Professor in the French and Francophone Studies section of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and affiliated with the Interpretation Theory Program since he came to Swarthmore in 1997, after receiving his PhD from Yale University. A specialist in early modern literature and culture, his teaching also includes modern French literature (“La Modernité”), the philosophy and anthropology of literature (“A History of the Five Senses”), and the medical humanities (“Literature and Medicine”). Professor Blanchard has published extensively in his field, including a biography of Cardinal Richelieu titled Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France (2011). Among many projects, he is currently preparing a study of the architectonics of power in Louis XIV’s France, as well as a digital, critical, and pedagogical edition of Madame de La Fayette’s La Princesse de Clèves. For more information, see his personal website.