French Cultural Studies for the Twenty-First Century

Contributions by Annie Brancky, Elizabeth Emery, Michael Garval, Susan Hiner, Leslie Kealhofer-Kemp, Mehammed Mack, Rachel Mesch, Lise Schreier, Chelsea Stieber Edited by Masha Belenky, Kathryn Kleppinger, Anne ONeil-Henry

Publication date:

30 March 2017

Length of book:

246 pages

Publisher

University of Delaware Press

Dimensions:

236x163mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781611496376

French Cultural Studies for the Twenty-First Century brings together current scholarship on a diverse range of topics—from French postcards and Third Republic menus to Haitian literary magazines and representation of race in vaudeville theater—in order to provide methodological insight into the current practice of French cultural studies. The essays in the volume show how scholars of French studies can effectively analyze what we term “non-traditional sources” in their historical and geographical contexts. In doing so, the volume offers a compelling vision of the field today and maps out potential paradigms for future research. This bookbuilds upon previous scholarship that defined the stakes of using an interdisciplinary approach to analyze cultural objects from France and Francophone regions and aims to evaluate the current state of this complex and constantly evolving field and its current methodological practices.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction: French Cultural Studies for the 21st Century by Masha Belenky, Kathryn Kleppinger, Anne O’Neil-Henry
I. Press and Literary Culture
Chapter 1: Methods and Challenges in Deciphering Representations of Authorial Intimacy in Late Nineteenth-Century French Photoreportages by Elizabeth Emery
Cahpter 2: The Haitian Literary Magazine in Francophone Postcolonial Literary and Cultural Production by Chelsea Stieber
II. Race and Identity in Popular Performance
Chapter 3: Reading Race in Nineteenth-Century French Vaudeville by Lise Schreier
Chapter 4: Diversity, Exploitation, and Immigration Politics in French “Ethnic” Erotica by Mehammed Mack
III. Repurposed Images
Chapter 5: Rediscovering Third Republic Illustrated Menus by Michael Garval
Chapter 6: Picturing the Catherinette: Reinventing Tradition for the Postcard Age by Susan Hiner
IV. Media Storms
Chapter 7: Unpacking the Success and Criticisms of Intouchables (2011) by Leslie Kealhofer-Kemp
Chapter 8: “La Transgression de l’écriture”: Marguerite Duras and the Affaire Villemin by Anne Brancky
Chapter 9: Understanding the Tinayre Affair: New Media, New Methods for the Belle Epoque by Rachel Mesch
About the Contributors
Index

All of the essays are carefully researched and articulate “the importance of the broader social and historical settings” (xix). Most of the essays are beautifully illustrated. This book is definitely worth reading.