William Paden
Department of French and Italian

William Paden, (Ph.D. Yale), Professor of French and Chair of the department of French and Italian, is a specialist in medieval literature, working primarily on the troubadours and on medieval poetry of France and other countries, particularly Spain. He is author of The Poems of the Troubadour Bertran de Born (1986); An Introduction to Old Occitan (1998); editor of The Medieval Pastourelle (1987); The Voice of the Trobairitz (1989); The Future of the Middle Ages (1994); and Historicizing Genre in he Medieval Lyric. His current projects include a history of American interest in the troubadours. Paden has twice received Fellowships from the NEH, and directed an NEH Institute on medieval lyric poetry in 1995. He serves on the PMLA Advisory Council, on the advisory council of Tenso, and served as president of The American Society for Troubadour Studies.

wpaden@northwestern.edu