004
• Secretary/Treasurer of the British Branch of the International Courtly Literature Society, 1998-2004
• External examiner for non-specialist French, De Montfort University, 1995-97

Current and Recent Research Projects

• An edition and translation of the anonymous thirteenth-century romance Joufroi de Poitiers (current)
• A study of Aimon de Varennes' Florimont (current)
• Co-investigator for the Partonopeus de Blois Electronic edition project (2001-2005), funded by a grant of £238,387 from the AHRB

Publications since 2001

• 'Literary and Historical Contexts: Possible Tools for Dating Joufroi de Poitiers', Reading Medieval Studies, 34 (2007), 105-132
• 'Le Bel Inconnu' in The Arthur of the French: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval French and Occitan Literature, edited by Glyn S. Burgess and Karen Pratt (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2006), 412-15
• 'Pear as Prophylactic? Conception and Composition in Chrétien de Troyes' Cligés', Nottingham Medieval Studies 49 (2005), 18-41
• Penny Eley, Catherine Hanley, Mario Longtin and Penny Simons, 'Partonopeus de Blois': An Electronic Edition (Sheffield: HriOnline, 2005) at http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/partonopeus/
• 'Love, Marriage and Transgression in Joufroi de Poitiers: A Case of Literary Anarchism', in Discourses on Love, Marriage and Transgression, edited by Albrecht Classen (Tempe, Arizona: 2004), 225-241
• Penny Eley, Catherine Hanley, Mario Longtin and Penny Simons, 'Cristal et Clarie and a lost manuscript of Partonopeus de Blois', Romania 121 (2003), 329-47

Full list of Publications

Postgraduate Supervision

Thesis topics I have supervised, or am currently supervising, include:

• 'Symbolism and sources in the Old French Partonopeu de Blois'
• 'A literary analysis of Aimon de Varennes' Florimont'
• 'The portrayal of war in Old French literature c.1150-1270'

Teaching Interests

I teach a range of undergraduate langugae courses, plust specialist modules on the history of the French language, the teaching of modern languages in the secondary sector and medieval comic writing of thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. I also contribute to postgraduate courses on medieval French language and literature and advanced translation from French to English

I am interested in inquiry-based learning and am on the Steering Group for CILASS the University's CETL for inquiry-based learning. I have also developed IT support materials for student learning.

I am currently Director of Learning and Teaching Development for the Faculty of Arts

Find out more about Learning and Teaching Development at Sheffield

Find out more about the Directors of Learning and Teaching Development

I currently teach the following specialist modules and units:

• FRE105: Classic French Narratives (Madame Bovary
• FRE205/206: History of the Language
• FRE261/262: Teaching Modern Languages
• FRE367/368: Le Rire gaulois
• FRE6631: Research Skills for French Medievalists
• FRE6700: Advanced Translation from French

Departmental Responsibilities

• Undergraduate Admissions Tutor
• SRDS Reviewer and member of Departmental Promotions Panel
• Member of the Learning and Teaching Committee