Cultural Identities: Noir Fiction and Film in France and Italy
Institute of Romance Studies, London, UK
12 and 13 April 2002
This two-day conference aims to investigate the development of hard-boiled crime fiction and film in post-war France and Italy. The emphasis will be on the ways in which such writing and filmmaking interact with formative cultural narratives from the 1940s to the present day. We envisage that papers will focus on questions of form and representation, as well as on the cultural politics of noir narration.
We would particularly welcome contributions addressing the following issues:
- the formation of the récit policier/struttura gialla and literary-critical responses
- the relationship between elite and popular culture in France and Italy and the status of noir narratives
- the role and significance of interwar American literature as primary source
- how film and television have engaged with the popular appeal of noir fiction
- the impact of the internet as a site for discussion and dissemination of new work
- questions of intertextuality and hybrid forms, particularly in the work of more contemporary writers, such as Jean Echenoz and Antonio Tabucchi
- how post-war histories, institutions and ideologies have been represented in noir narratives
- the influence of critical debates on gender, class, race and sexuality
- specific cultural interactions between France and Italy and the extent to which these countries have evolved noir traditions distinct from American models
Papers should be no more than 30 minutes in length and be delivered in English. We will be inviting roman noir writers from France and Italy to participate in a round table session on the second day of the conference.
Please send abstracts of approximately 300 words by 1 September 2001 to:
French
Dr Claire Gorrara, School of European Studies, University of Cardiff, PO Box 908, Cardiff CF10 3YQ, Wales, UK. Email: Gorrara@cardiff.ac.uk
Italian
Dr Giuliana Pieri, Department of Italian, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK. Email: G.Pieri@rhul.ac.uk