Born and educated in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, Denise Rochat joined the faculty of Smith College in 1981.

Until her retirement, Professor Rochat taught French language at all levels, as well as literature and culture from the Middle Ages to contemporary French and Francophone fiction and cinema, with special emphasis on the 19th- and 20th-century French novel, Quebec literature and the development of the short story as a genre. She directed the Smith Study Abroad Program in Paris in 2001-02 and 2004-05; and in Geneva in 1989-90, 1994-95 and 2013-14.

Rochat's scholarly work focuses on poets and writers from France, Switzerland and Quebec. Her essays on René Char, Philippe Jaccottet, Gustave Roud, Corinna Bille, Anne Hébert, Hubert Aquin and Monique Proulx have appeared in journals in the United States, Canada and Europe.

Rochat is also the author of Contrastes, grammaire du français courant (Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009), and of its accompanying Workbook for Contrastes (Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2009), also available in an updated online interactive version.

Since 2015, Rochat has served as a contributor to the Bibliothèque numérique romande, helping the BNR to provide free digital access to French-language works and translations in the public domain.

Recent BNR Publications

“Hamilton Alexander, Madison James, Jay John. Le Fédéraliste (1792).” Tome premier (29 October 2018); tome second (1 Novembre 2018).

“Chateaubriand. Mémoires d’outre-tombe.” Tome I (26 September 2016); tome II (7 November 2016); tome III (5 June 2017); tome IV (12 July 2018).

“Madame de Staël. Dix années d’exil.” (13 July 2017)

“Alexandre Dumas. Filles, lorettes et courtisanes.” (29 May 2017)

“Isabelle de Charrière. Lettres trouvées dans des portefeuilles d’émigrés.” (27 mars 2017)

“Madame de Staël. Delphine.” Volume 1 (19 January 2017); volume 2 (2 February 2017).

“Chateaubriand, Le Voyage en Italie (suivi du Voyage à Clermont et du Voyage au Mont-Blanc).” (2 May 2016)

“Voltaire. Zadig et autres contes.” (31 December 2015)

“Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Rousseau juge de Jean-Jacques, dialogues”. (3 December 2015)

“Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Du contrat social ou principes du droit politique.” (22 June 2015)

“Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Emile, ou de l’éducation.” Livres III à V  (13 April 2015).