Biography
Daryl Lee is Professor of French at Brigham Young University and an affiliate of BYU's Global Women's Studies, International Cinema Studies, and Comparative Literature programs. His work in cultural studies has addressed two broad eras (late nineteenth-century France and post-war cinema), spans popular and high culture, and has incorporated a variety of forms and material objects, from lyric poetry, the naturalist novel, and crime films to photographic albums of war ruins in Paris, guidebooks, and caricature. His commitment to experiential learning through internships and study abroad has included taking students to France, Morocco and Senegal.
Research Interests
My primary area of focus is 19th-century France, with an emphasis on urban representations in literature and media ca. 1848-1900. Evolving from early studies of the image of Paris in ruins in the Third Republic after the Commune of 1871, my work examines the relation between aesthetics and socio-political context. My work on the heist film (The Heist Film: Stealing with Style, Wallflower, 2014) arose in part from the 19th-century legacy of French debates over the role of the artist in society and the economics of art in mass culture. My most recent project (with fellow nineteenth-century specialists Heather Belnap and Corry Cropper) culminated in a book, Marianne Meets the Mormons: Representations of Mormonism in Nineteenth-Century France (University of Illinois Press, 2022).Teaching Interests
I enjoy teaching courses on 19th-century French lyric poetry, the 19th- and 20th-century French novel (e.g., memory and fiction), literary and media theory, and world cinema (e.g., the city in film and crime film).Administrative Assignments
- French and Italian: Department Chair (2018 - Present)
Memberships
- Modern Language Organization (2018 - Present)
- Pi Delta Phi (2015 - Present)
- Society of Dix-Neuviémistes (2011 - Present)
- Nineteenth Century French Studies Association (2007 - Present)
Professional Citizenship
- Media Interview, BYU International Cinema (2015 - 2015)
- Media Interview, BYU Broadcasting (2015 - 2015)
- Officer, 19th-Century French Studies (2008 - 2010)