Dr Wendy Michallat

BA (Hons), MA, PhD

School of Languages, Arts and Societies

Senior Lecturer

Deputy for Learning and Teaching

Liaison for USIC and DLL

SLC Wendy Michallat profile photo
Profile picture of SLC Wendy Michallat profile photo
w.michallat@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2879
Jessop West

Full contact details

Dr Wendy Michallat
School of Languages, Arts and Societies
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
Profile

I was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Educated in the comprehensive school system, I was a first generation university student. After my first degree in French Cultural Studies at the 9 1Ãâ·Ñ°æÏ of Warwick and a period working in publishing and as a trainee solicitor in London and Brighton, I studied for a Masters in Twentieth Century French Literature at the 9 1Ãâ·Ñ°æÏ of Nottingham.  My dissertation was on the AIDS novels of Herve Guibert. I then went on to complete a doctoral thesis on French cartoons and, in particular, how the content and audience of Pilote, France's most famous 'bande dessinee' periodical, evolved in step with the youth driven political and cultural revolution of the 1950s, '60s and '70s. 

Research interests
My research interests and publications are wide-ranging. Focusing primarily on twentieth century France, I have published on many different subjects, including:  women's football in the inter-war; children's literature and conflict; university women in inter-war and wartime Paris; Sylvia Beach and the book-women of the Paris inter-war; cartoon art and youth culture.  The Madeleine Blaess Project centred on the diary of former French Department lecturer Madeleine Blaess, who, as a student was trapped in Paris during the Nazi occupation. The diary project opened new avenues of research around life-writing testimonies of the wartime everyday and, more recently, new work on British working class women and the study of French in the inter-war for which I am preparing a monograph for publication with Liverpool 9 1Ãâ·Ñ°æÏ Press. A significant part of this work is the promotion of French language and culture by the teacher-authors of the inter-war British schoolgirl novel and storybooks.  The follow-up volume to the Madeleine Blaess diary translation which comprises Madeleine's Phoney War letters home is in preparation with an expected publication date of 2026. More about Madeleine Blaess, the letters and the diary and a link to the film I made with James Parsons can be found on the project . 
 
I welcome expressions of interest for PhD supervision in all the areas described above and, additionally, in new areas of interest which also cover the British and French inter-war. These include: feminism and spiritisme (the boom in interest in spiritualism and the occult as a panacea for grief post WW1 and its links to feminism); British women gardeners and their contribution to the environmental recovery of the devastated territories of the Western Front. 
Teaching activities

I have taught modules on French cartoon art; life-writing; the Nazi Occupation of France; France and the cultural and economic revival of the 'trente glorieuses'. Planned new undergraduate teaching will continue incorporate my established and new research (as described in Research Activities). I am particularly committed to voicing the experience of working class and LGBT+ women and men in my teaching. 

Professional activities and memberships
  • External Examiner at 9 1Ãâ·Ñ°æÏ of York International College
  • Editorial Board of Journal of European Comic Art
  • Editorial Board of French Cultural Studies 
  • Former Executive member of the Society for French Studies 2004-2012
  • Former Executive member of Association  for the 9 1Ãâ·Ñ°æÏ of Modern and Contemporary France 
School Roles
  • TBC for 2025-26
 
Publications

Books

Forthcoming:
  • With White Rose 9 1Ãâ·Ñ°æÏ Press: The Phoney War Letters of Madeleine Blaess
  • With Liverpool 9 1Ãâ·Ñ°æÏ Press: Living a Life of Books: British working class women and Language Learning in the Inter-War.
Published:
  • Michallat W (2018) . White Rose 9 1Ãâ·Ñ°æÏ Press.
  • Michallat W (2018) French Cartoon Art in the 1960s and 1970s: "Pilote hebdomadaire" and the Teenager "Bande Dessinée". Leuven: Leuven 9 1Ãâ·Ñ°æÏ Press.
  • (2007) Lesbian Inscriptions in Francophone Society and Culture. Durham, England: Durham Modern Language Series, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, Durham 9 1Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂ. 

Journal articles

  • Michallat, W. (2025). Why No War in French Comics? The Trente Glorieuses and Redrawing of the Second Thirty Years War. Contemporary French and Francophone Studies, 29(2), 215–231. 
  • Michallat W (2023) . French Cultural Studies, 34 (1). pp. 34-48. ISSN 0957-1558
  • Michallat W (2021) . Journal of European Studies, 51(1), 47-58. 
  • Michallat WT (2017) Writing a Scholarly Occupation: Student Women Diarists (1940-1944). Essays in French Literature and Culture, 54. 
  • Michallat WT (2017) . French Cultural Studies, 28(2), 173-185. 
  • Dodd L & Michallat W (2017) Hidden Words, Hidden Worlds: Everyday Life and Narrative Sources (France 1939-1945). ESSAYS IN FRENCH LITERATURE AND CULTURE(54), 5-9.
  • Michallat WT (2013) . Journal of European Studies, 43(2), 101-118.
  • Michallat WT (2012) 'Mon cher Papa, ma chere Maman': The drole de guerre of Madeleine Blaess. Essays in French Literature and Culture, 135-153.
  • Michallat WT & Eyquem M-T (2009) Marie-Therese Eyquem: Feminism, Lesbianism and the Development of Women's Sport under Vichy. Essays in French Literature and Culture, 46, 161-181.
  • Boyle C, Günther R & Michallat W (2008) . The Modern Language Review, 103(4), 1136-1136.
  • Michallat W (2007) . Journal of European Studies, 37(3), 313-331.
  • Michallat W (2007) . French Cultural Studies, 18(3), 259-276.
  • Michallat W (2007) . Modern & Contemporary France, 15(3), 277-292.
  • Michallat W & Tinker C (2007) . Modern & Contemporary France, 15(3), 255-259.
  • Michallat W (2006) . Modern & Contemporary France, 14(3), 305-316.
  • Michallat W (2005) . French Studies Bulletin, LIX(97), 13-17.

Chapters

  • Michallat WT (2018) Madeleine Blaess: An Emotional History of a Long Liberation In Dodd L & Lees D (Ed.), Vichy France and Everyday Life: Confronting the Challenges of Wartime, 1939-1945 London: Bloomsbury. 
  • Michallat W (2011) , The Cambridge History of French Literature (pp. 689-699). Cambridge 9 1Ãâ·Ñ°æÏ Press (CUP)
  • Michallat W (2005) Pilote: Pedagogy, Puberty and Parents, The Francophone Bande Dessinée (pp. 83-95). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Brill/Rodopi.