Speaker: Chantal Wionet (Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of the Avignon University in France)
Time: October 31, 2024
Location: the 11th Floor Lecture Hall of the Xuehai Building, School of Foreign Languages, Wuhan University of Technology
On the afternoon of October 31, 2024, Professor Chantal Wionet, a doctoral supervisor of the University of Avignon in France, was invited by the School of Foreign Languages to deliver an academic lecture titled "The Literary Works of French Nobel Laureate Annie Ernaux" in the lecture hall on the 11th floor of Xuehai Building. The lecture was hosted by Fan Jing, Head of the French Department, and co-organized by French Association. The lecture was attended by professors Bai Yanyuan, Chen Minghao, Zhang Rui and Zhou Yana, as well as undergraduate and graduate students of the Department of French.
At the beginning of the lecture, Prof. Wionet provided a comprehensive and in-depth overview of Anne Ernaux's works, highlighting their importance and uniqueness. She specifically emphasized that during the period of 1968-1974 the French people were eager to find a more innovative and expressive art form to reflect their thoughts on society and personal identity. Ernaux, as a prominent writer in this revolutionary movement, bravely explored and created a genre that transcends traditional autobiographical literature—documentary literature.
Professor Wionet then introduced and analyzed excerpts from Les armoires vides and La honte and L'écriture comme un couteau. In her explanation, the professor invited the students to read the texts on stage, leading the audience into the literary world depicted in the novels. She vividly answered the question of how the author skillfully intertwines personal experiences with the historical context to illustrate the distinctions between her own identity and the surrounding environment.
In addition, in the context of L'écriture comme un couteau, Prof. Wionet scrutinized Ernaux's writing techniques and style. She highlighted that Ernaux employs a direct, matter-of-fact writing style to depict the lives of ordinary people, eschewing criticism and metaphor to maintain a grounded, literary approach. This "flat writing" technique is characterized by its distinctive personality.
During the interactive session, the faculty and students of the French Department were more enthusiastic than ever, and actively posed their questions to Prof. Wionet about Roland Barthes. One student engaged in an insightful discussion on the similarities and differences between the "white writing" styles of Roland Barthes and Camus and the "flat writing" style of Anne Ernaux. Another student flexibly linked the content of this week's lecture to the theme of last week's lecture, inquiring whether the use of parallelism is a feature of contemporary French literature. Additionally, there was also an in-depth exchange between the teacher and the professor on the literary creation of Chinese Nobel Laureate Mo Yan. The lecture came to a successful end with Professor Wionet's detailed answers and active participation from everyone.
Through this lecture, the faculty and students of the French Department appreciated profound social insights from the works of Anne Ernaux and also understood comprehensively her literary contributions and important position in the history of contemporary literature. This wonderful academic trip not only deepened the teachers' and students' understanding of contemporary French literature but also provided them with abundant inspirations and paths of reflection in their future academic research and literary creation, motivating them to continue to move forward on the road of French language learning and to explore the infinite charm of literature.
(Photo: French Association Text: Liang Yingying Audit: Li Hui)
