Andreea Marculescu

Assistant Professor, French

andreea.marculescu@ou.edu
Kaufman Hall 208

Andreea Marculescu is a scholar of medieval and early modern French literature. She earned her Ph.D. in French from Johns Hopkins University and has previously taught at Harvard University and the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on medieval and Renaissance literature, with particular emphasis on performance studies, demonology, witchcraft, the history of emotions, and disability studies.

She is the author of Demonic Possession, Vulnerability, and Performance in Medieval French Drama (Peter Lang, 2018) and co-editor of Affective and Emotional Economies in Medieval and Early-Modern Europe (Palgrave, 2017). She has guest-edited two special issues: “Medieval Vulnerabilities” (Digital Philology, 2020) and “The Witch in Pre-Modern Literature” (Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes, 2022). Her articles have appeared in Critique, Mediaevalia, Literature Compass, EMF: Studies in Early Modern France, and numerous edited volumes. Her current book project, Fictions of Witchcraft in Early-Modern French Literature, explores the literary and cultural construction of the witch in early modern France. She is also co-editing the forthcoming volume MLA Options for Teaching Emotions in Literature.

Her scholarship has been supported by the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, the Oklahoma Humanities Council, and the University of Oklahoma. She serves on the executive committee for the MLA’s Medieval French Forum and as an editor for H-France Forum and H-Devil.

At the University of Oklahoma, Dr. Marculescu teaches a wide range of courses in French language, literature, and culture, as well as interdisciplinary seminars on gender studies, witchcraft, and Arthurian literature. Her pedagogy emphasizes inclusivity, critical engagement, and cultural relevance. She incorporates a variety of teaching methods—including close reading, multimedia analysis, and writing workshops—to foster student agency and intellectual growth in both French and English.

In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Marculescu is deeply engaged in service at the departmental and university levels. She has organized numerous public-facing events such film festivals and lectures that bridge academic scholarship and community engagement. Her commitment to accessible and transformative humanities education extends to outreach initiatives in partnership with local K–12 schools, the Norman Pioneer Library System, and the Norman Medieval Fair.

Selected Publications

BOOK

Demonic Possession, Vulnerability, and Performance in Medieval French Drama (New York: Peter Lang, 2018 Medieval Interventions. New Light on Traditional Thinking) ISBN 978-1-4331-3077-9. (Reviewed in French Studies, Preternature)

CO-EDITED VOLUME

Affective and Emotional Economies in Medieval and Early-Modern Europe, co-edited with Charles-Louis Morand Métivier (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).

SPECIAL JOURNAL ISSUES

“Medieval Vulnerabilities.” Special Issue of Digital Philology, Spring 2020, vol. 9 (1).
Johns Hopkins University Press Editor’s Pick for Spring 2020.
“The Witch in Pre-Modern Literature.” Special issue of Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes // Journal of Medieval and Humanistic Studies 44 (2), 2022.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

“Introduction,” in “The Witch in Pre-Modern Literature.” Special issue of Cahiers de Recherches Médiévales et Humanistes // Journal of Medieval and Humanistic Studies 44 (2), 2022, pp. 211-219.
“Introduction,” in “Medieval Vulnerabilities.” Special Issue of Digital Philology, Spring 2020, vol. 9 (1), pp. 1-7.
“Teaching to Hate through medieval theater: hate, violence, and the invention of Piety,” special issue of Literature Compass 13.6 (2016) on ‘Emotions and Feelings in the Middle Ages,’ ed. Anthony Bale and Lynn Ramey, pp. 389-399.
“Judas Desperatus: The Pedagogy of Suicide in French Passion Plays,” special issue of European Drama and Performance Studies 7.2. (2016) on Le suicide à la scène, ed. Noémie Courtès, pp. 33-46.
“Medieval Laughter and Theatre: The Case of Some Sotties and Farces in the Recueil Trepperel and the Recueil Cohen,” EMF: Studies in Early Modern France 13 (2010), pp. 17-30.
“Between Church and Stage: Various Uses of the Septenary in Late Medieval France,” Mediaevalia 28. 2 (2007), pp. 49-63.
“Le Rire médiéval,” Critique 716-717 (2007), pp. 70-79.

CHAPTERS IN EDITED BOOKS

“Narrating Pain and Healing in Andrieu de la Vigne, Mystère de saint Martin (1496)” in Lived Religion and Everyday Life in Early Modern Hagiographic Material, ed. Jeni Kuuliala, Päivi Räisänen-Schröder, Rose-Marie Peake (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), pp. 215-233.
“Introduction” (co-author) in Affective and Emotional Economies in Medieval and Early-Modern Europe, pp. xi-xxvii.
“The Voice of the Possessed in Late Medieval French Theater,” in Voice and Voicelessness in the Middle Ages, ed. Irit Kleiman (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), pp. 139-152.
“Mystery Plays Re-Loaded: Performing Demonic Possession in the Histoires véritables,” in French Renaissance and Baroque Drama: Text, Performance, Theory, ed. Michael Meere (Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press, 2015), pp. 1-21.
“Playing with Witches: Theology, History, and Performance in Jean Michel’s Mystère de la Passion,” The Devil in Society in Pre-Modern Europe, ed. Richard Raiswell and Peter Dendle (Toronto: Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies, 2012), pp. 27-47.

Education

Ph.D. in French. The Johns Hopkins University. 2011
M.Phil. in Medieval Studies. Utrecht University. 2005
M.A. in Medieval Studies. Central European University. 2003
B.A. Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest. 2000

Fellowships and Awards

2025 Public Fellow, OU Arts and Humanities Forum
2024 Presidential International Travel Fellowship, University of Oklahoma.
2022 Junior Faculty Summer Fellowship, University of Oklahoma
2019 Franklin Research Grant, American Philosophical Society
2018 Oklahoma Humanities Council Major Grant for the organization of Tournées French Film Festival (with Julia Abramson).
French American Cultural Exchange Grants, from FACE foundation, French Embassy and Ministry of Culture (Paris) to fund Tournées French Film Festival at University of Oklahoma (with Julia Abramson).
2016 Medieval Academy of America Travel Grant
2012-2014 American Council for Learned Societies New Faculty Fellowship