Bruno Penteado

Bruno Penteado serves as an Assistant Professor of French in the Department of Classical & Modern Languages & Literatures at Texas Tech University. His academic profile demonstrates a robust engagement with both literary studies and philosophical inquiry, particularly focusing on French literature from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Dr. Penteado's research interests span 18th- and 19th-century French literature, continental philosophy, and the intersections between literature and philosophical thought. He is particularly known for his groundbreaking work on the concept of stupidity in philosophical discourse, examining how literary texts have contributed to philosophical understandings of intellectual limitations. His current book project titled Wishing to Conclude: Stupidity, Philosophy, and the French Novel investigates the legitimization of stupidity as an object of philosophical inquiry in 20th-century and contemporary French philosophy. Additional interests include literary and critical theory, intellectual history, and film studies.

His scholarly publications demonstrate a consistent focus on the relationship between literary form and philosophical concepts, particularly around themes of stupidity, subjectivity, and reading practices. Penteado's work appears across prestigious interdisciplinary journals including Qui Parle: Critical Humanities and Social Sciences, Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal, Nineteenth-Century French Studies, and Forum for Modern Language Studies. His research often examines canonical French authors like Flaubert through contemporary theoretical lenses, while also engaging with Brazilian literature (Machado de Assis) and American literature (Henry James) to explore transnational dimensions of philosophical concepts.

Dr. Penteado maintains an active teaching schedule with undergraduate courses including French Culture: French Horror(s), Introduction to Literature in French: Comedy, Satire, and Parody in the French Tradition, and French Conversation: Current Topics in Contemporary France. At the graduate level, he teaches seminars on From the Baroque to the Revolution: The Invention of Modernity, 19th-Century Literature: Evil, Literature, Painting, French Cinema: The Crisis of Representation in French Cinema, and Studies in Literary Criticism and Theory: What is Literature?