Festivals

Litquake – Taboo Autofiction: Christine Angot with Cécile Alduy

Oct 25, 2024|7:00pm

7:00-8:30 pm PT

Telegraph Hill Books | 1501 Grant Ave | San Francisco, CA

This event has already taken place.

Event admission is free. A $10–15 donation is suggested.

Villa Albertine and Litquake present French author Christine Angot in a discussion of her influential novels Incest and The Impossible Love. In Incest, Angot explores her personal turmoil through a fragmented narrative about a woman named Christine, grappling with the end of a relationship and the trauma of her father’s incestuous abuse. In contrast, The Impossible Love delves into the passionate yet doomed romance between Angot’s parents, Rachel and Pierre, set against the backdrop of 1950s France. Angot’s discussion with Stanford professor Cécile Alduy will offer insights into her powerful storytelling and the deep emotional landscapes she navigates in her work.

Part of Litquake’s Words Around the World
Co-presented with Villa Albertine and sponsored by Center for the Art of Translation/Two Lines Press

Author

Christine Angot

Christine Angot is one of the most controversial authors writing today in France. Since the 1999 publication of Incest, Angot has remained at the center of public debate and has continued to push the boundaries of what society allows an author to express. Born in 1958 in Châteauroux, Angot studied law at the University of Reims and began writing at the age of 25. Her literary works have received prizes including the Prix France Culture in 2005 (for Les Désaxés and Une partie du cœur), the Prix Flore in 2006 (for Rendez-vous) and the Prix Sade in 2012 (for Une semaine de vacances), which she refused. In 2015 she won the Prix Décembre for her novel Un Amour impossible. Angot is now also a commentator on the television show On n’est pas couché.

Author

Cecile Alduy

Cecile Alduy is a Professor of French literature and culture at Stanford University and an Associated Scholar at Sciences Po-Paris, France. A native from Paris, Dr. Alduy is a specialist of French literature and cinema, feminist and gender studies, and political discourse analysis, with a focus on the far right. Dr. Alduy is the author most recently of La Langue de Zemmour and Marine Le Pen prise aux mots. She is a regular writer for Foreign Affairs, The Nation, The Atlantic, Politico, Le Monde, Liberation, L’Obs, among others, and is regularly featured on KQED, the BBC, EuroNews, CNN, NPR, CBS News, etc.. Dr. Alduy is a Knight in the French Order of the Arts of Letters.