Marcus Dominick

Lecturer
  • PhD, French and Francophone Studies (UPenn)
  • Graduate Certificates in Cinema and Media Studies and in College and University Teaching
  • MA, French and Francophone Studies (UPenn)
  • BA, French, German (Georgetown University)

Marcus Dominick is a Lecturer of French and Francophone Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. His recently defended dissertation, entitled Science, the Self, and Skepticism: Posthuman Fictions of Post-1960s France, examines the influence of scientific materialism on posthuman theories of the self. Informed by ordinary language philosophy, it investigates the relationship of posthuman forms of subjectivity to skepticism (i.e., to the denial of ordinary life) and assesses their livability via readings of contemporary French novels. With this project, he intervenes in contemporary debates regarding the future of the humanities as an anthropocentric discipline and argues for the enduring relevance of the human.

Beyond his interest in the intersection of literature, philosophy, and history, Marcus has a particular interest in French and Francophone film. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Cinema and Media Studies and has taught and served as a teaching assistant for a variety of film courses. He has published articles on the postcolonial unconscious in Claire Denis and on the ethics and aesthetics of adaptation in Agnès Varda.

Office Location: 
Williams Hall 440
Office Hours: 
Spring 2024: TBD & by appointment
Research Interests: 
    • 20th-century and contemporary French and Francophone novel
    • French and Francophone film
    • literature and philosophy
    • (post)humanism
    • postsecularism
    • ordinary language philosophy 
Selected Publications: 
Courses Taught: 
    • French 200: Elementary French II
    • French 300: Intermediate French I (“Raconter Paris”)
    • French 400: Intermediate French II (“Griots modernes : l’art de la parole”)
    • French 1230: Masterpieces of French Cinema
    • French 3860: Paris in Film