Dr Julia Prest, Senior Lecturer
Contact Details
jtp22@st-andrews.ac.uk
Phone: 01334 463646
Office: Buchanan 307
Research and Teaching
Julia Prest's research focuses on two related areas: the theatre and the culture of the early-modern period, particularly the seventeenth century. She wrote her PhD on Molière's comedy-ballets, comparing early performances at the French court (at which Louis XIV was always present and sometimes danced) with subsequent performances in the public theatre in Paris (from which the king was conspicuously absent). Julia's second major project culminated in her monograph, Theatre under Louis XIV: Cross-casting and the Performance of Gender in Drama, Ballet and Opera, published by Palgrave in 2006. In her current book project, provisionally entitled Dangerous Illusions and Unwelcome Truths: Tartuffe in an Age of Absolutism, she broadens the question of theatrical controversy in the seventeenth century by arguing that the theatre, sitting on a critical faultline between reality and illusion, was constantly in tension with the supposed absolute truths on which the ancien régime rested. Taking the Tartuffe controversy as her case study, she argues that the Church, the Monarchy and the Theatre were all theatrical institutions using similar methods to convince much the same public of often very different "truths". Julia has published on a variety of other, related subjects including witchcraft and the Affair of the Poisons, medical satire in the work of Molière, the castrato singer, and court ballet as a hypothetical means of religious reconciliation during the wars of religion.
PhD Supervision
Publications
"La Devineresse, ou les faux enchantemens" de Thomas Corneille et Jean Donneau de Visé
Prest, J. T.
2007
Modern Humanities Research Association
.
150 p.
Research output
:
Book/Report
›
Scholarly edition
Theatre under Louis XIV : cross-casting and the performance of gender in drama, ballet and opera
Prest, J. T.
2006
Palgrave Macmillan
.
195 p.
Research output
:
Book/Report
›
Book
Troublesome Sensual Appetites or who is the real faux dévot?
Prest, J. T.
2010
In:
Nourritures: Actes du 40e congrès annuel de la North American Society for seventeenth-Century French Literature.
Lalande, R. & Landry, B. (eds.).
p. 253-63.
10 p.
(Biblio 17).
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
The Politics of Ballet at the Court of Louis XIV
Prest, J. T.
2008
In:
Dance, Spectacle, and the Body Politick, 1250-1750.
Nevile, J. (ed.).
Indiana University Press
,
p. 229-240.
11 p.
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
A Classicist in Modern Times: Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux
Prest, J. T.
2007
In:
Selected Poems; translated from the French by Burton Raffel.
Boileau-Despréaux, N. (ed.).
Yale University Press
,
p. ix-xx.
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Foreword/postscript
Medicine and Entertainment in
Le Malade imaginaire
Prest, J. T.
2006
In:
The Cambridge Companion to Molière.
Bradby, D. & Calder, A. (eds.).
Cambridge University Press
,
p. 139-149.
Research output
:
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
›
Chapter
Who are the vrais dévots and are they véritables gens de bien? Eloquent slippage in the Tartuffe controversy.
Prest, J. T.
4-Jul-2012
In :
Neophilologus
.
96
,
3
,
15 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Article
Elmire and the erotics of the ménage à trois in Molière's "Tartuffe"
Prest, J. T.
2011
In :
Romanic Review
.
102
,
1-2
,
p. 129-144.
15 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Article
In Chapel, on Stage, and in the Bedroom: French Responses to the Italian Castrato
Prest, J.
Dec-2010
In :
Seventeenth-Century French Studies
.
32
,
2
,
p. 152-164.
13 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Article
Thomas Corneille (1625–1709): Beyond the Triumvirate
Prest, J. T.
Jul-2009
In :
French Studies
.
63
,
3
,
p. 323-329.
7 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Article
Silencing the Supernatural:
La Devineresse
and the Affair of the Poisons
Prest, J. T.
Oct-2007
In :
Forum for Modern Language Studies
.
43
,
4
,
p. 397-409.
13 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Article
Dancing king: Louis XIV's roles in Moliere's comedies-ballets, from court to town
Prest, J.
2001
In :
The Seventeenth Century
.
16
,
2
,
p. 283-298.
16 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Article
MOLIERE UNDER THE FIRES OF THE RAMP
Prest, J.
9-Nov-2012
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5719
,
p. 28-28.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Figure of the pedant from Montaigne to Moliere
Prest, J.
