Mailing Address:
PENN STATE BEHREND
GLENHILL FARMHOUSE
ERIE PA 16563
Biography
Dr. Kathryn Willis Wolfe retired as professor of French at Penn State Behrend in 2018. She spent her junior year in France with the Smith College program in Paris and received her B.A. in French from the University of Illinois (1970), graduating Phi Beta Kappa. She received her M.A. (1973) and Ph.D. (1977) in French language and literature from Princeton University. Before coming to Behrend in 1986, she taught as a visiting assistant Professor for four years at Allegheny College (1982-86). Dr. Wolfe won the 1994 Council of Fellows Excellence in Teaching Award and the 1998 Founders Prize in Foreign Literature and Languages from the Philological Association of the Carolinas.
Her research interests are focused on 17th-century French comic theater, particularly that of Molière and its ties to the Italian improvisational theater (the Commedia dell’Arte). She also has studied and edited a number of French scholarly correspondences from the early 17th century with her husband, Dr. Phillip J. Wolfe of Allegheny College.
Courses Previously Taught
- FR 001, Elementary French I
- FR 002 and 002H, Elementary French II
- FR 003 and 003H, Intermediate French
- FR 139 and 139H, France and the French-Speaking World
- FR 201, Oral Communication and Reading Comprehension
- FR 296, Independent Studies
- FR 330, French Culture and Civilization
Research Interests
17th-century French comic theater, especially Moliere; 17th-century French unpublished scholarly correspondences.
Publications
Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France, by Joan Nathan, Le Banquet, revue du CERAP - 2011
When Feasting with the Statue Is Dueling with le Ciel: Carnival Inversions in Molière’s Le Festin de pierre (Dom Juan), Cincinnati Romance Review - 2011
The Carnival Logic of Molière’s Amphitryon, Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature - 2010
Études sur ‘Dom Juan’ de Molière [Studies on 'Dom Juan' by Molière] by René Pommier, French Studies - 2009
The Kinship among Men of the Republic of Letters: Christophe Dupuy and the Familial Paradigm for Scholarly Exchanges, Cahiers du dix-septième - 2007
Rivalry and the Disruption of Order in Molière’s Theater by M. S. Koppisch, Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature - 2006
Humanisme et politique: Lettres romaines de Christophe Dupuy à ses frères, 1650–1654 - 2005
Creating Comic Dialogue in Molière’s L’Avare: Harpagon and the Economics of Miserly Verbal Exchange, Romance Notes - 2000
Pistoles/Paroles: Money and Language in Seventeenth-Century French Comedy by Helen L. Harrison, Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature - 1998
The Baroque Paradox of Cyrano de Bergerac’s Pédant joué: Exploiting a Conventionalized Form to Express an Anti-authoritarian Content, Papers on French Seventeenth Century Literature - 1998
The Woof and Warp of Authoritative Speech or the Exploitation of Costume by Molière’s Pedantic Characters, Postscript - 1998
Humanisme et politique: Lettres romaines de Christophe Dupuy à ses frères, 1646–1649 [Humanism and Politics: The Roman Letters of Christophe Dupuy to his Brothers, 1646–1649] - 1997
Saint-Evrémond and Pedantry: The Baroque Aesthetic of La Comédie des académistes, Cincinnati Romance Review - 1997
Lectures de La Fontaine [Readings of La Fontaine] by Jules Brody, Papers on French Seventeenth-Century Literature - 1996
Rereading Molière: mise en scène d'Antoine à Vitez [Rereading Molière: Staging from Antoine to Vitez] by Jim Carmody, Papers on French Seventeenth-Century Literature - 1994
Corneille, témoin de son temps, I: Clitandre [Corneille, Witness to his Era, I: Clitandre] by Germain Poirier, Seventeenth-Century News - 1993
Costume & Fashion in the Plays of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin Molière by Stephen Varick Dock, Papers in Seventeenth-Century French Literature - 1993
La Mer, source de création littéraire en France au XVIIe siècle (1640–1671) [The Sea as a Source of Literary Creation in France in the 17th Century (1640–1671)] by Alia Bornaz Baccar, Seventeenth-Century News - 1993
Discours pédantesque et spectateur: structures de la Commedia dell'Arte dans le Dom Juan de Molière [Spectator and Pedantic Discourse: Structures from the Commedia dell'Arte in Molière's Dom Juan], Francographies, Nouvelle Série 2 - 1993
Esthétique de la diversité: pour une histoire du baroque en France [The Aesthetics of Diversity: For a History of the Baroque in France] by Wilfried Floeck, Seventeenth-Century News - 1992
