New Technologies in French/Francophone Lit & Films (Celine Philibert In Memoriam Session)
Abstract:
In our increasingly interconnected and complex world, the meaning we attribute to ‘network’ has taken on a myriad of significations, some reassuring, some unsettling. We all immediately think of the Internet, of course, the network of all networks, and its sycophants, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, etc. They represent the popular reality of networks, along with all the positive and negative aspects we attach to the idea that everything is linked. If everything is interconnected, then everything we do impact everyone and it is impossible not to link networks with a growing sense of globalization, which is gradually changing the face of the world.
The new technologies create networks, which are increasingly decentralized. They challenge us: What are the networks we have created? How were they born? What network do we want for today? Do we need to regulate them? Do we need to protect them from themselves? Have networks lowered our ability to feel empathy? Has it made us more alone than we were before?
These series of questions have been of interests for many contemporary French and Francophone writers and cineastes. This seminar aims at allowing students and professors working on the subject to present their work to their colleagues in order to possibly start a collaboration, which could result in the publishing of a collection of articles on the subject.
This panel will mostly be interested in exploring this topic in the works of contemporary French and Francophone writers and filmmakers such as Michel Houellebecq, Marie NDiaye, Éric Chevillard, Jean Echenoz, Jean-Phillippe Toussaint, Pierre Michon, the Dardennes Brothers, Laurent Cantet, Mathias Gokalp, Nicolas Klotz, Jean-Marc Moutout, Cédric Klapish, Leos Carax and Jacques Audiard (but other contributions may be accepted if they enter in the same problematic).
The abstract submission needs to be done through the NeMLA website, please follow their guidelines. Don't hesitate however to use the organizer's email if you have questions.