International Colloquium 20th/21st Century French Studies - UConn/Hartford, CT, April 4-April 7.
Mind Games: Literature, Science and Memory
This panel proposes to investigate the role played by various modern scientific paradigms in literary investigations of memory, notably in autofictions, but also in fiction less seemingly steeped in autobiographical facts. In order to account for evolutions in sciences like
neurobiology, chaos theory, fuzzy theory, and relativity theory, literature has had to elaborate new approaches, from formal architectures to aesthetic changes, to take such evolutions into account. To an extent, the changes
that have affected late Twentieth-Century French fiction have resulted in large part because of this discursive cross-pollination. Such moments are recurrent in literary tradition, the authors Jules Verne or Fontenelle and the quarrel between the Ancients and the Moderns are excellent examples.
Further, when scientific revelations touch upon the question of memory, the literary results are especially fruitful.
All those interested in participating in this panel please send a short
proposal to:
Jean-Louis Hippolyte (hippolyt@ksu.edu)
Assistant Professor
French Coordinator
107 Eisenhower Hall
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66502-1003
785-532-1922
Fax: 785-532-7004