Prepare Your Taste Buds—And Your Brains!
Step right up, history buffs, film fanatics, and buffet lovers! Set your alarms and note those calendars because on November 20th at 6 p.m., the stage is set at Paris Cité University for a cinematic experience that promises to be as enlightening as it is delicious.
The Opening Act: Cinema! 🍿
We’ll kick off the festivities with a screening of A Violent Desire for Happiness, directed by Clément Schneider. If the title doesn’t grab you, the director’s presence surely will! I mean, you can’t just scroll past a man with the name Clément—it’s practically a French law! And hey, there’s a buffet afterward; that’s the real star of the show, isn’t it?
Let the Intellectual Games Begin!
Fast forward to November 21st, where the brainiacs converge at Paris Cité University for a conference that will have even the most crusty historical figures sitting up to take notes!
A Full Day of Enlightenment
It all kicks off bright and early at 9 a.m. chaired by the illustrious Allan Potofsky. Expect thrill and intrigue as Paul Kompanietz dives into the labyrinthine world of 1830’s novel history like a historian trying to find the nearest café—confusing, but ultimately rewarding. Then we’ll transition to Cécile Tarjot, who’s set to explore sentimental storytelling like it’s a romantic comedy and not a prison narrative. That’s right, folks, even revolutions can have a soft side!
More Talks, More Breaks!
We will plunge deeper with topics ranging from Alexandre Dumas’s alleged counter-revolutionary leanings to a vivid discussion on video games and the French Revolution. I know what you’re thinking: video games? Can I just get a “Dante’s Inferno” style ground-level view of the guillotine while I slay imaginary demons? The answer is yes – and don’t forget to take a break before diving back in; this is a marathon, not a sprint!
The Final Day: Carnival of Knowledge 🎠
Finally, on the 22nd, we’ll finish strong at the Carnavalet Museum, because who doesn’t want to learn about revolutions amidst some seriously grand French decor? There will be round tables, imaginary biographies, and lunch! Yes, lunch! And just when you thought it couldn’t get better, we have a roundtable about writing history. Spoiler alert: it’s not just about putting pen to paper; it’s about anachronism too, so dust off those quills!
Join the Revolution!
From food to film, talks to ticklish debates, this is not your conventional academic gathering. It’s a rather spicy take on history, where your potpourri of knowledge will be seasoned with a dash of sarcasm, a sprinkle of wit, and a whole buffet of historical goods. And did I mention a buffet? Because really, folks, we all know that’s what will be lingering in everyone’s memory—not the academic debates, the all-you-can-eat bread rolls!
Registration Required!
This jolly romp through history is free upon registration, so you have absolutely no excuse not to rush over to Paris Cité University. Check the link below for sign-up details and bring your appetite—both for knowledge and for the really good stuff!
Programme
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Wednesday November 20 at 6 p.m. – Paris Cité University, Sophie Germain building, Amphi Türing – Place Aurélie Nemours, Paris 13th
Screening of the film by Clément Schneider, A violent desire for happiness (2018, 75mn)
In the presence of the director and with Tatian Monassa (UPCité, CERILAC)
Followed by a buffet offered by the Culture Department of Paris Cité University
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Thursday November 21 – Paris Cité University, Grands Moulins, Room 677C – Entrance via Esplanade Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Paris 13th
9 a.m. – Opening of the conference by the organizers
Chair: Allan Potofsky (UPCité, LARCA)
9:30 a.m. – Paul Kompanietz (Lycée du Parc, Lyon, IHRIM): “The novel in the labyrinth. Making history as a novelist at the turn of 1830 »
10 a.m. – Cécile Tarjot (Rennes 2 University, CELLAM): “The sentimental story to imagine the revolutionary prison: the case of the ‘young captive’ and her poet (Aimée de Coigny and André Chénier)”
Discussion and break
Chair: Paule Petitier (UPCité, CERILAC)
11 a.m. – Baptiste Roger-Lacan (University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, IHMC): “Alexandre Dumas, counter-revolutionary novelist? »
11:30 a.m. – Sylvie Thorel (University of Lille): “Dumas: a romantic poetics of the Revolution”
Discussion
Chair: Florence Lotterie (UPCité, CERILAC)
2 p.m. – Julie Moucheron (ENS Paris, ITEM): “Anatole France and the sources of revolutionary history, from the Altars of Fear to the Gods Are Thirsty”
2:30 p.m. – Hernán Rodriguez Vargas (Università degli Studi di Salerno, Department of Humanist Studies): “Interpreting the French Revolution from a republican perspective during the democratic sex”
Discussion and break
Chair: Sophie Lucet (UPCité, CERILAC)
3:30 p.m. – Paul Chopelin (Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, LAHRRA): “The challenges of historical documentation in the treatment of the French Revolution in comics (from the 1970s to the present day)”
4 p.m. – Hugo Orain (Rennes 2 University, TEMPORA): “Video games and the French Revolution: the case of Steelrising”
Discussion and break
Chair: Quentin Deluermoz (UPCité, ICT)
5 p.m. – Laurent Bihl (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CHS): “‘See you next time’: the Revolution imagined as the embedding of revolts”
Discussion and end of the day
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Friday November 22 – Carnavalet Museum-History of Paris
Orangerie Room – 14 rue Payenne, Paris 3rd
10:45 a.m. – Grouazel and Locard in the exhibition “Paris 1793-94: A revolutionary year”: round table with the authors moderated by Pierre Serna (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, IHMC-IHRF), Philippe Charnotet (curator, responsible for numismatic collections, Musée Carnavalet-Histoire de Paris) and Sophie Lucet (UPCité, CERILAC)
Pause
12 p.m. – Corinne Saminadayar-Perrin (Paul-Valéry University – Montpellier 3, RIRRA 21): “Imaginary biographies. An erased history of the Revolution »
1 p.m. – Lunch
2:30 p.m. – Gaspard Delon (Paris Cité University, CERILAC): “Napoleon (Ridley Scott, 2023), from the Revolution to the Empire: reinvesting History, adjusting the distance”
Discussion and break
3:30 p.m.: Final round table Research put to the test of writing
Benjamin Hoffmann (The Ohio State University): “Writing in the gap. Les Minuscules (Gallimard, 2024) and The French Revolution”; Guillaume Mazeau (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CRH): “The imagination to the aid of history? Contemporary rewritings of the French Revolution”; Stéphanie Genand (Université Paris-Est Créteil, LiS): “Writing in the present: the virtues of anachronism in literature”; Arnaud Maïsetti (Aix-Marseille University, LESA): Around Saint-Just & the dust (The Vengeful Tree, 2021)
Hosted by Florence Lotterie and Olivier Ritz (CERILAC).
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Conference organized with the support of CERILAC, the Atrium Humanities and Social Sciences, the Institut universitaire de France (IUF), the Culture Center of Paris Cité University, the Carnavalet Museum and Paris Musées.
Scientific committee: Antoine De Baecque (ENS-PSL), Quentin Deluermoz (Paris Cité University), Jean-Clément Martin (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), Paule Petitier (Paris Cité University), Allan Potofsky (Paris Cité University), Jean-Marie Roulin ( Jean Monnet-Saint-Étienne University), Pierre Serna (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), Armelle Talbot (Paris Cité University).
