CFP: Littérature & animalité

ANNOUNCE
THE FRENCH SECTION’S SECOND ANNUAL GRADUATE CONFERENCE

Littérature & animalité
April 15-16^th, 2010

CALL FOR PAPERS

Much has been written about animality: it is a theme that permeates all periods and cultures in various forms. The intersection between humanity and animality remains a vibrant area of inquiry. In recent years, numerous works have engaged with this question, including, from a philosophical point of view, Jacques Derrida’s L’Animal que donc je suis; from a historical perspective, Michel Pastoureau’s illuminating history of the bear; and from an epistemological standpoint, work by Lorraine Daston. Moreover, research teams have been formed and
conferences are being organized in various places on this problem, for example under the auspices of the Animalittérature project, sponsored by the Université de Paris 3 and the CNRS, which focuses on literature of the 20th and 21st centuries: http://www.ecritures-modernite.eu/?page_id=248.

We are especially interested in investigating the role of literature, throughout the ages, in the definition and uses of the animal. The abundance of literary references allows us to posit that animality is a subject proper to writers. Since classical antiquity, animals have comprised an integral part of literature. They are used in social caricatures, as metaphors or rhetorical devices. They allow dialogue between the self and the other and among literary genres, and they highlight notions of monstrosity, metamorphosis and hybridity.

The animal can also be seen as a specific optic through which we can understand how poetry and literary fiction have contributed to the development of the history of science. Greco-Roman literatures, influenced by Aristotle’s History of Animals, raise questions about animals and their souls and offer fertile grounds for reflection upon the elaboration of a theory of humanity.

This colloquium aims to address the question of animality in French-language literature from the twelfth century to the present day. It is clear that within this topic there exists a vast number of examples, for in the realm of literature, in many forms over many centuries, animality has
provided a rich source of discourses and representations. We will explore how the animal kingdom serves as a taxonomy for classifying and interpreting human society. Through genres such as bestiaries, fables, fairy tales and satirical treatises, we hope to better understand why theanimal is so well adapted to caricature man, and the animal kingdom lends itself to social, theological, and political allegory. More broadly, we would like to consider the import of literature—by its creation of hybrid and monstrous characters, its representation of the
intermingling of animal and human languages and worlds, and its approach to the relationship between them—in constructing a shared definition of life.

This graduate conference asks for participants interested in the various literary genres associated with the animal and animality, within larger frameworks of rationality, sociability, language, epistemology and the relationship between animality and humanity.

Papers, preferably in English, should be 20 minutes long. If presenting in French, we ask that you include a translation in English for distribution to our non-Francophone participants.

Please send proposals (max. 400 words) to: jhufranimalconf@gmail.com
Deadline : 01 February 2010

Keynote Speaker : Professor Paule Petitier – Université Paris Diderot-Paris 7

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Tagged: Animalittérature, Animality, derrida, literature

Posted in: CFP