Abstract

For the second seminar of Lent Term, the Cambridge Screen Media Group is delighted to welcome (back) Prof. Keith Reader, who will be discussing the place of cultural topography in film.

Prof. Reader works on various aspects of twentieth-century French culture. He has published a monograph on Robert Bresson and one on Jean Renoir’s La Règle du jeu. He recently finished an article on Resnais’s L’année dernière à Marienbad as sado-masochistic text – an approach that incorporates his interest in critical theory and gender studies. The latter approach largely underpins his monograph, coauthored with Rachel Edwards, on The Papin Sisters, and even more markedly his study of male (self-)abjection The Abject Object.

His current project builds on a developing interest in the area of cultural topography, by way of a cultural history of the Bastille/Faubourg Saint-Antoine area of Paris. The range of texts here extends from canonical literature (Hugo’s Les Miserables) and theory (Benjamin’s Paris: capitale du XIXe siecle), through the detective novel (Leo Malet), film (Klapisch’s Chacun cherche son chat, Pialat’s Police) and less-explored areas still such as chanson and bande dessinée.

The session starts at 5 for 5.15 and will be followed by a Q&A.

All welcome, no registration required.

This talk is organised by the Cambridge Screen Media Group at CRASSH .