An array of cultural events (free and open to the public) are planned through October, 2016.

Philippe Descola
Philippe Descola

      La Maison Française of NYU (16 Washington Mews, at University Place, New York, N.Y.) will present a plethora of free cultural events for the public through the end of October. Among the highlights are: the new season of the series French Literature in the Making” with journalist Olivier Barrot, who will interview Catherine Millet, editor of Art Press and author of La vie sexuelle de Catherine M. (9/26), followed by actor/playwright/director Jean-Michel Ribes (10/24); presentations by philosopher Ali Benmakhlouf of Université Paris-Est Créteil (9/27 and 9/28); a conversation about Zahia Rahmani’s France, Story of a Childhood (Yale University Press, 2016) with the author and Vincent Crapanzano (10/3); a three-day conference, Global French Theater” (10/13-10/15), which includes a performance by David Lescot of Ceux qui restent; Philippe Descola, author and professor, Collège de France, who will discuss “An Inquiry into the Metaphysics of Others” (10/13); and a discussion of “Paris in Shock. Traces and Memory of the 2015 Terrorist Attacks” (10/17). For further information, please call 212.998.8750 or email maison.francaise@nyu.edu.

SEPTEMBER 2016:

Monday, September 26, 6:30 p.m.:

Florence Gould Event

French Literature in the Making

CATHERINE MILLET

Writer, art critic, founder and editor, Art Press; author of Yves Klein; Le Critique d’art s’expose; L’Art contemporain en France; La Vie sexuelle de Catherine M.; Jour de souffrance; Une Enfance de rêve

in conversation with

OLIVIER BARROT

Writer, journalist, television producer and host, Un Livre, un jour (France 3 and TV5); author of L’Ami posthume; Le Fils perdu; Un Livre, un jour, un livre toujours; Mitteleuropa

In French

Presented with the additional support of Sofitel and La Compagnie.

Tuesday, September 27, 7:00 p.m.:

Lecture in French

Hominisation et humanisation: la question du corps humain

ALI BENMAKHLOUF

Professor of Philosophy, Université Paris-Est Créteil; author of L’Identité, une fable philosophique; Selon la raison; Pourquoi lire les philosophes arabes?

Sponsored by the Department of French, Department of Comparative Literature, Global Research Institute, and the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies

Wednesday, September 28, 7:00 p.m.:

Medieval and Renaissance Center Event, co-sponsored by the Department of French and the Department of Comparative Literature

Location:  The Great Hall, 13-19 University Place, 1st Fl.                                                               

A Contemporary Perspective on Arabic Medieval Philosophy

ALI BENMAKHLOUF                                                                                                                  Professor of Philosophy, Université Paris-Est Créteil; author of L’Identité, une fable philosophique; Selon la raison; Pourquoi lire les philosophes arabes?

Respondent:  DANIEL HELLER-ROAZEN

Professor of Comparative Literature, Princeton University; author of Dark Tongues: The Art of Rogues and Riddlers; The Fifth Hammer: Pythagoras and the Disharmony of the World

In English

OCTOBER 2016

Monday, October 3, 7:00 p.m.:

ZAHIA RAHMANI

Writer; art historian; director, Art et Mondialisation, INHA; Global Faculty in Residence, NYU Steinhardt; author of Moze; Musulman roman; France, récit d’une enfance

in conversation with

VINCENT CRAPANZANO

Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Comparative Literature, Graduate Center, CUNY;

His books include The Harkis: The Wound That Never Heals

Zahia Rahmani’s France, récit d’une enfance (France, Story of a Childhood, Yale University Press, 2016), a moving tale of imprisonment and escape, persecution and loss, is narrated by the daughter of an alleged Harki, an Algerian soldier who fought for the French during the Algerian War for Independence. It was the fate of such men to be twice exiled, first in their homeland after the war, and later in France, where fleeing Harki families sought refuge but instead faced contempt, discrimination, and exclusion. Zahia Rahmani blends reality and imagination in her writing, offering a fictionalized version of her own family’s struggle.

In English

Wednesday, October 5, 6:30 p.m.:

Institute of French Studies Event

La Couverture journalistique des guerres et du Moyen Orient

CHRISTOPHE BOLTANSKI

Journalist, foreign and war correspondent, Libération, Rue 89; author of Minerals de sang (Prix Bayeux- Calvados); novelist; author of La Cache (Prix Femina)

In French

Thursday, October 6, 7:00 p.m.:

Book Event

Vies de Charlotte Dufrène. A l’ombre de Raymond Roussel et Michel Leiris

Préface de John Ashbery (Les Impressions nouvelles, 2016)

Authors RENAUD DE PUTTER, writer, composer, and filmmaker, and GUY BORDIN, ethnographer and filmmaker, will be joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet JOHN ASHBERY for a discussion of the life of the woman who was the companion of homosexual writer Raymond Roussel, tracing her path from the demi-monde of the Belle Epoque to the circles of the literary avant-garde.

Wednesday, October 12, 7:00 p.m.:

Institute of French Studies Round Table

A Permanent State of Emergency? Views from France and the U.S.

