This presentation delves into the phenomenon of "Hugolatry" that swept through France in 1902 during the centenary celebrations of Victor Hugo's birth. It investigates how, in the popular imagination, even in exile, Hugo increasingly came to be identified with the 19th century as a whole and regarded as “the man of the century". We will examine the widespread proliferation of household items, and everyday objects, as well as Hugo's own photographs and drawings during his exile. This presentation will be in English.
Stéphanie Boulard is a Professor of French Literature and the Visual Arts at Georgia Tech. Her research centers on the relationship between word and image, and the aesthetic and political dimensions of literary and artistic thinking. She is the author of Rouge Hugo (Septentrion, 2014) and co-author of Hugographies: Rêveries de Victor Hugo sur les lettres de l’alphabet (Hermann, 2022). She has edited and co-edited several volumes on Hugo, Cixous, Quignard, and Louis-Combet. She has published in over 30 peer-reviewed publications in the US, France, Canada, the UK, and Spain about creation and art, migration and exile, women in society, trauma and revolutions. She is the winner of the 2021 French Voices Award for her English translation with Tim Lavenz of La Réponse à Lord Chandos by Pascal Quignard that will be released in Spring 2024 by Wakefield Press.
Event sponsored by the L.P. Irvin Lecture Fund and the department of French, Italian, and Classical Studies.
