ACLA 2009 Convention
March 26-29, 2009
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
The art of seduction: global language and local figures
- Seminar Organizer: Mathilde Branthomme, U de Montréal
Seduction requires being able to recognize signs, interpret them and know how to play with them. Each culture develops their own signs, gestures and their own seduction language. Seduction implies complicity and understanding but it can also involve half-truths where the one who masters the signs wins. “Our old friend Don Juan” (Byron) embodies a specific seduction, one which is different from the seduction of Johannes, Kierkegaard's hero in The Seducer's Diary. His seductive approach is distinctive from the sensual seduction of a Marylin or a Penelope. This panel will explore the different forms of seduction proposed within a world culture. Papers should discuss the dialogue and complicity created by seduction while presenting figures of seduction from literary, artistic and philosophical perspectives. They should also analyze the contemporary impact of these figures on a global language.
- What are our contemporary figures of seduction in literature, in art, in film studies?
- Are our ancient models of seduction still enticing, or have they become archaic?
- Are local figures of seduction able to work outside of a definite culture?
- How do we represent seduction and relate to figures of seduction?
- How do we respond to hegemonic figures of seducers or seductresses?
- Is seduction an oppressive language or the possibility for a true dialogue, complicity between us?
- How does seduction allow a non-authoritarian relationship?
- How do literary languages seduce?
Submit your paper proposal on the ACLA conference website, located at http://www.acla.org/submit/. Just select the "The art of seduction" seminar.