SUSAN HERMAN (President, American Civil Liberties Union; Centennial Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School; author of Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy )   NICHOLAS FISCHER (Researcher in political science, CNRS; visiting fellow, NYU; author of Le territoire de l’expulsion. La retention administrative des étrangers et l’Etat de droit dans la France contemporaine

SYLVIE THÉNAULT (Research director in History, CNRS; visiting professor, NYU; author of Violence ordinaire dans l’Algérie coloniale)

In English

Thursday, October 13, 6:00 p.m.:

Location:  Vanderbilt Hall, 40 Washington Square South, Room 204

                                                                                                                                                               An Inquiry into the Metaphysics of Others                                                                              

PHILIPPE DESCOLA                                                                                                                       Professor, Collège de France; author of La Nature domestique; Les Lances du crepuscule; Par-delà nature et culture; L'écologie des autres. L'anthropologie et la question de la nature  Co-sponsored by Animal Studies Initiative, Department of Anthropology, Department of Environmental Studies, Center for the Humanities, Environmental Humanities, Institute of French Studies, La Maison Française

RSVP for this event only:
http://nyuhumanities.org/events/event-registration/?ee=107

 

Thursday, October 13 – Saturday, October 15:

GLOBAL FRENCH THEATER

POUR UN THÉÂTRE-MONDE

    Thursday, October 13

    Location:      La Maison Française, 16 Washington Mews

    8:00 p.m.     Performance:  Ceux qui restent

    David Lescot (Actor, writer, director)

      In French

    RSVP for performance:  maison.francaise@nyu.edu or 212-998-8750

    Friday, October 14  

    Location:     Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street

     All Friday sessions in English

    10:15 a.m.    Welcome Sarah Kay (NYU) and Introduction Tom Bishop (NYU)

    10:30 a.m.    French Theatre in New York

    Charles Isherwood (The New York Times) in conversation with Judith Miller (NYU)

    11:45 a.m. Performing Beckett

    Bill Irwin (Actor) in conversation with Tom Bishop (NYU)                                                     

​​    2:30​ p.m.      Round Table

    New Performances and Theoretical Models in France and the U.S.

    Richard Schechner (Tisch School of the Arts, NYU)

    Josette Feral (Université du Québec, Montréal)

    Malik Gaines (Tisch School of the Arts, NYU)

    Sophie Proust (Université Lille 3)

    5:00 p.m.      Training/Acting Globally

    Florent Masse (Princeton University)

    Saturday October 15:

    Location:  19 University Place, Room 102 

     All Saturday sessions in French

    10:00 a.m.    

    Olivier Py (Director, writer, actor) in conversation with Olivier Barrot (Writer, journalist)

    11:00 a.m.      Round Table

    Le Théâtre contemporain, sens et directions

    Christian Biet (Université Paris 8), moderator

    Laure Adler (Writer, journalist)

    David Lescot (Actor, writer, director)

    Arthur Nauzyciel (Director)  

    2:30 p.m.        Round Table

    Le Théâtre francophone et la question de la traduction théâtrale

    Judith Miller (NYU), moderator 

    Gerty Dambury (Writer, director)

    Koffi Kwahulé (Playwright)

    Laurent Muhleisen (Translator)

    5:00 p.m.        

    Marie-Christine Barrault (Actress) in conversation with Tom Bishop (NYU)

    6:00 p.m. Dramatic Reading

    Lectures pour Tom

    Compiled by Christian Biet and Judith Miller

    Readers include Christian Biet, Judith Miller, David Lescot, Marie Desgranges, Anna Raff  

    Miller, Rachel Watson         

Monday, October 17, 6:30 p.m.:

Institute of French Studies Event                                                                                                                                             

Paris in Shock. Traces and Memory of the 2015 Terrorist Attacks

SARAH GENSBURGER, author of National Policy, Global Memory, and GÉRÔME TRUC, author of Sidérations. Une sociologie des attentats, are researchers at the CNRS and members of the Institut de Sciences sociales du Politique (UPOND-ENS Cachan).

Comments by:  CLIFFORD CHANIN                                                                                                                                         Vice-President for Education and Public Programs, 9/11 Memorial

Thursday, October 20, 7:00 p.m.

French Department Event

Future(s) of French

A new series featuring young scholars discussing current and future directions of their professional discipline

SARA MIGLIETTI (Johns Hopkins) and JESSICA TANNER (UNC)

Monday, October 24, 7:00 p.m.:

Florence Gould Event

French Literature in the Making

JEAN-MICHEL RIBES

Actor, playwright, screenwriter, director, filmmaker; managing director, Théâtre du Rond-Point, Paris; author of Musée haut, musée bas; Théâtre sans animaux (Molière Award); recipient of the Grand Prix du Théâtre de l’Académie Française

in conversation with

OLIVIER BARROT

Writer, journalist, television producer and host, Un Livre, un jour (France 3 and TV5); author of L’Ami posthume; Le Fils perdu; Un Livre, un jour, un livre toujours; Mitteleuropa

In French. Presented with the additional support of Sofitel and La Compagnie

Wednesday, October 26, 6:30 p.m.:

Institute of French Studies Lecture

At Home in Postwar France: Modern Mass Housing and the Right to Comfort

NICOLE C. RUDOLPH                                                                                                                                          Associate Professor of French Studies, Adelphi University; special features editor, French Politics, Culture & Society; author of At Home in Postwar France                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Press Contact

Robert Polner
Robert Polner
(212) 998-2337