Graduate Student in French
Kellie Giordano is a fourth-year PhD candidate in French Literature at Boston University. Her research takes an interdisciplinary approach to nineteenth-century French literature, examining French fiction through the lenses of narratology, medical humanities, and gender studies. Her dissertation, “Metabolizing the Nineteenth Century: Hunger and Disordered Eating in Nineteenth-Century French Fiction,” presents a re-reading of the female body in the nineteenth century, arguing that eating disorders should be understood as a form of embodied discourse that reflects societal preoccupations with women’s bodies and the space they occupy. Through the works of Balzac, Sand, Flaubert, Zola, and Rachilde, she explores how fictional female characters restrict their food intake to fulfill an insatiable hunger for perfection and power in a context where they largely lack agency. Before joining Boston University, Kellie earned a BA in French and History from UNC Charlotte and also holds a master’s degree in French.