AMERICA IN FRENCH LITT. or  THE FROGS AND THE EAGLE :

                                         (MIS)REPRESENTATIONS OF AMERICA IN FRENCH LITERATURE

   While France and America historically stood as allies from the very birth of the United States, anti-Americanism also has a long tradition in France, shaped and nurtured by generations of intellectuals and writers. As early as the 18^th century, prominent French philosophers and scientists such as Buffon dwelled upon America’s «weaknesses» as a continent, prompting Thomas Jefferson’s counter-attack in his Notes on the State of Virginia. In the course of the 19th century, anti-Americanism moved to new topics, ranging from the lack of cultural life to economic greed and military imperialism.

From Baudelaire, who coined the French word “américanisation” in the 1850s to Jean Baudrillard, who in 1986 described America as a non-entity, French poets, novelists and writers played a decisive part in the elaboration and diffusion of anti-American stereotypes.

The seminar will explore this tradition, which accounts for a great number of French attitudes towards the US today.

The first four weeks will be devoted to a presentation of the most salient features of French anti-Americanism, in connection with specific historical periods (from the 18^th to the 21^st century): «L’Amérique invivable»,  «L’Amérique inculte», «L’Amérique impériale» et «L’Amérique introuvable».

The second half of the seminar will be organized thematically, each week being devoted to a selected, significant topic :  «La ville», «La violence», «La voracité», «Le vice et la vertu».

Readings will include an array of sources, ranging from natural history and philosophy to poetry and from short story to political pamphlet. We will discuss pages or chapters in Buffon, De Pauw, Jefferson, Baudelaire, Georges Duhamel, Céline, Sartre, Marcel Aymé, Jean Baudrillard,. We will also have a look at representations of the US in film (Le Mépris by Jean-Luc Godard and French popular culture : serialized fiction (La Conspiration des milliardaires), comic books (Tintin en Amérique), cartoons (Plantu).