"The Art of Hiding: Encrypting Jewish Identities in European Fiction"

The Bryn Mawr College Department of French and Francophone Studies presents Nathalie Azoulai in conversation with Jennifer Tamas (Rutgers University) on Thursday, February 27, at 5:30 p.m. in OL 224. 

In her latest novel, Toutes les vies de Théo (The Many Lives of Theo), Azoulai explores Jewishness directly in the aftermath of October 7, a departure from the subtle "concealment" characterizing both her earlier works and other works by European Jewish novelists, such as Franz Kafka, Marcel Proust, Joseph Roth, or Romain Gary. These writers have often disguised their Jewishness-- whether to protect themselves, aspire to universality, appeal to a broader audience, or simply as a literary game.

Jennifer Tamas is an Associate Professor of French at Rutgers University. Her book "Au NON des femmes. "Libérer nos classiques du regard masculin" (Paris, Seuil, 2023) investigates how the "male gaze" prevailed in establishing the French canon and its reception.