Saturday University: La France profonde

The province in French literary and cultural history The term la France profonde refers less to a clearly localizable space than to a bundle of historically evolved ideas that link rural France with sometimes nostalgic images or the idea of origin, rootedness, 'authenticity' and a traditional lifestyle. Terms such as la vieille France, la campagne or la province also refer to such imaginations, which often arise in contrast to the metropolis of Paris. Their enduring power was also evident during the coronavirus pandemic, when the much-described exode urbain was accompanied by a rhetoric of retour à la terre and rural areas were upgraded. Regional attributions, such as those spread by the great success of the film Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (2008) by Dany Boon, can also be read as possible manifestations of such topoi. Using literary and audiovisual examples, the lecture will show how la France profonde appears as a cultural - and that also means: historical and political, quite controversially perceived - space of interpretation in which different ideas of society and ways of life are negotiated.

Course number: 261100442