Welcome to my Site

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You have arrived a website whose purpose is to give you a brief overview of what I do professionally and who I am. It is designed primarily for students and colleagues who wish to know more about me and my work, or who want to use some recommended online resources. The site contains the following: 1) relevant parts of my CV, 2) passages from or about my published works, 3) links to other sites I have found useful, and 4) a link to my complete CV. You are invited to contact me with any questions or comments you have about this information at smetz@wustl.edu. more...

Here is some basic biographical information about me: I was born and raised in a Greek-American family in Springfield, Massachusetts. My entire family on my mother's side, however, has always lived in Crete, Greece. My wife Sara, whom I met in NYC while in graduate school, is from New Britain, Connecticut. We have two grown children, Katina and Will, both of whom currently live in Santiago, Chile and NYC, respectively. We also have a home in Maine, but spend most of our time either in Saint Louis, Missouri, where I teach at Washington University, or in NYC.

 

Cirriculum Vita

EDUCATION

Columbia University, 1977-1982
Doctor of Philosophy, 1982

University of Michigan, 1974-1977
Master of Arts, 1976
Princeton University, 1970-1974
Bachelor of Arts, 1974

EXPERIENCE

Washington University in Saint Louis, 1982-date
Professor of French & Comparative Literature, 2000-date
Co-chair of Romance Languages and Literatures, 2006-07
Associate Professor of French & Comparative Literature, 1989-2000
Assistant Professor of French, 1982-1989
Director, Summer Language Institute in France, 1999-2001
Director (Associate Dean), WU Summer School, 1990-1994
Director of Graduate Studies in French, 1996-1999
Resident Director, Colby-in-Caen Year Abroad Program (1994-1995)
Director of Undergraduate Studies in French, 1987-1990
Director, Elementary French Program, 1982-1987

COURSES GIVEN:
(SAMPLE)

Prose or Poetry? • Hugo & Rimbaud • Visual Poetics • The Western Canon • Introduction to Literary Theory • French Poetry from 1789-1857 • 20th-century French Poetry • Transgression and Literature • Literary Genres • André Breton & Surrealism • Barthes & Structuralism • Utopian Discourses • French America • French-Canadian Literature

LANGUAGES

Fluency in French, English, and Modern Greek. Reading knowledge of Spanish and Latin.

DISSERTATION
DIRECTION - CURRENT

Arlene Cravens. TBA

Virginie Dezobry. TBA

Christian Jacobs. Writing in, through and against the Construct: Beckett and Mathematics.

Nathalie Jombart. L'éducation des petites filles au 19e siècle.

Aurélie Noël. Littérature & Media: Remédiation chez Toussaint et Houellebecq.

Emmanuelle Pourroy. TBA

Violaine White. La représentation des femmes dans l'oeuvre poétique de René Char.