Modern Languages academic receives the prestigious Gapper Prize

Caroline Warman, Professor of French Literature and Thought in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages and Fellow of Jesus College, has been awarded the 2021 R. Gapper Book Prize for the best book in French Studies to be published in 2020.

Professor Warman was recognised for her book, The Atheist's Bible. Diderot and the Eléments de physiologie (Open Book publishers). She was awarded the prize jointly with Professor Susan Harrow (Bristol) for Colourworks. Chromatic Innovation in Modern French Poetry and Art.

Three other Oxford Modern Languages colleagues were among the shortlisted authors: Professor Ann Jefferson for Nathalie Sarraute. A Life Between (Princeton University Press), Professor Neil Kenny for Born to Write. Literary Families and Social Hierarchy in Early Modern France (OUP), and Dr Emily McLaughlin for Yves Bonnefoy and Jean-Luc Nancy. Ontological Performance (OUP).

For the 2021 Prize, the R. Gapper Prize Jury received 47 titles — the highest number since the Prize was inaugurated — and the subject matter ranged from the medieval to the contemporary. The standard was impressive, and eight titles were shortlisted for the final round.  The award  ceremony will take place at the Society for French Studies' Annual Conference at Queen's University Belfast (27-29 June 2022).

You can read more about Professor Warman and her research in her Faculty profile. The book can be bought or downloaded for free as a PDF on the Open Book Publishers website, along with an interview with Professor Warman, and Professor Warman presents the book in a piece for the Faculty's Polyglot alumni magazine. You can also find out more about Professor Kenny and his work to advocate for language teaching in schools in the Humanities Division's Talking Languages series.