La Maison Française
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La Maison Française is the center for French culture at New York University.
Just north of Washington Square, at the entrance to historic, cobblestoned Washington Mews, stands a New York landmark, La Maison Française. Since its founding in 1957, the "French House" has become the most active center of French-American cultural and intellectual exchange to be found on any American campus. Closely linked with "Le Cercle Francais", many events are able to be organized inside the main room of LMF although most events are organized and financed by the LMF itself.
[edit] Building
La Maison Française occupies a nineteenth-century red-brick carriage house. Inside, the ample yet intimate space of the ground-floor salon has been carefully adapted to uses ranging from art exhibits and receptions to lectures and film screenings, with a seating capacity of one hundred.
[edit] Program of activities
The program of activities of La Maison Française covers a broad spectrum of subjects and opinion and includes lectures, symposia, conferences, panel discussions, film and video screenings, art exhibits, concerts, theater productions, and special presentations. These events, nearly all of which are free and open to the public, focus on diverse aspects of French and Francophone civilization and culture in historical as well as contemporary perspectives. Beyond the New York University audience, La Maison Française also serves the business, government and professional communities, as well as the general public in the New York metropolitan area.
Distinguished speakers from French intellectual life, politics, literature, journalism, and the arts have included:
Recent evenings have included lectures, readings, and discussions with:
- Chantal Akerman
- Tahar Ben Jelloun
- Patrick Chamoiseau
- Annie Ernaux
- Julia Kristeva
- Andrei Makine
- Josyane Savigneau
- Philippe Sollers
- Guy Sorman
A series of colloquia over the past several years has brought together a distinguished group of international specialists. These events included a major overview of French Theory in America as well as an introduction to New French Thought , and discussions of métissage, of hyper-realism in the theater, of Surrealism in Exile, of the work of Sartre, and of the life and work of Antonin Artaud. Contemporary American novelists and translators presented seven of their colleagues from abroad in a two-day event : A New Generation of French Women Writers, while the autumn 1997 season began with a French Book Festival which included lectures, readings, panels, and a major exhibition of recent French books . For a complete list of these events, click here for a listing of these colloquia and special events.
While the program of La Maison Française complements and enriches the programs of the Department of French and the Institute of French Studies, its mission extends as well to interdepartmental interests within the Faculty of Arts and Science and between the various schools of the university. Recent collaborations have included a weekend of screenings and discussions with filmmaker Chantal Akerman and a conference which explored Legacies of the Dreyfus Affair. Collaborations with organizations outside the university community include the recent International Cyberlaw and Business Conference.
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