Research team

Expertise

Literary Theory. French and Francophone Literature all periods. Racine, Chateaubriand, Balzac, Proust, Simon. Literature and Media.

"Moi les hommes, je les déteste": Misandry as a literary discourse. 01/11/2022 - 31/10/2024

Abstract

In recent years, the notion of misandry as a liberating defence mechanism against systemic misogyny has become the subject of debate, particularly in French media, following the publication of Pauline Harmange's 2020 pamphlet "Moi les hommes, je les déteste". The portrayal of feminists as man-haters is an anti-feminist stigma, claimed as a discursive strategy by certain feminists such as Harmange. This project aims to provide deeper insights into the controversy surrounding the topic of misandry by examining if, where and in what forms misandrist literary discourse is expressed in the works of French women writers who are associated with feminist movements in the second half of the twentieth century. Relying on the discipline of Critical Discourse Analysis, my research approaches misandrist expressions in literature as a discourse and, more specifically, as a form of gendered hate speech targeted against a structurally dominant group. With my research outcomes, I intend to raise awareness on the subject of misandry as a discursive strategy and demonstrate what implications and possibilities this literary discourse can have for feminist movements.

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  • Research Project

Scientific Chair "International Francqui Professor 2021-2022" (Prof. dr. William Marx). 01/10/2021 - 30/09/2022

Abstract

Prof. Marx teaches Comparative Literature at the prestigious Collège de France (Paris). He will be present in Antwerp during 3 months for 1/ an inaugural conference 2/ a series of Master Classes in comparative end French Literature, 3/ an international symposium on the thme of the "Probabibliothèque". Prof. Marx heeft de leerstoel Vergelijkende Letterkunde aan het prestigieuze Collège de France (Paris). Hij zal 3 maanden in Antwerpen verblijven voor 1/ een inaugurale lezing voor groot publiek, 2/ een reeks Masterclasses rond zijn werk, 3/ een internationaal symposium over het thema van de "Probabibliothèque".

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  • Research Project

Constructing Gay Identities and Communities through Literary Style in French Gay AIDS Literature between 1989 and 1999. 01/11/2019 - 31/10/2023

Abstract

'Constructing Gay Identities and Communities through Literary Style in French Gay AIDS Literature between 1989 and 1999' investigates the way literary style creates identity and community in literature. Even though style has been used to analyze a (shared) identity outside literature, this knowledge has not found its way back into literary analyses. At the same time, (gay) identity and community are central to contemporary French debate. Between 1989 and 1999 different authors transformed their experiences in literature, hereby focusing on the life of gay men in contemporary France during the AIDS crisis. Focusing on such a short period of time allows a thorough analysis of the way style constructs identities and communities. My research starts with the idea that identity and community consist of different shared objects, for example a shared music genre, a specific interpretation of a film or a shared canon of authors. These shared objects also share a style, and by mentioning them the authors make a stylistic choice. An overview of the multiple interpretations of the notion 'style' does not yet exist, which is a gap that my research bridges. Moreover, my research creates a cartograph of different gay identities and communities as they are represented in the literary works of my corpus. By means of this cartograph, my research responds to generalizations of queer critics and conservatives.

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  • Research Project

Reading in Europe today - Reading and writing literary texts in the age of digital humanities. 01/10/2017 - 30/09/2019

Abstract

This project does focus on the necessary links between reading and writing in the age of digital humanities. Text 'consumption' (Valéry) and text 'production' have always been very close to each other. New technologies for writing and reading do intensify the relations between poth poles. The project has special interest for research in the field of french and francophone literature. The 'postextual' dimension (Schuerewegen) if literary criticism (the word 'text' designates a proces, not a product) is used here as a central methodology. Reading is another name for writing .

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  • Research Project
  • Education Project

Hypercommunication : literature and the media. 01/10/2000 - 30/09/2005

Abstract

How do "literature" and "the media" interrelate ? Should we see "Literature" as "a medium" ? And where do we have to place "literature" in the contemporary media-configuration ? The phenomenon "hypertext" deserves special attention in this project.

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  • Research Project

Proust and Duchamp : the idea of the ready-made. 01/11/1997 - 30/10/1999

Abstract

Officially, there are no links between the works of Marcel Proust and Marcel Duchamp. In this research we are trying to prove that there are many, important hidden links between the two artists, the two art-forms. Our point of departure is the notion of 'ready-made' which is also a Proustian concept, this is what this project will try to show.

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    • Research Project

    Balzac without mesure. 01/09/1995 - 31/05/1996

    Abstract

    The purpose is to analyze Balzac's role as one of the founding fathers of the modern novel. Special attention is given to the poetics of excess in Balzac.

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      • Research Project

      Hypertext and literature. 01/01/1995 - 31/12/1996

      Abstract

      Critical analysis of the hypertext concept as it is used in informatics by means of a series of close readings of literary textes.

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        • Research Project

        Hypercommunication : literature and the media. 30/09/1994 - 30/09/2000

        Abstract

        How do "literature" and "the media" interrelate ? Should we see "Literature" as "a medium" ? And where do we have to place "literature" in the contemporary media-configuration ? The phenomenon "hypertext" deserves special attention in this project.

        Researcher(s)

        Research team(s)

          Project type(s)

          • Research Project