Dr Nina Rolland

My research interests are in comparative literature and rely on three main areas that intersect with one another:

• Word and Music Studies: I am interested in the relations between literature and music from the nineteenth century until nowadays. My PhD thesis ‘Bodies in Composition: Women, Music and the Body in Nineteenth-Century European Literature’ examined the female body as a way to incorporate music in French, British, and German novels. I have explored how fiction incorporates music but also how music uses literature, particularly through song settings of poetry when I worked as a Research Associate on the ‘Baudelaire Song Project’ (AHRC-funded led by Prof. Helen Abbott).
• Gender Studies: I am interested in rethinking musical and literary canons through discourses used around women and through the works of female composers.
• The Digital Humanities: I have used digital tools (such as Sonic Visualiser) to analyse song settings of poetry as part of my research on the ‘Baudelaire Song Project’. I also worked on the ‘SoundsFrench AI app’ project (OWRI-funded led by Prof. Helen Abbott) to help learners of French improve their pronunciation. My current project proposes a statistical analysis of the vocabulary used around music in 19th-century French literature using the R programming language.