Dr. Fraser McQueen: France's Literary Grands Replacements

Dr. McQueen will discuss the rising popularity of a literary genre that he identifies as 'literary great replacements' that is, novels which depict, typically via the generic conventions of dystopian satire, some version of the racist 'great replacement' conspiracy theory coming to pass in France. He will explore the importance given to fiction by France’s “new right” since the 1970s as part of their political project. Ultimately, his talk questions certain assumptions we hold about literature (ie reading books promotes empathy, makes you a better person) by delving into the ways that literature has been deliberately mobilized to promote exclusion in postcolonial France.

Dr. McQueen, a lecturer at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, is one of the exciting new voices in French Studies. His book, "Race, Religion, and Communities of Friendship: Contemporary French Islamophobia in Literature and Film", is forthcoming with Liverpool University Press.

Sponsored by Romance Languages & Literatures, Africana Studies, Middle Eastern and North African Studies, English, Sociology, Environmental Studies, Government & Legal Studies and Lectures and Concerts.

Free and open to the public. For more information contact Madeline Bedecarre (mbedecar@bowdoin.edu).

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