Whatever Happened to French Theory?

Abstract:In October 1966, at Johns Hopkins University, a small conference introduced America to a mode of critical thought associated with French philosophers and critics. 1966 was also the year of several major events in the history of ideas : the publication of Critique et vérité by Roland Barthes, Écrits by Jacques Lacan, and Les Mots et les choses, by Michel Foucault. In this talk, Françoise Gaillard looks at the year 1966 and the way it exemplifies the philosophical turn of the 1960s – 1970s in France as in America. Speaker:Françoise Gaillard is widely recognized as one of the most important critics and scholars of 19thcentury French literature, philosophy and intellectual history. She is equally recognized as a major commentator in contemporary debates about postmodernity, aesthetics and epistemology. A Peter Wall Distinguished International Visiting Research Scholar, Prof. Gaillard is currently working on a uniquely personal, cultural and intellectual history of “French Theory” — more exactly French theories — from the 1960s to the present, and on its impact on the discourses of the arts and social sciences in France and beyond.University Centre, UBC, Room 176, 6331 Crescent Road, Vancouver