Manali Allen

MANALI ALLEN is a PhD candidate in the French Department and a teacher in the English Writing Program at Rutgers University.

After earning a Master’s degree in Anglophone Studies, she left France in 2016 to study and teach at Indiana University, before joining Rutgers and receiving a Master’s Degree in French Literature. In 2022, she started her PhD dissertation under Professor Jennifer Tamas with a fellowship at the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Paris.

Exploring the connections between feminism and libertinage in literature and philosophy, her dissertation attempts to shape the notion of “libertine feminism” through the study of diverse women’s writings (memoirs, letters, poetry, fables, short stories, and fairy tales) under the reign of Louis the XIV (1651-1715). This project is defined by its dual goal: to reintegrate women’s cultural productions in the literary and philosophical libertine canon of Early Modern France, and to enrich modern feminist theory by challenging contemporary notions of female subjectivity, sexuality, and gender equality.

Her broader academic interests include sexuality studies, women and gender studies, critical theory, the history of emotions and psychoanalytical theory.