AIZEN / UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PROGRAM
International Conference on Émile Zola, Naturalism and Protest
hosted by
The Department of Modern Languages and Classics, College of Arts and Sciences
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA, TUSCALOOSA, USA
March 3-5, 2022
Martin Luther King, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, Rosa Parks, and Émile Zola
Organizers-in-Chief:
Juliana Starr (University of New Orleans, USA)
Carmen Mayer (University of Alabama, USA)
Organizing Committee:
President: Juliana Starr (University of New Orleans, USA)
Vice-President: Carmen Mayer (University of Alabama, USA)
Secretary: Ana Oancea (University of Delaware, USA)
Treasurer: Jean-Philippe Vauchel (University of New Orleans, USA)
Communications Director: Jeremy Worth (University of Windsor, Canada)
Assistant: Justine Huet (Mount Royal University, Canada)
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA
Thursday, March 3, 2022
The Bryant Conference Center (BCC – next door to Hotel Capstone)
240 Paul W. Bryant Drive, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
8:45-10:00AM REGISTRATION, BCC, Atrium, 2nd floor
10:00-10:30AM OPENING SPEECHES AND TRIBUTE TO THE AIZEN 30th ANNIVERSARY, Birmingham room, 2nd floor
Introductions: Carmen Mayer
Dr. Tricia McElroy, Associate Professor of English and Associate Dean for Fine Arts, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Dr. Cheryl Toman, Professor of French and Chair, Department of Modern Languages and Classics, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Dr. Juliana Starr, Associate Professor of French and President of the AIZEN, University of New Orleans
Dr. Carmen Mayer, Associate Professor of French and Vice President of the AIZEN, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
From left: Juliana Starr and Carmen Mayer, organizers-in-chief of the conference
Dr. Tricia McElroy, Associate Dean Fine Arts, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Dr. Cheryl Toman, Chair, Dept. of Modern Langs and Classics, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
SESSION 1
10:30AM-12:00PM, Birmingham room, 2nd floor
Naturalism and Colonialism
Chair: Carmen Mayer
Keynote Speaker: Jennifer Yee (Christ Church, University of Oxford, England): “Émile Zola’s Black Lives: Colonial Experiments and the Limits of Empathy”
Jennifer Yee
12:00-1:00PM LUNCH, BCC Atrium (catered by Taco Mama)
SESSION 2.A
1:00-3:00PM, Birmingham room, 2nd floor
Naturalisms in Africa
Chair: Maxime Vignon
John McDowell (Burman University, Canada): “Colonial Naturalism: Reading Doris Lessing's African Stories”
Carolyn Snipes-Hoyt (Burman University, Canada): “Documentary Neo-Naturalism: Gil Courtemanche and the Rwandan Genocide”
Christian Mbarga (St Thomas University, Canada): “Une lecture naturaliste des Chauves-souris, de Bernard Nanga, est-elle possible? ”
Isaac Darko (Burman University, Canada): “Naturalist Aspects in The Marriage of Anansewaa and its Contemporary Implications in Ghana”
From left: John McDowell, Carolyn Snipes-Hoyt, Christian Mbarga, and Maxime Vignon
SESSION 2.B
1:00-3:00PM, Wilson, 2nd floor
Protest and Vision in the Quatre Évangiles
Chair: Juliana Starr
Valentin Duquet (University of Texas-Austin, USA): “The Peaceful Revolution: Saint-Simonian Visions of Society, Religion and Imperialism”
Carmen Mayer (University of Alabama, USA): “Cries, Laughter, Silence, and Song: Lyrical Protest in Travail”
Ana Oancea (University of Delaware, USA): “Zola’s and Verne’s Anticipation of the Technological Sublime”
Shoshana-Rose Marzel (Zefat Academic College, Israel): “Vérité ou la dernière contestation de Zola”
From left: Valentin Duquet, Carmen Mayer, Shoshana-Rose Marzel, and Ana Oancea
3:00-3:30PM BREAK, BCC Atrium
SESSION 3.A
3:30-5:00PM, Birmingham room
Naturalist Life Cycles and Social Tensions
Chair: Ana Oancea
Florence Fix (Université de Rouen, France): “Maltraitance intrafamiliale des vieillards: regards de Zola et de quelques naturalistes sur la fin de la vie, les médecins et les parents”
Elizabeth Emery (Montclair State University, USA): “The Privilege of Protest: Zola and the Duchesse de Persigny”
Elizabeth Emery and Florence Fix
Adamu Danjuma Abubakar (University of Alabama, USA): “The Role of Zola and Naturalism in Workers’ Protest, Combat, and the Quest for Social Justice”
Adamu Danjuma Abubakar and Ana Oancea
SESSION 3.B
3:30-5:00PM, Wilson room, 2nd floor
Revisiting Zolian Myths: Politics and Prose
Chair: Mihaela Marin
Nicolas Valazza (Indiana University, USA): “‘Le bain de sang… d’une horrible nécessité’: Zola et la semaine sanglante”
Nicolas Valazza
Toru Oda (University of Shizuoka, Japan): “Precarious Narrative Protest: Toward Fraternal Humanity in Les Rougon-Macquart”
Francis Lacoste (Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, France): “La Débâcle: Roman contestataire?”
