University of Cambridge Annual French Graduate Conference 2007
King's College, Cambridge
4th and 5th April 2007
Call for papers:
GUILT AND SHAME
‘Avoir honte de son immoralité, c'est un premier degré de l'échelle ; arrivé en haut, on aura honte aussi de sa propre moralité.'
Friedrich Nietzsche, Par-delà le Bien et le Mal
As theoretical positions and as affective experiences, the twin currents of contrition – guilt and shame – permeate literary discourse and figure prominently in discussions of religion, history, sexuality and social hierarchy. The annual Cambridge French Graduate Conference, with the generous support of the Society for French Studies, hopes to generate a broader enquiry into these two mutually imbricated themes. This year, our invited speakers will include Dr Bill Burgwinkle, Reader in Medieval French and Occitan Literature at the University of Cambridge and Professor Lisa Downing, Professor of French Discourses of Sexuality at the University of Exeter. We are seeking a stimulating diversity of papers addressing this issue in an original light, and encourage submissions from all spheres and all periods of French Studies, including literature, poetry, music, theatre, linguistics, history, cultural studies, thought and philosophy, film and visual art.
Topics for papers might include, but are certainly not limited to the following:
Literary guilt and shame: • The guilty author: influence, plagiarism, slander • Narrative authorities • Crime, punishment, revenge • Belonging, provenance, disinheritance The ethics of guilt and shame: • Documentary, testimony, the ethics of otherness • War and peace, victims and victors • Justice • Cultural amnesia The guilt and shame of looking: • Vision, witnessing and affect • Voice, desubjectification, silence and speechlessness • Spectacle, voyeurism and exhibition • Staging, performance and questions of authenticity Theories of guilt and shame: • The Horror, The Real and the Abject • Guilt, shame and ontology • The shame of embodiment • Eros/Thanatos Sexual guilt, sexual shame: • (Hetero)normativity • Transgression, obsession and possession • Bodies, identities and freedom • Conformity and resistance The guilt and shame of power: • Masters and slaves • Humiliation and abjection • Postcolonial guilt and subalterity • Retribution and penitence Abstracts of approximately 250-300 words, in French or in English, should be submitted to Jenny Higgins (jh436@cam.ac.uk) or Jenny Chamarette (jlgc3@cam.ac.uk) by 20th January 2007.