Timothy Hampton

Timothy Hampton is a Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and serves as Director of the Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities. He was previously the Director of the Designated Emphasis in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies and co-chairs the Democracy, Free Speech, and Values study group.

His research explores intersections of literature and politics, poetry and song, and the history of emotion and diplomacy in Renaissance and early modern periods. Recent projects include a 2022 France-Berkeley Fund grant on poetry translation and a Diebold Foundation grant for interdisciplinary cultural studies.

Notable publications include Bob Dylan: How the Songs Work (2019) and Cheerfulness: A Literary and Cultural History (2022). Upcoming works address premodern colonialism and American education through memoir and cultural critique. His scholarship appears in MLN, Critical Inquiry, and public venues like Salon and Aeon/Psyche.