"It was obvious that when she was teaching, shewas very enthused about what she was talking about," said Erica A. Farmer '01, who is concentrating in Hispanicliterature.

Farmer said Romance Studies 180 "was one of thebest classes I've taken so far at Harvard."

Schor's work has focused on feminism andaesthetics, 19th-century French literature andFrench nationalism.

Her recent work has focused on the intersectionof post-structuralist theory and feminism. Schoralso writes about the burgeoning field ofso-called "queer studies."

Epps said that despite the University'srelatively small contingent of tenured womenprofessors, "[Harvard is] an exciting place to befor someone who is working on feministperspectives. It's plural because there are many,"he said.

Schor's use of post-structuralist theory hasdrawn the ire of critics within and withoutfeminist and French studies.

Camille Paglia, who is a flashy foe of academicpost-modernism and what she calls"feminist-careerism," said that although Schor is"bright," she "has made no contribution toscholarship."

"Naomi Schor belongs to that elite, very high,little incestuous elite, as far I'm concerned,mediocrities, who grabbed on post-structuralism,"Paglia said in an interview yesterday.

Paglia, who in a November speech at the KennedySchool of Government attacked Harvard's Departmentof Romance Languages and Literatures as being "outof touch," said she was disappointed that Yale hadhired Schor.

"They managed to keep themselves pretty muchapart from a lot of these [queer studies andpost-structuralist] currents," she said.

Paglia, who is professor of the humanities atthe University of the Arts in Philadelphia, saidSchor's career move "is an excellent example ofthe kind of amoral careerism and the nakedambition that has been so typical of literaryscholars who drove up salaries in the starsystem."

However, several Romance language andliterature professors contacted yesterday praisedSchor's contribution to literary theory andscholarship.

The chair of the department, Dillon Professorof the Civilization of France Susan R. Suleiman,said Schor's work on Emile Zola was first-rate.

"She's one of the foremost in scholars in19th-century French literatures," Suleiman saidlast night.

"Yes, she has gone through different approachesto literature...[but] it covers a whole range ofthe 19th century," she said.