Jennifer Solheim, who enters the French department with a B.A. in English, with a minor in French, from the University of Illinois at Chicago, brings both scholarly and practical experience to her study of Francophone women writers. In addition to her training in literary theory, performance studies, and feminist criticism, Solheim has translated a novel, worked as a research assistant for a poet, and performed as a bassist and singer in indie rock bands. Building on work with writer and activist Yolaine Simha, a French Jew who suffered from agoraphobia after beginning her life in hiding during World War II, Solheim has developed a network of intellectual and musical associates in Paris who explore questions of embodiment and performance in women’s writing. At Berkeley she will situate this work in the broader context of twentieth- century French literature and philosophy. Her mentor will be Elizabeth Roberts, a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology.