Aaron Prevots, Associate Professor of French, holds a PhD in French Studies from Brown University. He specializes in 19th-21st century French literature and culture and has published articles on Arthur Rimbaud, Walt Whitman, Eugene Guillevic, Jacques Reda, Philippe Jaccottet, Yves Bonnefoy, and Jean-Paul Michel. He has translated three volumes of Jacques Reda’s poetry and prose-Return to Calm (Host, 2007), Thirteen Songs of Dark Love (VVV, 2008) and Europes (Host, 2009)-as well as Bernard Vargaftig’s poetry collection As Breathing (VVV, 2010). His scholarly research, which focuses on how writers reflect and shape identity, emphasizes poets who connect readers to each other and to the outside world. As an invited writer for The French Review, published by the American Association of Teachers of French, he evaluates poetry, prose, and scholarly volumes. His research also addresses musical forms (pop, jazz, chanson), translation, and feminist perspectives. Currently, he is preparing studies of postwar French authors and the 21st-century avant-garde.

Prevots’ teaching abides by three rules when it comes to teaching.

1. To create an energetic, active, student-centered classroom environment
2. To foster empathy, awareness of cultural differences, and strong methodological skills
3. To empower students to act as agents of social change within and across communities

What he enjoys about teaching at Southwestern University is inspiring students to challenge themselves and learn more than they expected to learn. He designs courses where students expand their interdisciplinary knowledge, discover other cultures in depth, and intensively practice their speaking and writing skills. Seeing them make new connections within and across disciplines encourages him to vary classroom activities and make new materials.

As a teacher and mentor, he balances academic rigor with a relaxed atmosphere. He sharpens students’ intercultural knowledge, ensure graduate school placements and scholarships, and instill global citizenship skills including the ability to recognize different world views and methodologies. Supervising Capstone projects is especially interesting, since it gives him the chance to update what he knows on art, culture, and literature, while also seeing students grow as thinkers and writers looking back on what they have discovered as undergraduates and forward to their careers.

Southwestern’s “Representing Gender” and “Situating Place” Paideia clusters, initiatives for intentional, integrative, interdisciplinary teaching and learning, also facilitate his goal of empowering students. They build on his already close attention to the progress of each individual student, as a lifelong learner able to reflect purposefully and productively on changing contexts at home and abroad. In discussing interdisciplinary readings and team-teaching for the Paideia clusters, he continually develops and adapts. He gets to keep moving forward in terms of what, how, and why he teaches, as a scholar understanding practical and theoretical responses to a rapidly changing world. Alumni apply what they learn in their French coursework toward helping others, in fields such as art, environmental policy, healthcare, law, marketing, psychology, social media, and teaching.

Prevots is affiliated with American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), American Literary Translators Association (ALTA), Modern Language Association (MLA), Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA), South Central Modern Language Association (SCMLA), and Women in French (WIF).

Honors

• Mellon Environmental Studies Faculty Development Grant, French 354 “Contemporary French Culture,” Southwestern University, 2014
• Teaching Award Nomination, Southwestern University, 2014
• Competitive Faculty Development Grants, Southwestern University, 2006-Present
• Elected Representative, Modern Language Association Delegate Assembly, 2008-2011
• Tournees Grants for community-wide French Film Festival, sponsored by the French American Cultural Exchange and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, 2007, 2008 and 2009
• Finalist, Soeurette Diehl Fraser Award for Best Translation of a Book, Texas Institute of Letters, Return to Calm (Host, 2007), 2009
• Sam Taylor Fellowship, General Board of Higher Education & Ministry, 2008
• American Association of Teachers of French Summer Scholarship, Seminar in Switzerland and Belgium, sponsored by the AATF, Presence Suisse, and the Communaute fransaise de Belgique Wallonie-Bruxelles, 2008
• ACS-Mellon Teaching with Technology Fellowship, Southwestern University, July 2006
• ACS Summer Teaching and Learning Workshop Fellowship, Rollins College, June 2005
• cole Normale Superieure Exchange Fellowship, Paris, France, 1998-1999
• Mellon Project 2001 Technology Certificate Program, Middlebury College, 1998
• Kiel University Exchange Fellowship, Kiel, Germany, 1997
• Fulbright Teaching Assistantship, Grenoble, France, 1993-1994

PEER-REVIEWED BOOKS

Comme respirer, pr�c�d� de Sinon aimer / As Breathing, with If Not Loving. By Bernard Vargaftig. Trans. and postface Aaron Prevots. Halifax: VVV, 2010.

Europes. By Jacques R�da. Trans. and intro. Aaron Prevots. Austin: Host, 2009.

