Dr. Emma Gilby

Biography

Emma Gilby is a Professor at the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics at the University of Cambridge. She completed her undergraduate studies in French and German at Gonville Caius College and began her University Lectureship in 2005. Her research interests encompass early modern literary and intellectual history, with a particular focus on figures such as Descartes and Pascal. Recent scholarly work includes her book, 'Descartes's Fictions: Reading Philosophy Poetics' (OUP, 2019), which argues that humanist theorizing of poetics forms a vital intellectual context for Descartes's work. Furthermore, her upcoming publication, 'Descartes Non-Human' (Cambridge University Press, 2025), explores the broad implications of Descartes's writings in light of contemporary narratives concerning the natural world. Gilby's work also intersects with ecocriticism and environmental history, offering resources that significantly contribute to the field. In addition to her teaching, she has served as the Co-Editor of the journal French Studies from 2018 to 2024 and is currently involved in a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship project titled 'New Modernism: Women Making Modern Languages', which traces the development of early linguists from an internationalist perspective. Her academic pursuits reflect a dedication to enriching the understanding of modern languages and their cultural implications.

Research Interests