Radical Bildung and Revolutionary Pedagogy (Goethe, Nizan, Godard)

This talk maps out a global counter-history of the bildungsroman, offering an alternative theorization of bildung as firmly allied to radical, revolutionary, and internationalist political causes. Existing accounts of the bildungsroman present it as a fundamentally conservative form that aimed to contain disruptive social energies.

Taking as my case study a series of twentieth-century novels and films (by Nizan, Godard, and others), I trace an alternative history of individual and collective 'formation' that took inspiration from (and actively worked to advance) a set of Left politics: instead of imagining "how revolution might be avoided" (Franco Moretti), the radical genealogy of the bildungsroman seeks to imagine the conditions under which a socialist and internationalist dispensation might finally emerge.

Everyone is welcome. Registration is not required.

The Centre for French and Francophone Research provides a showcase for the diversity of French and Francophone studies in a global context across several disciplines at UCL, including literary studies, history, philosophy, art history, anthropology, global health, and the physical sciences. The goal is to create a space for researchers and students from across the university broadly interested in the French-speaking world to share their work and to promote interdisciplinary collaboration.

Image credit: From La Chinoise by Jean-Luc Godard