Treize chansons de l’amour noir / Thirteen Songs of Dark Love. By Jacques R�da. Trans. Aaron Prevots. Halifax: VVV, 2008.

Return to Calm. By Jacques R�da. Trans. and intro. Aaron Prevots. Preface Jacques R�da. Austin: Host, 2007.

PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS

“Trains and Circulation in Jacques Reda’s Prose and Poetry: Movement as Amplified ‘Phenomenal Flow.’” Migration, Immigration, and Movement in Literature and Culture. Pacific Coast Philology 49:2 (Special Issue, Fall 2014): 262-81.

“Jean-Paul Michel: L’extreme lucidite.” Jean-Paul Michel. NU(e) 56 (Fall 2014): 159-65.

“The Year in Poetry 2013: Transformations.” The French Review 88:1 (October 2014): 79-94.

“Langue et creation chez Jacques Reda: Le chant rythmique de la depossession.” Dalhousie French Studies, selected papers of the “Colloque Poesie et Langue” (Fall 2014, forthcoming).

“The Year in Poetry 2012: Shifts and Folds of Consciousness.” The French Review 87:1 (October 2013): 29-46.

“Guillevic and Jacques Reda as ‘Sauvages.’ Notes Guillevic Notes 2:1 (Fall 2012): 55-78.

“The Year in Poetry 2011: Exemplary Trajectories.” The French Review 86:1 (October 2012): 44-59.

“Accepting the World’s Exuberance: Jacques Reda’s Trajectory in Poetry and Prose.” JAISA 11:1 (2012): 5-16.

“Culture beyond Borders: Jazz as a Realm of Memory in Jacques Reda’s L’Improviste.” Resounding Pasts: Essays in Literature, Popular Music, and Cultural Memory. Ed. Drago Momcilovic. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011. 177-201.

“Gender Criticism and Popular Music Studies: Envisioning Women Artists and Why France Begs to Differ.” Women in French Studies 19 (2011): 108-119.

“The Year in Poetry 2010: From Bonnefoy to the Blues.” The French Review 85:1 (October 2011): 42-56.

“Jacques Reda and Jazz: Poetic Improvisations from France.” Brilliant Corners 15:1 (Winter 2010): 18-29.

“Entretien avec Jacques Reda.” The French Review 84:2 (December 2010): 358-369.

“Une certaine facon d’etre Suisse romand: Philippe Jaccottet et la justesse de vie et de voix.” La Francophonie en Europe: le cas de la Suisse et de la Communaute francaise de Belgique. Dialogues et Cultures 56 (2010): 76-83.

“En avant la Belgique: Diversite et richesse de l’actualite musicale en Communaute francaise.” La Francophonie en Europe: le cas de la Suisse et de la Communaute francaise de Belgique. Dialogues et Cultures 56 (2010): 97-106.

“Philippe Jaccottet.” 3,000-word entry. The Literary Encyclopedia. 28 July 2010. The Literary Dictionary Company. .

“Jacques Reda.” 3,000-word entry. The Literary Encyclopedia. 7 April 2009. The Literary Dictionary Company. .

“Yves Bonnefoy.” 3,000-word entry. The Literary Encyclopedia. 18 June 2008. The Literary Dictionary Company. .

“Teaching French through Music.” Preface to Instructor’s Annotated Edition and Instructor’s Resource Manual. Horizons Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Editions. Manley, Joan H. et al. Boston: Heinle Cengage Learning, 2009, 2012, and 2015. AIE13-15.

“Fragile Signs of Hope in Yves Bonnefoy, Philippe Jaccottet and Jacques Reda.” Pacific Coast Philology 42 (2007): 54-72.

“Poesie, swing et Jacques Reda.” Archipel: Cahier international de litterature 25 (2007): 60-69.

“French through Songs and Singing: Language and Culture through Music Online.” Academic Commons. The Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts. Wabash College. . February 2007.

“Poetry as Act: Yves Bonnefoy’s ‘The Torches.’” The Image of the Twentieth Century in Literature, Media, and Society: Selected Papers, 2000 Conference, Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery. Pueblo, Colorado: University of Southern Colorado, 2000. 502-506.

“‘Crossing Brooklyn Ferry’ et ‘Promontoire’: Whitman, Rimbaud, et la vision poetique-prophetique.” Lire Rimbaud: approches critiques. Ed. Paul Perron et Sergio Villani. Preface Yves Bonnefoy. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2000. 307-323.

REVIEWS

Scholarly studies, creative works, and translations reviewed for:

AATF French Review

ALTA National Translation Award

Dalhousie French Studies

Modern & Contemporary France

Notes Guillevic Notes

Translation Review

Women in French Studies