Department of French

Department of French

   

Laura McMahon works on twentieth-century and contemporary French and Francophone cinema, philosophy and theory, with a particular focus on issues of community, relationality and responsibility. Her forthcoming monograph, Cinema and Contact: The Withdrawal of Touch in Nancy, Bresson, Duras and Denis (Legenda, 2011), draws on the work of Jean-Luc Nancy in an investigation of the aesthetics and politics of touch in cinema. Her current research project explores the idea of community in contemporary French and Francophone film, including work by Godard, Varda, Klotz, the Dardennes, Assayas, des Pallières and Denis. She is the co-editor of Rhythms: Essays in French Literature, Thought and Culture (Bern: Peter Lang, 2008).