Toru Oda
5:30-6:30PM CHAMPAGNE RECEPTION at Gorgas House, 810 Capstone Drive
Anna Gural-Migdal, Honored Guest, and Tobias Picker, Special Guest
Poetry reading and violin performance: “Inspiration Zola”
Chair: Juliana Starr
Anna Gural-Migdal, Honorary President of the AIZEN and Professor Emerita (University of Alberta, Canada) and Jenny Grégoire, Violinist, Associate Professor of Violin, String Area Coordinator (University of Alabama, USA)
Audience of the poetry reading event
Anna Gural-Migdal reciting “Inspiration Zola”
Dinner out, Tuscaloosa: Essential restaurants and Trip Advisor picks
FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2022
8:30-9:00AM REGISTRATION, BCC Atrium
SESSION 4.A
9:00-10:30AM, Lackey room, 2nd floor
International Perspectives on Zola and Naturalism I
Chair: Jean-Philippe Vauchel
Haroldo Ceravolo Sereza (University of São Paolo, Brazil): “Why Read Brazilian Naturalism Nowadays?”
Élise Cantiran (University Eötvös Loránd, Hungary): “Concepts of Individualism in Naturalist Fiction: The Self’s Liberation in Creole Writings”
Célia Vieira (University of Maia, Portugal): “La voix naturaliste des écrivains-traducteurs”
From left: Jean-Philippe Vauchel, Élise Cantiran, Haroldo Ceravolo Sereza, and Célia Vieira
SESSION 4.B
9:00-10:30AM, Wilson room, 2nd floor
International Perspectives on Zola and Naturalism II
Chair: Jennifer Carr
Jennifer Carr
Philippe Chavasse (Rochester Institute of Technology, USA): “Utopie contestataire chez Camille Lemonnier et Georges Eekhoud”
Alexandre Dubois (University of Mississippi, USA): “Utopian Geographies: The Violence of Unrealized French Projects in Africa”
Encarnación Medina Arjona (University of Jaén, Spain): “‘Apostol de verdad’ ou les réactions de la jeunesse ibéro-américaine à l’Affaire Dreyfus: Zola et l’Amérique Latine”
From left: Encarnación Medina Arjona, Alexandre Dubois, and Philippe Chavasse
SESSION 5
10:30AM-12:00PM, Wilson room, 2nd floor
Naturalism and Anarchy
Chair: Carolyn Snipes-Hoyt
Keynote speaker: Vittorio Frigerio (Dalhousie University, Canada): “Regards croisés anarchistes sur Émile Zola et le naturalisme”
Vittorio Frigerio
Vittorio Frigerio and Carolyn Snipes-Hoyt
12:00-1:00PM LUNCH, BCC Atrium (catered by Jim ‘N Nick’s BBQ)
SESSION 6.A
1:00-3:00PM, Lackey room, 2nd floor
Naturalism in the Arts: Painting, Opera, Theater
Chair: Carmen Mayer
Cameron Dodworth (Methodist University, USA): “Protest Too Much: De facto Links Between Naturalism, and Decadence and Aestheticism”
Cameron Dodworth
Laura Pritchard (University of Alabama, USA): “Operatic Adaptations of Émile Zola’s Thérèse Raquin: A Character Analysis”
From left: Laura Pritchard and Tobias Picker
Daniel Long (Université Sainte-Anne, Canada): “Le théâtre de jeunesse de Zola, ou l’entrée en scène de l’apprenti contestataire”
Lionnelle Moussoungou (Université de Lille, France): “Esthétique théâtrale dans Le Ventre de Paris et Pot-Bouille d’Émile Zola: de la théâtralisation des récits à la contestation sociale”
Lionnelle Moussoungou
SESSION 6.B
1:00-3:00PM, Wilson room, 2nd floor
Women in Naturalism
Chair: Céline Brossillon
Riikka Rossi (University of Helsinki, Finland): “‘La haine est sainte’: The Emotions of Protest in Naturalist Fiction”
Riikka Rossi
Evlyn Gould (University of Oregon, USA): “The Salon of the Comtesse de Loynes and the Elusive Truths of Anti-Dreyfusard Politics in the Time of Zola”
Evlyn Gould
Elisabeth-Christine Muelsch (Angelo State University, USA): “Marie Colombier, A Female Naturalist Writer in France?”
