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Françoise de Graffigny: New Approaches

Françoise de Graffigny: New Approaches

Publié le par Eloïse Lièvre

The Voltaire Foundation announces

Françoise de Graffigny: New Approaches
International Conference

to be held
in Trinity College, Oxford
19-21 September 2002

In 1752 Françoise de Graffigny, one of the most renowned women writers of the 18th Century, was at the height of her fame. In that year she published the second and significantly revised edition of her Lettres d'une Péruvienne, adding two new letters which intensified the critique of society and its reductive categorisation of women. She also republished Cénie, one of the century's most popular comédies sentimentales and one of the rare plays by a woman performed at the Comédie Française. Her salon in Paris was flourishing, and her correspondence offered a unique insight into the cultural life of the time. 250 years later, after a long period of neglect, Graffigny's importance is once again recognised. Her Lettres d'une Péruvienne have attracted many and diverse critical readings in recent years, and the ongoing edition of her correspondence is enabling scholars to discover new insights into her life and work.

The aim of the conference is to examine the multiple facets of Graffigny's writing in the light of this recent critical attention: to reassess her novel, to explore the significance of her correspondence, and to open out new lines of enquiry into other, more neglected writings - her shorter fiction, her theatre, her salon activity. It is hoped to bring together scholars on both sides of the Atlantic. Jean Sgard, English Showalter and Joan Hinde Stewart have agreed to give keynote addresses.

We propose to examine the following aspects of this remarkable figure:

- story teller and novelist: Nouvelle espagnole and Azerole: composition and significance; Lettres d'une Péruvienne: genesis; reception; the 1752 edition; influence; problems and meanings
- dramatist: Cénie : text and performance; popularity; La Fille d'Aristide ; plays for the Imperial children; Graffigny's role in the development of sentimental comedy
- correspondent: Graffigny as commentator on Parisian cultural life; Graffigny as mentor; the art of the letters
- woman & writer: Graffigny and women's writing in the mid-century; her salon and Paris literary society; her relations with other writers; her reputation and importance

We invite proposals in French for papers (20 minutes) relevant to the principal themes of the conference: a title and abstract (of approx 400 words) should be sent by 31 July 2001 to :

Dr Jonathan Mallinson
Trinity College
Oxford OX1 3BH
E-mail: jonathan.mallinson@trinity.oxford.ac.uk
Tel: 01865 279919
Fax: 01865 279911

from whom further details of the conference may be obtained. It may be possible to make some contribution towards speakers' travel or accommodation expenses, but participants are advised to apply also, where appropriate, to their own institutions.

It is hoped that selected papers will form a proposed volume of SVEC.