Expertise: 19th and 20th century French literature, literary theory
Bio: Metzidakis is an expert on 19th and 20th century French and European literature, especially poetry and prose poetry. He works extensively on literary theory, the connections between literature and painting, "concrete" or visual poetry and North American French history and culture, including those of Quebec, Louisiana, Acadia and the Upper Mississippi valley around the Saint Louis area. He is the author of Repetition and Semiotics: Interpreting Prose Poems (1986) and Difference Unbound: The Rise of Pluralism in Literature and Criticism (1995). He has also edited and co-authored a volume of original essays, Understanding French Poetry: Essays for a New Millenium (1st edition 1994, 2nd edition 2001), and has served as guest editor for two issues of L'Esprit Créateur, one on Andre Breton (1996) and a second on Prose Poetry (1999). He is currently working on two book manuscripts: Des lignes et des lettres: Essais néo-formalistes, and Recollecting French America: A Postmodern Chronology.
