Life writing in the 21st century encompasses a large variety of literary approaches, as well as visual media and amateur practices. The awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Annie Ernaux in 2022 and the worldwide success of writers such as Karl Ove Knausgaard and Emmanuel Carrère highlight the inescapable presence of such writings in the contemporary literary field, whether in traditional forms such as autobiographical narratives and testimonies, or original ones: autofictions, biographical fictions, narratives of filiation, investigations into origins, or personal writing on blogs and social media. Political questioning is increasingly mingled with aesthetic debate, while biographical and autobiographical storytelling raises new ethical and legal concerns. This online French-US seminar series organized by Alison James (University of Chicago) and Alexandre Gefen (THALIM/CNRS) will focus on recent publications and approaches in the field, and promote dialogue between literary and critical traditions.
October 2, 2024: Jean-Louis Jeannelle : “Les récits de vie et le mémorable”
November 6, 2024: Lauren Fournier : “After Autotheory”
January 29, 2025, Aurélie Adler : “Engagement et écriture de soi dans l’œuvre d’Annie Ernaux”
March 5, 2025: Carole Allamand : “The Autobiographical Space, Revisited”
April 30, 2025: Hillary Chute : “The I of Comics”
All events will take place via Zoom
10:00 am – 12:00pm Central Time (US) / 17:00-19:00 Paris
Registration required: https://tinyurl.com/44hy796w