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L’Ennemi : Difference and Antagonism in Literature
The French Graduate Student Association of Columbia University is pleased to announce its 17th annual conference,
L’Ennemi : Difference and Antagonism in Literature
Literary texts are structured through a wealth of intrinsic and extrinsic oppositions. In choosing, as did Baudelaire, a title that condenses the nature of these oppositions to its sharpest form, we invite graduate students from any field to join us in exploring the many ways in which difference and antagonism have contributed to the elaboration of French-language literature.
From a historical perspective, the literary sphere has seen innumerable feuds over the centuries, be they the 17th century’s battles between the Ancients and Moderns or the furor caused by the Nouveau Roman. It is not only the site of aesthetic cultural experience but also a site for warring oppositions, be they political, as in the case of ‘J’Accuse’, ethical, such as in Montaigne’s skeptical dialectic, or theoretical as in the structuralist debates involving Columbia’s own Michael Riffaterre among others. Within the works themselves, themes of opposition have formed the core of some of the most consistently provocative literary creations. Notable examples include the danse macabre enacted by François Villon’s poetry and, in recent times, postcolonial texts’ uncovering the difference between subalterns and the ruling order. Speaking of ‘the enemy’ provides a fresh way of dissecting the authorial process itself, be it embodied by conflicted figures such as Lautréamont or by Rousseau’s tirades against his contemporaries. Antagonism can also describe the circulation or censorship of literature, Molière not being the first or the last to represent this.
We welcome 200-300 word abstracts, in French or English, for papers addressing this topic in French-language literature of any period. Any approach, including but not limited to, theoretical, thematic, historical or cultural, will be considered. Perspectives from other disciplines in the humanities are also warmly encouraged. The deadline for abstract submission is January 5th 2008 (email to: fgsaconf@columbia.edu). Please include your name, affiliation and email address.
The conference will be held February 29th 2008.
Possible themes include:
Oppositions in literary history and theory
- Postcolonial studies – colonial oppositions and beyond
- Literary feuds and quarrels
- Narratology – actants in formalism and beyond
Religious dimensions of enmity
- Demonization of the cultural or religious Other, from La Chanson de Roland to the present day
- Death as the enemy – from danse macabre to suicide and euthanasia
- The devil as the Christian adversary
Opposing French
- Francophobia and French culture as the enemy: Algerian wine production and Freedom Fries
- French as lingua franca: competition with Latin and English across the centuries
Social aspects of literature
- The struggle against self, both in authorial creation and in the tragic character
- Class struggle, Haussmann and the reworking of Paris, modern day population shifts
- Disease – from the plague to AIDS
- Public intellectuals (Voltaire, Zola and others) and their struggles
Legal and Political Conflicts
- Literature engaged in combat – war chronicles and propaganda
- Living vicariously through the enemy: the case of pulp and pornographic works
- Censorship trials; the King, publishing house or state as the author’s adversary
Conference web site coming soon. Please submit your abstract with title and contact information to fgsaconf@columbia.edu by January 5, 2008.
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