Alexandra K. Wettlaufer (University of Texas, Austin, USA): “The Gender and the Politics of Sympathy: Zola, Brunetière, and the Georges (Sand and Eliot)”
From left: Alexandra K. Wettlaufer, Elisabeth-Christine Muelsch, and Céline Brossillon
3:00-3:15PM BREAK, BCC Atrium
3:15-5:15PM Thérèse Raquin Movie (Wilson room, 2nd floor)
Presenter: Elisabeth-Christine Muelsch
Thérèse Raquin, Marcel Carné, 1953, white and black, 102 min., in French with English subtitles
Thérèse, an orphan, has been brought up by her widowed aunt in a dingy backstreet shop in Lyon and married to her sickly first cousin Camille. Into their stifling existence comes Laurent, a lively Italian truck driver. He is immediately struck by Thérèse, who succumbs to him but will not abandon her husband and aunt. Once aware of the relationship, Camille and his mother plot to get rid of Thérèse.
6:00-7:00PM RECEPTION and CONVERSATION with Special Guest, Composer Tobias Picker at Bryant Jordan Hall (UA’s Opera House)
Tobias Picker
7:30-10:00PM SPECIAL EVENT: Thérèse Raquin Opera
Presenters: Paul Houghtaling and Jamie Reeves
Thérèse Raquin, Music by Tobias Picker, English language Libretto by Gene Scheer, based on the novel by Émile Zola.
Tobias Picker’s third opera commissioned by the Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera and the Opéra de Montréal. It premiered in November 2001.
Thérèse Raquin opera: Tobias Picker with Paul Houghtaling (kneeling), Jamie Reeves (center), and the whole cast
Thérèse Raquin opera: the orchestra
SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2022
SESSION 7.A
9:00-10:30AM, Lackey room, 2nd floor
New Perspectives on Germinal
Chair: Gina Stamm
Kat Haklin (Colorado College, USA): “Socio-environmental Protest and Animal Poet(h)ics in Germinal”
Jean-Philippe Vauchel (University of New Orleans, USA): “Deux portraits inversés de la marginalité: du jeu cruel au crime de sang (une analyse comparative entre Jeanlin Maheu de Germinal et Dorian Gray d’Oscar Wilde)”
Tanya Mushinsky (University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, USA): “Scène de vengeance à la fin d’une émeute dans Germinal d’Émile Zola”
From left: Jean-Philippe Vauchel, Kat Haklin, and Gina Stamm
Tanya Mushinsky
SESSION 7.B
9:00-10:30AM, Wilson room, 2nd floor
American Naturalisms
Chair: Shoshana-Rose Marzel
Shoshana-Rose Marzel
David Davies (Independent Scholar, England): “True, Unflinching Pictures or Presentations of Life: A Comparison of Émile Zola’s L’Assommoir and Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie”
Isabelle Schaffner (École polytechnique, IP Paris, France): “Germinal (1885) d’Émile Zola et The Jungle (1906) d’Upton Sinclair: Littérature et combat social”
Minori Noda (University of Waseda, Tokyo, Japan): “La ville et la famille dans les romans naturalistes: Une étude comparative sur Zola et Crane”
Clockwise from upper left: David Davies, Isabelle Schaffner, and Minori Noda
Zoom audience
SESSION 8.A
10:30AM-12:00PM, Lackey room, 2nd floor
Zola’s Impact and Legacy
Chair: Susan McCready
Susan McCready
Juliana Starr (University of New Orleans, USA): “Brothers in Justice: A Comparison of Émile Zola and Martin Luther King Jr.”
