Timothy Hampton (historian)

Timothy Hampton is an American literary and cultural historian specializing in early modern Europe. He is currently the Aldo Scaglione Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and French at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also served as Interim Dean of Arts and Humanities (2018-2020).

Hampton's scholarship focuses on the intersection of literature, politics, and history in the Renaissance and early modern periods. His work examines topics such as the relationship between literature and statecraft, the formation of national identity, the role of rhetoric in political discourse, and the representation of the self in early modern texts.

Key Publications:

• Literature and Nation in the Sixteenth Century: Inventing Renaissance France (Cornell University Press, 2001) - Explores the complex relationship between literary production and the construction of French national identity during the Renaissance.

• Fictions of Embassy: Literature and Diplomacy in Early Modern Europe (Cornell University Press, 2009) - Examines the representation of diplomacy and cross-cultural encounter in early modern literature.

• Bob Dylan's Political World (Zone Books, 2021) - Analyzes the political dimensions of Bob Dylan's songwriting.

• Writing from History: The Rhetoric of Historiography in the Renaissance (Cornell University Press, 1990)

Hampton's work is characterized by its interdisciplinary approach, drawing on insights from literary criticism, history, political theory, and rhetoric. He has received numerous awards and fellowships for his scholarship, including a Guggenheim Fellowship. He has also served on the editorial boards of several leading academic journals. He teaches courses on a range of topics related to early modern literature and culture, as well as on the work of Bob Dylan.