Bio

Alexandre Bonafos teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in French language, literature and culture, with a particular focus on post-1800 France and nineteenth-century literature. His research interests lie at the intersection of literature, history and art history in nineteenth-century France, especially the Romantic period. A specialist of travel discourses and practices, he studies the relationship between archaeology, travel writing, and the shaping of heritage politics in modern France. His current book project analyzes of Prosper Mérimée’s contributions to the budding archaeological discipline and to monumental conservation under the July Monarchy and Second Empire.

Education
Ph.D. (2014)                           New York University
B.A. (2002), M.A. (2005)       Université de Paris-IV – Sorbonne

Courses Taught
FREN 209       Reading & Written Expression
FREN 210       Oral Communication
FREN 309       Introduction to Reading French Texts
FREN 310       Advanced Oral Communication
FREN 452       French Literature & Culture after 1800
FREN 501       La France contemporaine
FREN 595       Paris. Invention and Heritage of the French Capital
FREN 780       Nineteenth-Century Literature. Imaginaires de l’Altérité: Temps, Espace, Identités
FREN 790 Twentieth-Century Literature: Revolts & Revolutions

Research and Teaching Interests
- 18^th-, 19^th- & 20^th-century literature and culture
- Travel literature
- Romanticism
- Orientalism
- Medievalism
- Heritage and cultural policies
- Fantastique narratives and fairy tales

Selected Publications
“L’invitation au voyage : stratégies visuelles dans les séries pittoresques françaises du XIXe siècle.” Illustrer les guides touristiques imprimés du XIXe siècle à nos jours. Presses Universitaires de Rennes (2025): 62–77.
 “L’inquiétante corsité chez Mérimée et Dumas : Colomba et Les Frères corses.” Cahiers Mérimée 16 (2024): 87–107.
“De la reconnaissance à l’action : les tournées archéologiques de Prosper Mérimée dans le Centre de la France.” Voyages et voyageurs au Centre de la France. Presses Universitaires de Rennes (2021): 137–163. 
 “Vider tous les horizons : Flaubert à l’épreuve du voyage (1840–1847).” In Éric Le Calvez ed. Flaubert voyageur. Classiques Garnier (2019): 51–70.
“Shifting the Gaze: Picturesque and Archaeological Autopsy in the French Domestic Travels of Charles Nodier and Prosper Mérimée.” Studies in Travel Writing 22.1 (2018): 77–103.
“De l’archéographie à l’archéologie pittoresques. L’évolution des Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l’ancienne France.” Cahiers d’études nodiéristes 5 (2018): 25–55.
“L’Horizon du savoir. Mérimée et l’archéomanie celtique.” Cahiers Mérimée 7 (2015): 9–31.