About
Dr Mélissa Pires Da Silva is a researcher and teacher in comparative French and German literature, specialising in classical reception in modern European writing. Her research explores how ancient Greek and Roman literature is reinterpreted in French and German texts, particularly in the context of interwar and post-war intellectual thought. Her research interests include comparative literature, memory studies, literary transformation, and the relationships between literature, politics and society.
She completed her PhD at UCL in November 2025, examining the representation of the family as a political, social and cultural institution in the works of Hermann Broch and Jean Giraudoux, with a focus on their respective receptions of Homeric and Virgilian epic. From October 2025 to October 2026, she was mentored by Professor Julian Preece and held an MHRA Research Fellowship at Swansea University, working on the forthcoming critical edition of Elias Canetti’s Masse und Macht, with Professors Sven Hanuschek, Ulrich van Loyen and Erhard Schüttpelz (eds). In October 2026, she progressed to the position of Teaching Fellow in Modern Languages at Swansea. Her research combines archival investigation with classical reception and cultural memory, while her wider interests encompass twentieth-century French and German literature and the intellectual history of modern Europe.
Her teaching spans Ancient Greek, French and German language and literature, as well as comparative literature, literary criticism and classical reception. She has taught at undergraduate and postgraduate levels across Modern Languages and Classics, with a particular interest in bringing ancient and modern texts into dialogue through close reading and interdisciplinary approaches.