Treacherous Love Stories

Activity Type: 
Lecture
Presenter: 
Denis Provencher, Professor of French, Head of the Department of French and Italian, University of Arizona
Date: 
Wednesday, September 13, 2017 - 12:00
Event Status: 
As Scheduled
Location: 
144 Cathedral of Learning

Abstract for undergraduate lecture: Treachery? Treason? What exactly are these and how do they get woven together with love and romance in a context like the course here at Pitt called “French Kiss?” Not that anything French has anything to do with love, n’est-ce pas? Or does it? Are “all things French” related to kissing, romance, and love stories? Or can they turn treacherous when it involves strangers or enemies? This presentation is somewhat about a hook-up where the Frenchman sleeps with his (German) enemy during WW2 or perhaps with his North-African (Muslim) enemy in the post-9/11 or post-Charlie Hebdo attack era. Good French sexual citizens who collude, fall into bed with, and perhaps fall in love with their post-colonial counterparts. Treacherous love stories filled with trickery, exploitation, and even terrorism.

UCIS Unit: 
European Studies Center
Other Pitt Sponsors: 
Gender Sexuality & Women's Studies Program
Honors College
Humanities Center
World Regions: 
Europe
Western Europe