We mourn Professor Louisa Shea, who held a joint appointment in French and Italian and Comparative Studies at The Ohio State University from 2007 to 2012. She was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2011. Her book The Cynic Enlightenment: Diogenes in the Salon was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 2010. In it, she looked at the reception of the Greek classics in 18th-century French literary circles. Her articles include “Sade and the Cynic Tradition” in Modern Language Quarterly 67.3 (2006) and “Exit Voltaire, Enter Marivaux: Abdellatif Kechiche on the Legacy of the Enlightenment” in The French Review 85.6 (2012). In her work, she often made graceful linkages between the thought exercises of 18th-century French philosophers and salon-goers with modern Francophone films and novels. In her French 2101 course, she juxtaposed Balzac with Dai Silje’s novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2000). It was the kind of teaching she did with excitement and generosity, linking literature from one era and region to another in a way to make it meaningful to students now.
Many of us remember her with much affection. One colleague from Comp Studies described her aptly as having an “infectious positivity that was also understated.” Another recalled “a kind of shy smile she shared when she talked about her book. It is an amazing rooting of the French enlightenment in the philosophy of the Cynics, reinterpreting post-Enlightenment thought from Rousseau to Foucault.”
She was dissertation advisor to Anaïs Wise (PhD 2012, "L’Ironie Meriméenne ou l'art de transformer le coup de griffe en coup de maître”), who offered these words of tribute: "Louisa… surpassed my expectations in every possible way. She helped me deal with difficult moments, respected my intent to pursue a career outside academia, and cheered me up all the way to graduation. She treated me as a peer, a trusted neighbor, and invited me… when she knew I was alone. To this day, I still reflect on her professionalism, her tact and her sense of humor."
Louisa combined a lively mind, great erudition, and a radiant spirit.
We were blessed by the years she spent with us.
Deepest sympathies to her family and all who remember her.
