Diane Joy Charney, PhD, has taught at Yale University for thirty-three years as a Lecturer in French, in Creative Writing, and as Writing Tutor-in-Residence. She studied at University of Rochester, La Sorbonne in Paris from which she was awarded the Diplôme Supérieur d’Études Françaises and received her PhD from Duke University.
A lifelong musician (piano, flute, viola), Diane studied at Juilliard and the Eastman School of Music. An enthusiastic chamber musician, she enjoys playing in Yale student orchestras where she tries to hide behind the better players and never play any unintended solos. Among her other passions are yoga, growing her own food, ballet, and tap dance.
She has been president of the Center for Independent Study and directed Yale’s Mellon Senior Forum for 25 years. In addition to academic writing, Diane’s writing background includes restaurant and book reviews, and poetry. As a student in Paris, she lived in Jean-Paul Sartre’s childhood apartment. Her PhD thesis was on André Pieyre de Mandiargues, long suspected as the author of The Story of O, whom she met during return teaching stints in Paris.
Her Italian alter-ego, Donatella de Poitiers, authors the blog, “In Love with France, At Home in Italy” (franceoritaly.blogspot.com). She divides her time between Umbria and New Haven.