THE DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND THE CENTER FOR FRENCH AND FRANCOPHONE STUDIES PRESENT:
ARAGON, ELSA TRIOLET: LOVE AND POLITICS IN THE TIME OF THE COLD WAR
October 13-14, 2000 Maison Française, East Gallery, Buell Hall, Broadway at 116th Street, New York
Louis Aragon (1897-1982) is one of the most important and influential French writers of the 20th century. As a novelist, poet, art critic,
member of the French Resistance, and active member of the Parti Communiste Français, he was a major figure of the French cultural
landscape. His writings are considered inseparable from those of his wife, Russian-born novelist and essayist Elsa Triolet (1896-1970). This
colloquium will focus on the complex interactions between political involvement and artistic achievement during the dramatic decades that
include World War II, de-Stalinization and the Cold War. Literary critics as well as cultural historians and art historians will discuss the works
of Aragon and Triolet within their political and cultural contexts. This deliberately interdisciplinary approach will help to shed light on a question
of enduring relevance as we consider the 20th century: the relationship between art and politics.
With the participation of: JEAN ALBERTINI, MICHEL APEL-MULLER, DANIEL BOUGNOUX, MARYSE CONDÉ, PIERRE DAIX, SERGE
GAVRONSKY, VINCENT KAUFMANN, JULIA KRISTEVA, HELENA LEWIS, NATHALIE LIMAT-LETELLIER, HENRI MITTERAND,
MICHEL MURAT, SUZANNE RAVIS, JEAN RISTAT, HILARY SPURLING, SUSAN SULEIMAN, MARYSE VASSEVIÈRE,
DOMINIQUE VAUGEOIS and IRWIN M. WALL.
The conference is free of charge but registration is required.
To register on-line, or for more information: www.columbia.edu/cu/french/maison or 212.854.4482
Funding provided by the STERLING CURRIER FUND and THE GLADYS KRIEBLE DELMAS FOUNDATION
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13
9:00 AM REGISTRATION AND COFFEE
9:15 AM INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Dominique Jullien (Columbia University)
9:30 AM THE ARTIST IN THE NOVEL
- The Parti Communiste Français, Stalinism, and the Cold
War, 1947-1975
Irwin M. Wall (U.C. Riverside; Visiting Scholar,
NYU Center for European Studies)
- La Semaine sainte, ou la chevauchée du peintre
Henri Mitterand (Columbia University)
- L’artiste dans la tourmente de l’histoire : Le Monument
d’Elsa Triolet et La Semaine sainte d’Aragon
Suzanne Ravis (Université de Provence, Aix-Marseille I)
- Aragon et Picasso : divergences et incompréhensions
Pierre Daix (Paris)
- Aragon: Politics and Picasso
Serge Gavronsky (Barnard College)
2:30 PM ELSA TRIOLET: THE WRITER IN THE CENTURY
CHAIR: Gita May (Columbia University)
- Ce que disait Le Cheval roux
Michel Apel-Muller (Director of the Maison Elsa Triolet-Aragon,
Villeneuve, France)
- The Jewish Question in the Work of Elsa Triolet
Helena Lewis (Humanities Center, Harvard University)
- Du Cheval Roux au Rendez-vous des étrangers :
vision de l’Amérique dans les romans du temps de la
Guerre Froide
Marie-Thérèse Eychart (Université de Lille I)
4:00 PM ROUND TABLE: “LE MENTIR-VRAI”
Hilary Spurling (London), Susan Suleiman (Harvard
University), Irwin M. Wall (U.C. Riverside; Visiting Scholar, NYU
Center for European Studies) and Dominique Vaugeois
(Université de Poitiers)
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14
9:00 AM REGISTRATION AND COFFEE
9:30 AM DE-STALINIZING FICTION
CHAIR: Denis Hollier (New York University)
- Les Communautés selon Aragon
Vincent Kaufmann (Universität St. Gallen)
- Aragon, défenseur du réalisme à l’époque de la
déstalinisation
Nathalie Limat-Letellier (Université de Paris III-Sorbonne
Nouvelle)
- Aragon et ses modèles ou le chemin des fables
Maryse Vassevière (Université de Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle)
- On Some Figures of Femininity in Aragon's Works
Julia Kristeva (Université de Paris VII-Denis-Diderot)
ELSA TRIOLET IN LIFE AND FICTION
CHAIR: Robert Paxton (Columbia University)
- Le Couple royal et ambigu
Dominique Desanti (Paris)
2:00 PM ARAGON IN THE AMERICAS
CHAIR: Paul Creamer (Columbia University)
- Les deux Amériques d’Aragon : amitiés américaines,
anti-“imperialisme yankee”
Jean Albertini (Lyon)
- ‘Fous-t’en, laisse dire Aragon’. Pour une poésie nationale :
Césaire, Depestre, Aragon
Maryse Condé (Columbia University)
3:30 PM LOVE, POETRY AND POLITICS
CHAIR: James Helgeson (Columbia University)
- Rime et poésie nationale
Michel Murat (Université de Paris IV-Sorbonne; Visiting
Professor, Columbia University)
- L’amour / la politique : terrible loi de vivre double
Daniel Bougnoux (Université Stendhal de Grenoble III)
- Aragon, l’homme au gant
Jean Ristat (Paris)
5:00 PM CLOSING REMARKS
Dominique Jullien (Columbia University)
5:30 RECEPTION
Buell Hall, 2nd Floor Mail Code 4990 515 West 116th Street New York, NY 10027 212-854-4482 Fax 212-854-4803
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/french/maison E-mail maison@columbia.edu
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
MAISON FRANÇAISE
AS OF OCTOBER 2, 2000