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Seventeen students and three faculty members in French spent the weekend of April 17-19 in Montreal, Quebec, exploring many aspects of this bilingual city which is only five hours away from Clinton. Students viewed a piece of the Berlin Wall that was given as a gift to Montréal in 1992, for the 350th anniversary of the city. During a guided tour of the old and modern city, students -- who pledged to speak only French during the trip -- were told about the complex history of the area, and how bilingualism affects public and private life.

Professor of French Martine Guyot-Bender contributed "'Les belles images': 'Sottisier,' roman prémonitoire ou récit universel?" to a special issue of German journal of French Comparative Studies, Lendemains, in honor of the 100th anniversary of Simone de Beauvoir's birth in 2008. The article examines the social content of Les belles images (1967), one of de Beauvoir's least-appreciated novels which was, at the time it was published, rebuked by critics and readers and somewhat ridiculed by de Beauvoir herself.

A year ago Professor of French John C. O'Neal learned he had been promoted from "chevalier" (or knight) to "officier" (officer) in the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Order of Academic Palms), originally founded by Napoleon in 1808 to recognize meritorious achievements in teaching and research. On May 27, an awards ceremony was held at the French Embassy for Cultural Services in New York City to honor O'Neal and three others, each of whom received a medal from the French cultural counselor, Mme Kareen Rispal. In addition to some of O'Neal's family members and friends, several Hamilton community members were on hand for the event including John and Mary O'Neill, Ben and Laurie Madonia, John Lytle and Sarah Ziegler '05.

An essay by Professor of French Roberta Krueger has been published in the paperback edition of A Companion to Chrétien de Troyes. Krueger’s essay is titled “Philomena: Brutal Transitions and Courtly Transformations in Chrétien's Old French Translation.” Edited by Norris J. Lacy and Joan Tasker Grimbert, the book is published by Boydell & Brewer, Inc.

Professor of French John C. O'Neal has edited a volume of essays on Rousseau for  Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century (SVEC), a publication of the Voltaire Foundation in Oxford, England. Titled The Nature of Rousseau's 'Rêveries': physical, human, aesthetic, the volume brings together the work of international specialists to explore new approaches to the defining feature – the 'nature' – of the Rêveries. In essays which range from studies of botany or landscape painting to thematic or stylistic readings, authors re-examine Rousseau's intellectual understanding of and personal relationship with different conceptions of nature.

The Utica Observer-Dispatch published Professor of French John C. O'Neal's essay "A revolutionary idea: the French as our friends" in its viewpoints section (Dec. 23). In this piece, O'Neal summarizes the recent speech of French President Nicolas Sarkozy before the joint sessions of Congress and sees "a veritable sea change in French-U.S. relations."

Professor of French John C. O'Neal's article "Understanding and Interpreting Confusion: Philippe Pinel and the Invention of Psychiatry" is among the articles included in volume XXVI (2007) of Lumen. Travaux choisis de la Société canadienne d'étude du dix-huitième siècle. Selected Proceedings from the Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, pp. 243-258. 

Tanguy L'Aminot, editor of Etudes Jean-Jacques Rousseau and director of the study group at the Sorbonne focused on the work of this 18th-century Swiss thinker, has announced the publication of volume 16 in this series, for which Professor of French John C. O'Neal wrote an article: "La confusion de la société dans la Lettre à d'Alembert sur les spectacles et la question de la modernité de Rousseau" (pp. 253-266). As an honorary associate member of the Centre d'Etude des XVIIe et XVIIIe Siècles at the Sorbonne, O'Neal participated in the work of this study group in 2003-2004. He is chair of the French Department at Hamilton.

At the annual meeting of the Northeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (NEASECS), held at Dartmouth College in October, Professor of French John C. O'Neal was elected president of the Society. His last term as president was in 1992-1993. Currently, O'Neal is also serving as president of the Society for Eighteenth-Century French Studies, which is the French caucus of the national society, the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. NEASECS has the largest membership of the regional societies affiliated with the national society. He chairs the French Department at Hamilton.

In "The Eighteenth Century: An Entire Other World," Professor of French John C. O'Neal recounts his experience in the field of eighteenth-century studies research, tracing the threads that have tied together his scholarship over the past three decades. Solicited by the editor of the volume, Carol Blum, this article appears in Etre dix-huitiémiste II, published by the Centre International d'Etude du XVIII Siècle in Ferney-Voltaire, France in 2007.