Freya Baur

Freya Baur, M.A., is a doctoral candidate at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and a research associate at its Seminar für Romanische Philologie. She is pursuing a cotutelle doctoral program with Université Paris IV – Sorbonne, focusing on ideals of masculinity and language use in Renaissance French rhetoric treatises. Supervised by Prof. Dr. Daniele Maira and Prof. Dr. Olivier Millet, her project "Mollesses: Schwächen und Verweichlichung des Männlichen (15.–17. Jhd.)" examines how Renaissance redefinitions of masculinity intersected with linguistic and stylistic ideals.

• Education: Germanistik, Romanistik, and Komparatistik at University of Göttingen and Université de Caen-Basse Normandie
• Affiliation: Seminar für Romanische Philologie, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Her research bridges Gender Studies and Linguistics, analyzing how Renaissance rhetoric manuals framed virility through language. The study highlights a paradoxical ideal of "moderately soft" masculinity that rejected overt virility while maintaining ethical and rhetorical excellence.

Freya Baur’s work is part of broader interdisciplinary trends in Comparative Literature and Philology, focusing on French Renaissance texts. Her project contributes to understanding historical intersections of gender norms, rhetorical theory, and linguistic practices in early modern Europe.