Mythes et découvertes: le salon littéraire de Madame de Rambouillet dans les lettres contemporaines [Myths and Discoveries: the Literary Salon of Madame de Rambouillet in Contemporary Letters] by Barbara Krajewska, Seventeenth-Century News - 1992
Vies des poètes tourangeaux [Lives of the Poets from Touraine], Seventeenth-Century News - 1992
Contesting Authority in Molière’s Tartuffe: the Role of the Pedantic Characters, Cahiers du dix-septième: an Interdisciplinary Journal - 1992
La Naissance du roman en France [The Birth of the Novel in France], Seventeenth-Century News - 1991
Le Jeu Classique: jeu et théorie des jeux au grand siècle [The Classical Game: Games and the Theory of Play during the Classical Century] by Herbert De Ley, Seventeenth-Century News - 1991
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux: revolutionnaire et conformiste [Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux: Revolutionary and Conformist] by Paul Joret, Seventeenth-Century News - 1991
Considérations politiques sur la Fronde: la Correspondance entre Gabriel Naudé et le Cardínal Mazarin [Political Considerations on the "Fronde": The Correspondence of Gabriel Naudé and Cardinal Mazarin] - 1991
French Language and Literature: An Annotated Bibliography by F. Bassan, D. Spinelli and H. Sullivan, Oeuvres et Critiques - 1990
La Fontaine by M.-O. Sweetser, Seventeenth-Century News - 1990
Madame de Lafayette, La Bruyère, La Femme et le pouvoir au théâtre: Actes de Davis [Madame de Lafayette, La Bruyère, Woman and Power in the Theater: Davis Proceedings], Seventeenth-Century News - 1990
Le Caractère polémique de la Lettre sur la comédie de `l'Imposteur' [The Polemic Character of the Letter on the Comedy, `The Imposter'], Papers on Seventeenth-Century French Literature: Actes de Las Vegas - 1990
Appelez-moi Pierrot: Wit and Irony in the Letters of Madame de Sévigné [Call me Pierrot: Wit and Irony in the Letters of Madame de Sévigné] by Jo Ann Recker, Seventeenth-Century News - 1989
Appelez-moi Pierrot: Wit and Irony in the Letters of Madame de Sévigné [Call me Pierrot: Wit and Irony in the Letters of Madame de Sévigné] by Jo Ann Recker, Seventeenth-Century News - 1989
La Tragédie du prince: étude du personnage médiateur dans le théâtre tragique de Racine [The Tragedy of the Prince: Study of the Mediating Character in the Tragic Theater of Racine] by Catherine Spencer, Seventeenth-Century News - 1989
Actes de Banff [Banff Proceedings], Seventeenth-Century News - 1988
Burlesque et formes parodiques: Actes du Colloque du Mans (4–7 décembre 1986) [Burlesque and Parodic Forms: Proceedings of the LeMans Colloquium (4–7 December, 1986)], Seventeenth-Century News - 1988
Papers on Seventeenth-Century French Literature: 17th Century-French Literature at the MLA 1985–86, Seventeenth-Century News - 1988
Royal Discourse in Rotrou's Venceslas, Baroque, Literature and the Other Arts: In Memory of Robert Nicolich - 1988
Humanisme et Politique: Lettres romaines de Christophe Dupuy à ses frères, 1639–1645 [Humanism and Politics: The Roman Letters of Christophe Dupuy to his Brothers, 1639–1645] - 1988
Pouvoir de pédant/volonté de femme: le Renouvellement moliéresque d'une tradition comique [Pedant Power and Woman's Will: Molière's Renewal of a Comic Tradition], Papers on Seventeenth-Century French Literature: Actes de Davis - 1988
Actes du Colloque Corneille à Tunis [Proceedings of the Corneille Colloquium in Tunis], Seventeenth-Century News - 1987
Evangélisation et missions en Grande Bretagne [Evangelization and Missions in Great Britain] by C. d'Haussy, Seventeenth-Century News - 1987
Papers on Seventeenth-Century French Literature: Textes et Images [Papers on Seventeenth-Century French Literature: Textes and Images], Seventeenth-Century News - 1987
Re-lectures raciniennes: nouvelles approches du discours tragique [Racinian Re-readings: New Approaches to Tragic Discourse], Seventeenth-Century News - 1987
La Création comique d'une image royale: la manipulation du discours dans La Bague de l'oubli de Rotrou [The Comic Creation of a Royal Image: the Manipulation of Discourse in Rotrou's The Ring of Forgetfulness], Papers on Seventeenth-Century French Literature: Actes de Wake Forest - 1987
Lettres de Naudé à Grémonville [The Naudé-Grémonville Correspondence] - 1986
The Supernatural Presence in Molière's Dom Juan: A Problem of Belief or a Problem of Language?, Selected Proceedings, 32nd Mountain Interstate Foreign Language Conference - 1984
Education
Ph D, French, Princeton University
MA, French, Princeton University
BA, French, University of Illinois