Emily Butterworth

Emily Butterworth is a Professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at King’s College London, within the Faculty of Arts & Humanities. She holds a prestigious position in Early Modern French literature studies, focusing on speech practices, women’s writing, and cultural analysis. Her career includes roles at the University of Sheffield (2002–2006) before joining King’s, where she has been a core faculty member since 2006.

Education: Emily studied French at University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge, establishing her foundation in French literary and cultural studies.

Research Interests: Her work centers on early modern literature and thought, particularly deviant speech, gossip, and the role of scandal in French Renaissance texts. Key focuses include:

• Analysis of Marguerite de Navarre’s Heptameron and its cultural context
• Montaigne’s exploration of ethics and skepticism
• Gendered discourse in early modern women’s writing
• The intersection of print culture, censorship, and obscenity

Projects & Engagement: Co-Investigator on the AHRC-funded Gossip and Nonsense in the French Renaissance (2012–2015), she collaborated on artistic projects such as Spinning Stories and Chinese Whispers. She has contributed to BBC programs like Radio 4’s Something Understood and Radio 3’s Free Thinking, discussing gossip’s cultural significance and early modern news.

Publications: Her scholarship includes monographs like The Unbridled Tongue (2016) and Marguerite de Navarre: A Critical Companion (2022). Her articles span topics from Renaissance book history to the ethics of speech in Montaigne’s essays.

Affiliations: She is part of King’s Centre for Early Modern Studies and contributes to research groups on textual representation and visual culture.