Mark Davis Kuss (University of Holy Cross, USA): “The Reception of the Dreyfus Affair in Alabama and the Birmingham Civil Rights Campaign in France”
Joël Rochard (Président, SLAEZ, Paris, France): “Zola House and Dreyfus Museum”
Juliana Starr and Mark Davis Kuss
Joël Rochard
SESSION 8.B
10:30AM-12:00PM, Wilson room
Protest and Reform in Les Trois Villes
Chair: Alexandra Wettlaufer
Donald Miller McLean (University of Virginia, USA): “Doubt as Protest in Émile Zola’s Rome”
Maria Sayegh (Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, France): “Contestation et réforme sociale dans Les Trois Villes d’Émile Zola: entre réalité et utopie”
Christophe Ippolito (Georgia Tech, USA): “Critique des liens entre religion et politique dans Les Trois Villes”
Donald Miller-McLean
Maria Sayegh
Christophe Ippolito
12:00-1:00PM LUNCH, BCC Atrium (catered by the Bryant Conference Center)
SESSION 9.A
1:00-2:30PM, Lackey room, 2nd floor
Naturalism and Gender
Chair: Juliana Starr
Michael Rosenfeld (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium): “Protester l’hétéronormativité fin de siècle: Narrations queer dans l’œuvre de Georges Eekhoud”
Michael Rosenfeld
Céline Brossillon (Ursinus College, USA) :“The Taming of the ‘Bru’: Female Rebels in Zola’s Thérèse Raquin and Rachilde’s Madame Adonis”
Mihaela Marin (University of South Alabama, USA): “Foules féminines, foules divines: sens anciens et modernes dans le traitement des foules chez Zola”
Michaela Marin
Session audience
SESSION 9.B
1:00-2:30PM, Wilson room, 2nd floor
La Modernité et la Machine: Narrative Time, Tempo, and Trauma in La Bête humaine
Chair: Alexandre Dubois
Alexandre Dubois
Kevin P. Nonin (University of Texas, USA): “L’évolution du temps social dans La Bête humaine: trois femmes, trois temps, un destin”
Molly Deaver (University of Texas, USA): “Encoding Detective Fiction: Narrative Techniques of Suspense and the Experiment in Zola’s La Bête humaine”
Noémie Hamaide (University of Texas, USA): “Zola, trauma et temporalité: approche moderne du trauma au XIXe siècle”
From left: Kevin P. Nonin and Molly Deaver
Noémie Hamaide
2:30-2:45PM BREAK, BCC Atrium
3:00-5:00PM AIZEN FINALE: Hallowed Grounds self-guided Walking Tour – Race, Slavery and Memory at the University of Alabama
6:30-9:00 PM: AIZEN 30th ANNIVERSARY BANQUET and SCHOR/CAHM AWARD CEREMONY: Chuck’s Fish
Juliana Starr, President of the AIZEN
AIZEN 30th Anniversary Banquet
From left: Anna Gural-Migdal, honored guest, and Vittorio Frigerio, keynote speaker
AIZEN 30th Anniversary cake
2022 Schor/Cahm Award recipient, Kevin Nolin with Juliana Starr, Carmen Mayer, and his thesis supervisor, Alexandra K. Wettlaufer
SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 2022
CIVIL RIGHTS TOUR in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham Civil Rights Heritage Trail
Tour guide Clay Cornelius
Tour participants at the Historic Bethel Baptist Church
8:00AM: Guests depart Tuscaloosa to Birmingham by charter bus: embark near the Capstone hotel.
