Grant Crichfield joined the Department of Romance Languages in 1968 after several years teaching at the University of Wisconsin [Madison] and, as a Fulbright Teaching Fellow, at the Université de Dijon, France; he retired from UVM in 2003. He earned his B.A. (French) from the University of Massachusetts [Amherst] and his M.A. and Ph.D. (major: French; minor: comparative literature) from the University of Wisconsin. His scholarship has focused on the French nineteenth century: portrayal of the other; the representation of history in literature; French Orientalism; the literary fantastic; all with particular attention to the works of Charles Nodier and Théophile Gautier and with forays into several other writers’ works. 

 

His teaching interests center on French culture and literature of the nineteenth century, especially the romantic tradition, as well as on French language and cinema. At UVM, he taught advanced courses on the French nineteenth century; French Masterworks; French language at all levels; he also gave TAP seminars on literature and film and courses in the General Literature program. Besides teaching and scholarship, he was Director in Nice, France, of UVM’s Vermont Overseas Study Program to the Université de Nice, (1970-71), and functioned as VOSP Co-Director and advisor in Burlington for several years before and into the mid-1980’s after his stay in Nice. 

 

Since retirement, he has continued teaching: he has returned to UVM twice to give French courses, taught for several years at Burlington College (transdisciplinary humanities courses, French cinema, French language), and most recently at the Alliance Française of the Lake Champlain Region (advanced literature courses). He is a Vice-President of the Caroline Baird Crichfield Fund for Women in Need, and volunteers as a translator for The Vermont Ibutwa Initiative, a Burlington-based charitable organization helping women and families in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Post-retirement travel adventures have included virtually annual trips to Europe, Cuba several times, Viet Nam, Hong Kong, as well as the U.S. and Canada.