Wednesday 30th May - Ruth Bush (Wolfson College)

L’aventure ambiguë: Publishing African literature in the world republic of letters 1945–1970

Respondent: Sarah Puello (Wolfson College)

17.00-18.30
Balliol College, Massey Room

Drinks and nibbles provided

Attendees of the First Congress of Black Artists and Writers, held at the Sorbonne in 1956

Paper and Discussion 

Through a framework informed by Bourdieu’s field theory and Pascale Casanova’s notion of a ‘World Republic of Letters’, Ruth’s paper examined the institutional contexts (artistic, political, mercantile) surrounding the publication of Senegalese author Cheikh Hamidou Kane’s 1961 novel, L’Aventure ambiguë. Drawing on an impressive range of empirical material—interviews conducted with authors and publishers, bibliographies of ‘African’ literature, archival documentation, and a close reading of Kane’s literary output—, Ruth used L’Aventure ambiguë as a test-case to argue for the necessity of a more nuanced and multidirectional history of French publishing than that signaled in Casanova’s République mondiale des lettres.

A slew of questions followed, with discussions ranging from the relationship between ghost-writing and French publishers of ‘African’ novels, the role played by figures such as Gide and Sartre in Présence Africaine (a Paris-based publishing house and journal), the consecratory role of literary prizes and their selection panels, and the role of (self-)censorship in the processes of writing and publishing. 

Abstract


The post-war period witnessed a surge in the publication of fiction and poetry of and on sub-Saharan Africa in the years leading to the independences of 17 African countries in 1960. The vast majority of this publishing in French took place in Paris, arguably the capital of a “world republic of letters” (Pascale Casanova). This paper will consider the contested, often unspoken, rules by which texts entered this field, according to the aesthetic, political, and commercial stakes of authors and publishers. Based on archival research, interviews, paratextual analysis, and close-reading, the publishing trajectory of Cheikh Hamidou Kane’s “classic” text, L’aventure ambiguë, will be traced against a cartography of publishers of “African” literature in this period. By evaluating Casanova’s model and the pertinence of Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory, this paper will argue for a necessarily multidirectional and transnational history of the book in France.


Biography

Ruth is a third year DPhil student at Wolfson. She previously studied at Wadham College,Oxford, Edinburgh University, and the EHESS. Her thesis explores the theoretical implications of a revised history of publishing “African” literature in the period 1945 – 70. She has published an article in the Bulletin of Francophone Postcolonial Studies, and has papers forthcoming in the Journal of Postcolonial Writing and in a book entitled Intimate Enemies: Translating Francophone Texts (LUP 2013).

Wednesday 16th May - Huw Grange (University of Kent & University of Oxford)

Monstrous Doubles: Showing & Warning in Medieval French Hagiography

Respondent: Pauline Souleau (Merton College, Oxford) 

17:00-18:30 

Massey Room, Balliol College 

Wine and nibbles provided 

Paper and Discussion

Huw began his paper with a discussion of medieval etymological approaches to monstrosity, exemplified by St Augustine’s observation that ‘monsters are signs by which something is demonstrated’ and Isidore of Seville’s argument for the semiotic provenance of monstrosity (from the Latin root of monstrare, ‘to demonstrate’).Turning to the anthropologist and philosopher René Girard’s more recent work on monsters as social boucs émissaires (scapegoats), Huw evaluated Girard’s thesis that monsters are the outcome of mimetic desire by applying this theory to his own research on the role of monstrosity in late medieval vernacular saints’ lives. Whereas Girard argues that the Judeo-Christian tradition tends towards the renunciation of mimetic desire and an unveiling and unmasking of the bouc émissaire mechanism, Huw’s reading of medieval lives of St Margaret and St George (amongst others) showed that this was far from being the case. He argued instead for the need to recognize the ethical duality of the monster as an externalization which both conceals and reveals the monstrosity that is internal to the crowd.

As respondent, Pauline Souleau noted that the same structures of monstrosity highlighted by Huw can also be seen in non-hagiographical medieval texts (for example, in the Chroniques of Froissart). A flurry of questions followed, ranging from the talismanic use of hagiographies during the period, to the visuality of monstrosity as demonstration, the theatrical staging of hagiographies, and the relevance of the Ovide moralisé. Thanks to Huw for an excellent paper and to all participants for a lively session and discussion.

Abstract

From pestilential dragons to snake-breathing Saracens, the monsters that fascinated audiences
of vernacular saints’ lives in the later centuries of the Middle Ages continue to intrigue to
this day. This paper takes a two-pronged approach to understanding hagiography’s terrifying
antagonists – the medieval etymologist’s account of monsters as creatures that ‘show’ (monstrare)
and ‘warn’ (monere), and René Girard’s theorisation of ‘monstrous doubles’ and the monstrous
scapegoat – investigating common ground between the two. We shall explore several manuscript
versions of the biographies of Sts George and Margaret, including a copy of a George life that
a knight wished to take with him to the battlefield and a copy of a Margaret life that renders the
dragon she fights as peculiarly Jewish. If some hagiographical tales were understood to unveil
scapegoat mechanisms in a bid to put a permanent end to mimetic violence, medieval audiences
could employ the very same tales to justify violent acts against various social cohorts deemed
undesirable, and indeed more than a little monstrous.