9:45AM-12:45PM: Civil Rights Tour (a unique 3-hour experience in English and in French):
We will visit many major civil rights landmarks during this moving walking and bus tour.
For additional details, please go to: https://www.redclaytourism.com/guided-civil-rights-tour-birmingham
Sponsors:
AIZEN®, Association internationale Zola et Naturalisme
The University of Alabama
The City of Tuscaloosa
The City of Birmingham
Gem de France & French Legacy Institute
Special Thanks:
Organizing Committee:
Juliana Starr, AIZEN President, University of New Orleans, USA
Carmen Mayer, AIZEN Vice President, University of Alabama, USA
Ana Oancea, AIZEN Secretary, University of Delaware, USA
Jean-Philippe Vauchel, AIZEN Treasurer, University of New Orleans, USA
Jeremy Worth, AIZEN Communications Director, University of Windsor, Canada
Justine Huet, AIZEN Assistant, Mount Royal University, Canada
The University of Alabama:
Cheryl Toman, Chair of The Department of Modern Languages and Classics
Charles “Skip” Snead, Director of The School of Music
Paul Houghtaling, Director of The UA Opera Theater and The UA Opera Guild
Jamie Reeves, Director of Orchestral Studies and Conductor of The Huxford Symphony Orchestra
Steven Trout, Chair of The Department of English
Joshua Rothman, Chair of The Department of History
Joseph P. Messina, Dean of The College of Arts and Sciences
Tricia McElroy, Associate Dean for Arts and Humanities, College of Arts and Sciences
Jonathon Halbesleben, Dean of The College of Continuing Studies
Russell J. Mumper, Vice President of The Office for Research and Economic Development
John Higginbotham, Senior Associate Vice President for Research and Economic Development
Ashley Olive, Executive Director of The Bryant Conference Center
Taylor Smith, Conference Manager, Bryant Conference Center
Brandon S. Thompson, Director of the Gorgas House Museum
The City of Tuscaloosa:
Annette Smallwood, Sales Manager, Hotel Capstone
The managers and Staff of the local restaurants and catering: Urban Cookhouse, Taco Mama, Jim ‘N Nick’s BBQ, Chuck’s Fish
The City of Birmingham:
Clay Cornelius, Tour Operator for the Civil Rights excursion, Red Clay Tours
The Associated Institutions and Organizations:
Joël Rochard, Président de la Société littéraire des Amis d’Émile Zola, Paris, France
AIZEN publishing team:
Jean-Philippe Vauchel, AIZEN Graphics & Design
Philip Hoyt, AIZEN and Excavatio Web Site©
Martin Janiszewski, AIZEN Web Site©
Excavatio international review:
Juliana Starr and Carmen Mayer, Co-Editors
Carolyn Snipes-Hoyt and Marie-Sophie Armstrong, Co-Associate Editors
Lisa Ng, Editorial Assistant
Guests:
Anna Gural-Migdal, Honored Guest, Honorary President of AIZEN, University of Alberta, Canada
Jenny Gregoire, Special Guest, Associate Professor of Violin and String Area Coordinator, School of Music, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA
Tobias Picker, Special Guest, Composer, Pianist, Artistic Director, Tulsa Opera, USA
Jennifer Yee, Keynote Speaker, Professor of Literature in French, University of Oxford, England
Vittorio Frigerio, Keynote Speaker, Professor of French, Dalhousie University, Canada
Heartfelt thanks to all panel chairs and organizers (in order of appearance):
Carmen Mayer, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA
Maxime Vignon, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA
Juliana Starr, University of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Ana Oancea, University of Delaware, Newark, USA
Mihaela Marin, University of South Alabama, Mobile, USA
Jean-Philippe Vauchel, University of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Jennie Carr, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA
Carolyn Snipes-Hoyt, Burman University, Lacombe, Canada
Céline Brossillon, Ursinus College, Pennsylvania, USA
Gina Stamm, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA
Shoshana-Rose Marzel, Zefat Academic College, Israel
Susan McCready, University of South Alabama, Mobile, USA
Elizabeth Emery, Montclair State University, New Jersey, USA
Cheryl Toman, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA
Alexandre Dubois, University of Mississippi, Oxford, USA
Conference poster