Tuesday 30 January 2007, 5.30pm - 7.30pm
Ian Gulland Lecture Theatre, Goldsmiths, University of London, Lewisham Way, New Cross,
London SE14 6NW
Admission: FREE

Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Peter Dunwoodie, will deliver his Inaugural Lecture titled: 'Remnants of Empire: Reflections on past and present French fictions on Algeria'. The Lecture will be introduced by the Pro-Warden ( Students and Learning Development ) of Goldsmiths, Dr Philip Broadhead.

Reading the francophone literature of colonial Algeria during the inter-war years, Professor Dunwoodie will examine the role of memory, history and the Republican model of identity in the construction of French fictions on/in Algeria.

All welcome to attend. Please contact 020 7919 7901 for further information. Visit Goldsmiths College, University of London for map and travel information.

Lecture Summary:

In France, the Law of 2005 on the 'benefits of colonisation' sought to impose one retelling of French Algeria's colonial history, grounded on the belief that a single collective memory shapes national identity. The Lecture takes as its starting-point this politicisation of memory, and explores the ways in which the francophone novel of the colonial period responded to the appropriation and fictionalisation of memory and history. While it was written to display successful assimilation of the francophone elite, Professor Dunwoodie shows that it fails to overcome the tensions generated by the secular Republican model of cultural identity, dominant not only in the interwar period, but in much of France's current debate on integration and citizenship.

For further information
Laura Preece, Communications and Publicity, tel 020 7919 7970, e-mail ext-comms@gold.ac.uk

Remnants of Empire: Reflections on past and present French fictions on Algeria