Biography

Huw completed his doctoral studies at St John’s College, Cambridge earlier this year, having
submitted a dissertation investigating notions of corporeality in French and Occitan saints’
lives. Since October 2011 he has held a Teaching Fellowship in Oxford’s Faculty of Medieval &
Modern Languages and since February 2012 he has been working on the Elucidarium Project,
based at the University of Kent, tracing the fame and fortune of vernacular versions of a twelfth-
century encyclopaedic text. He has had articles published on medieval hagiography, Occitan lyric,
and the gruesome legend of the Eaten Heart.

Wednesday 2 May - Jessica Goodman (Worcester College) and Rosalind Holmes Duffy (Merton College)

JOINT SESSION
17.30-19:00
Massey Room, Balliol College 
Wine and Nibbles provided


Papers and discussion
In her thesis, Jess traces the career of Carlo Goldoni in relation to those of other hommes de théâtre working in Paris from the 1760s to the 1790s. In this paper, she sketched out the hierarchical structure of the four different theatres in Paris - the foire, the comédie italienne, the comédie française and the opéra – explaining that it was considered the height of a playwright’s career to have a play performed at the comédie française. Using detailed archival facts and figures, she argued that although playwrights did seek such renown, they were also motivated by commercial and financial goals, and as such, would not necessarily be deterred from having plays performed in any of the theatres. She showed that the difference in terms of performance frequency, payment of actors, ticket prices and sales between the comédie française and the comédie italienne, in particular, was much smaller than the prestige hierarchy might suggest. She thus made a convincing case for the pragmatic career trajectory of her chosen hommes de théâtre. A lively discussion followed, with questions about reviews and the bias of the press, status symbols within the theatres themselves, the social class of these playwrights and the extent to which the different theatres determined the content and genre of the plays performed. 

Rosalind's research focuses on analogies between the senses in the French Enlightenment, taking its cue from the concept of the ocular harpsichord proposed by Louis Bertrand Castel in 1725. In this paper, she discussed Castel’s 1740 l’Optique des Couleurs, a tract written against Newton’s Opticks and the latter’s application of mathematical approaches to the comprehension of the physical world. Castel argued that instead of seven distinct colours, as Newton proposed, their division was not perceptible. His tract was then heavily satirized by André-François Boureau-Deslandes in his L'Optique des Moeurs, opposée à l'optique des couleurs. Rosalind analysed some of the implications of this satire though close readings of the two texts. Her paper was met with an enthusiastic response. Questions were asked on the role of language in the mediation of the senses, whether discussion of the senses in the Enlightenment had aesthetic implications, metaphysics, and synesthesia among the Romantics.

Thanks so much to Jess and Rosalind for starting this term with such interesting and stimulating papers! And to all the attendees for their engagement and enthusiasm.

Jessica Goodman (Worcester College, Oxford) 
Mapping theatrical Paris in the 1760s: an author's-eye view

Abstract
Eighteenth-century Paris was the vibrant European capital of theatre. From the marionettes and tightrope dancers of the Boulevard, through commedia and comic opera at the Comédie-Italienne, to classical greats at the Comédie-Française and grand performances of opera at the Académie-Royale, the city offered the whole gamut of theatrical experience. But how did these theatres relate to one another? Who attended their performances, when, and why? And what did this world look like for a dramatic author, trying to forge a career in an increasingly competitive and commercial environment? This paper tracks the career trajectories of a sample of the authors working at the Comédie-Italienne in the 1760s, using their experiences to address the perception of a hierarchy of prestige in Parisian theatres, and exploring how these very different individuals negotiated the fine balance between status and economics.



Biography
Jessica is a third year DPhil student at Worcester, where she also completed her undergraduate studies in French and Italian, and her MSt in the European Enlightenment. Her thesis, under the supervision of Alain Viala, explores dramatic authorship in eighteenth-century Paris through the experiences of Carlo Goldoni, who was invited to work at the Comédie-Italienne in the 1760s. It is provisionally titled ‘A servant of two masters: Carlo Goldoni in and around the Comédie-Italienne, 1760-93’. She has recently published an article in Modern Language Notes on the subject of anonymity in the 1760s Comédie-Italienne, and she has two more articles forthcoming in the Revue d’histoire du théâtre and Littératures classiques.

http://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/goodman

Rosalind Holmes Duffy (Merton College, Oxford)
The Polemical Optics and Optical Polemics of 1740

Abstract
1740 saw the publication of a popular tract on optics, L'Optique des Couleurs, which argued against Newton's Opticks. Written by a powerful and controversial Jesuit scientist, Louis Bertrand Castel, it was soon ridiculed in a short satire, L'Optique des Moeurs, opposée à l'optique des couleurs, written by provincial polymath André-François Boureau-Deslandes. This paper will juxtapose close readings of passages from Boureau-Deslandes' text with corresponding passages from Castel's work, for the purposes of inspiring discussion and tracing the tensions that run through this chain of optics and polemics.


Biography
Rosalind Holmes Duffy is in the first year of a doctorate in French at Merton College, Oxford. She received a BA from Simon's Rock College in the USA and an M.St at Worcester College, Oxford. Building on her masters' dissertation, which examined references to the ocular harpsichord in Diderot's works and letters, her D.Phil project looks at analogies between the senses in the French Enlightenment.