Apostgraduate conference organised and supported by the University ofLondon Institute in Paris. Leading on from postgraduate reading groupsessions held during 2010/2011 at ULIP, this conference day willculminate in a publication late 2011.
« Lesextrêmes marquent la frontière au-delà de laquelle la vie prendfin, et la passion de l'extrémisme, en art comme en politique, estdésir déguisé de mort. » MilanKundera
TheFrench literary imagination has been consistently drawn to theextreme from the writings of Sade and Bataille to the novels ofCéline and Michel Houellebecq and the poetry of Baudelaire andMallarmé. In continually seeking to push conceived boundaries of theextreme, whether through physical experience, psychologicalexploration, linguistic experimentation or metaphysical reflection,the avant-garde has shifted perceptions and definitions of this term.
Throughthe expression of the extreme, writers have been confronted with theinsufficiency of language and the act of writing. The followingquestions will be considered during the conference:
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Is the extreme in literature a critical perspective?
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Does the extreme in literature express absence?
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What do we mean by the extreme and its literary expression?
Allare welcome to attend. For further information, or to pre-registeryour attendance at the event (please note places are limited so thisis recommended) please contact extreme@ulip.lon.ac.uk.
‘Autourde l'extrême littéraire'
Conferenceschedule
9.00– 9.30am Registration
9.30– 10.15am 1stpanel: The nineteenth-century extreme
DenisSaint-Amand (FNRS - Université de Liège): 'La Littérature àl'ombre'
SvenGreitschus (Bangor University): 'Sodom and Gomorrah Revisited: ModernHeroes, Modern Cities and Baudelaire's LeSpleen de Paris'
10.15– 10.45am Keynote paper
DrJeremy Stubbs (University of London Institute in Paris/Institutd'études politiques de Paris): 'When is excessreallytoomuch?Horror,parody, self-parody'
10.45– 11.00am - Coffee break
11.00am- 12.30pm 2ndpanel: Violence
NadiaBongo (Université de Provence à Aix-en Provence): 'L'extrêmecorporel dans la trilogie des jumeaux d'Agota Kristof'
GregoryHerman (University of Aberdeen): 'Writing the Ineffable: Sartre,Semprún and the Self as Subject'
JenniferRow (Cornell University/ Université de Paris IV Sorbonne): 'Desirein the Ashes of Time: The extremes of temporality and queerperversion in Racine's Andromaque'
12.30– 13.30pm Lunch
13.30- 15.30pm 3rdpanel: The ‘contemporary extreme'
RussellWilliams (University of London Institute in Paris): 'Cults,crimes and coprophilia. Subversive communities in Richard Morgiève'sSexVox Dominamand Thomas Hairmont's LeCoprophile'
LizaSteiner (Université de Strasbourg): 'Influences et échos sadienschez les écrivains de l'extrême contemporain'
ZoeRoth (King's College, London): 'The Death of Desire: Reconsideringthe Erotic Extreme in Houellebecq's Plateforme'
15.30– 16.00pm Coffee break
16.00– 18.00pm 4thpanel: Extreme sexualities
GillianNi Chellaigh (King's College, London): '‘UnCri écrit':Emma Santos, Speaking from the Semiotic'
LeonaArcher (University of Cambridge): 'Extremities of Space and Gender inthe Old French Questedel Saint Graal'
FrancescaForcolin (Université de Nantes/ Università degli Studi de Turin):'Le corps et l'extrème: pour une lecture de l'oeuvre de ChristineAngot et Annie Ernaux'
18.00pm+ Drinks TBC
Organisationand editorial Committee: Laura Owen, Russell Williams, AlastairHemmens