Ombline Damy

I started my PhD in Comparative Literature at the Centre d'Histoire de Sciences Po under the supervision of Prof. Frédérique Leichter-Flack in September 2024.

From 2016 to 2020, I completed a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Modern Languages (German) at the University of Oxford (St Hilda’s college) as well as an exchange year at the Universität Karl Eberhard in Tübingen, Germany.

Following my B.A., I went on to complete a Master of Studies in Comparative Literature (German and French) at the University of Oxford (Hertford College). During my M. St., I wrote my thesis under the supervision of Prof. Jane Hiddleston and Dr. Alexandra Lloyd on the representation of the body as an archive in 21st century autofictional narratives seeking to represent intergenerational trauma.

From September 2021 to August 2023, I taught French Literature and Language in a French secondary school with the collective “Le choix de l'école”.

From September 2023 to July 2024, I completed a Master 2 in Comparative Literature at the Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle under the supervision of Dr. Guido Furci. My thesis sought to interrogate the representation of child characters refusing to grow up in The Tin Drum (1959) by Günter Grass and The Book of Intimate Grammar by David Grossman, which I interpreted as a fictional response to the violence of 20th century history. 

My research interests lie in what literature can say about history when it chooses to represent it. In particular, my PhD project seeks to understand the transformation that history undergoes when it is perceived by a child through the means of literary fiction. To quote Tolstoy in War and Peace, what is the nature of the "different” understanding often ascribed to children in literary texts? What are the purposes and the effects of the use of the child's perspective in literary fiction? Does this presumed "different understanding” construct a new conception of history and of its violence? Through my work, I aim to show that the use of the child's point of view in fictional works creates a distinct way of representing, memorialising and understanding the violent history of the twentieth century. My research project draws on a number of works published after 1945 in German, Hebrew, Italian and English.

Publications

‘Save one life, save the world’, 12 July 2024, https://www.lintermede.com/save-one-life- save-the-world.php