Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road
Mon 7 Sept · 10:00
A one-day programme of readings, discussion and performances focused on the reception of French theory in Britain and its legacies. What was French theory? Why and how did this constellation of names and ideas, imported from diverse fields in twentieth century Paris, create such ruction, such antagonism in British cultural life? Names like Barthes, Derrida, Foucault and Kristeva were hot on the lips of academics, artists, musicians, and performers, from the British Film Institute to the New Music Express and every cultural space in between. French theory became a byword for progression, provocation, and maybe even a little pretentiousness, too. This event examines how British cultural life shifted when French theory was introduced and asks how and why French theory was so fertile across so many disciplines? How did its uses and abuses create space for fresh forms of thinking about the wa
Not the same tradition as the lineage above — a genuinely different thread to pull, if you want one.