Jan-2012
In :
French Studies
.
66
,
1
,
p. 88-89.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
FRENCH THEATRE TODAY The view from New York, Paris, and Avignon
Prest, J.
12-Aug-2011
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5654
,
p. 26-26.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
GOSSIP, SEXUALITY AND SCANDAL IN FRANCE (1610-1715)
Prest, J.
1-Jul-2011
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5648
,
p. 26-26.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Moliere. COMPLETE WORKS
Prest, J.
29-Apr-2011
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5639
,
p. 23-24.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
WOMEN ON THE STAGE IN EARLY MODERN FRANCE 1540-1750
Prest, J.
8-Oct-2010
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5610
,
p. 27-27.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
BACKSTAGE AT THE REVOLUTION How the Royal Paris Opera survived the end of the Old Regime
Prest, J.
2-Jul-2010
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5596
,
p. 28-28.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
THE TRIUMPH OF PLEASURE
Prest, J.
2-Jul-2010
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5596
,
p. 28-28.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
The Style of the State in French Theater, 1630-1660: Neoclassicism and Government
Prest, J.
Jul-2010
In :
French Studies
.
64
,
3
,
p. 344-345.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
MOLIERE, THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, AND THE THEATRICAL AFTERLIFE
Prest, J.
25-Jun-2010
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5595
,
p. 30-31.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
DANCE IN THE RENAISSANCE European fashion, French obsession
Prest, J.
13-Feb-2009
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5524
,
p. 11-11.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Strange revelations - Magic, poison, and sacrilege in Louis XIV's France
Prest, J.
26-Sep-2008
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5504
,
p. 12-12.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Hidden agendas: Cross-dressing in 17th-century France
Prest, J.
Jul-2008
In :
Modern Language Review
.
103
,
p. 853-854.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
'Laughing matters' - Farce and the making of absolutism in France
Prest, J.
23-Nov-2007
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5460
,
p. 27-27.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Theatre and drama in francophone Africa - A critical introduction
Prest, J.
4-May-2007
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5431
,
p. 28-28.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Salons, history, and the creation of seventeenth-century France: Mastering memory.
Prest, J.
Apr-2007
In :
French Studies
.
61
,
2
,
p. 221-222.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Women in the great century - Baroque: music and literature - Music and liturgy
Prest, J.
Jan-2006
In :
French Studies
.
60
,
1
,
p. 101-102.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Cultivated power - Flowers, culture, and politics in the reign of Louis XIV
Prest, J.
16-Dec-2005
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5359
,
p. 24-24.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
The Chapel Royal of Versailles under Louis XIV: ceremonial, liturgies and music
Prest, J.
Apr-2004
In :
French Studies
.
58
,
2
,
p. 251-252.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Religious and moral values on stage at the Academie Royale de Musique: 1669-1737
Prest, J.
Jan-2004
In :
French Studies
.
58
,
1
,
p. 103-104.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Women in the 17th century: papers from the colloquium at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, October 5-7.2000
Prest, J.
Jan-2004
In :
French Studies
.
58
,
1
,
p. 94-95.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Discourse in musical theater from 1661 to 1686: from the comedies-ballets of Moliere to the lyric tragedies of Quinault
Prest, J.
Jul-2003
In :
French Studies
.
57
,
3
,
p. 385-386.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Presenting gender: Changing sex in early-modern culture
Prest, J.
Nov-2002
In :
Review of English Studies
.
53
,
212
,
p. 554-556.
3 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Analyzing texts for the theater
Prest, J.
Jul-2002
In :
French Studies
.
56
,
3
,
p. 445-445.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
'Beneath Ierne's banners': Irish Protestant drama of the Restoration and eighteenth century
Prest, J.
May-2001
In :
Review of English Studies
.
52
,
206
,
p. 259-260.
2 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Music and theatre in France, 1600-1680
Prest, J.
9-Mar-2001
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5110
,
p. 20-20.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Art, dance, and the body in French culture of the Ancien Regime
Prest, J.
9-Mar-2001
In :
TLS, The Times Literary Supplement
.
5110
,
p. 20-20.
1 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review
Theatre of the book, 1480-1880: print, text and performance in Europe
Prest, J.
2001
In :
History of European Ideas
.
27
,
4
,
p. 426-428.
3 p.
Research output
:
Contribution to journal
›
Book/Film/Article review