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15 juin 2020OrganisationLaboratoire doctoral OVALE, rattach&#233; &#224; l&#8217;Unit&#233; de recherche VALE, Facult&#233; des Lettres de Sorbonne Universit&#233;.Argumentaire&#171;&#160;[A] great cause of the night is lack of the sun&#160;&#187;. Telle est la d&#233;finition de la nuit, d&#8217;embl&#233;e n&#233;gative, que donne le berger Corin dans As You Like It. Il t&#233;moigne ainsi, au c&#339;ur m&#234;me de la langue, d&#8217;une opposition et d&#8217;une relation de d&#233;pendance entre la nuit et le jour. Mais cette relation est d&#233;s&#233;quilibr&#233;e : la nuit est l&#8217;envers du jour, qui constitue le terme normal &#224; partir duquel elle est d&#233;termin&#233;e. Par cons&#233;quent, le jour et la nuit sont connot&#233;s culturellement : si le premier est le temps de l&#8217;&#233;veil, de la vie et du travail, la seconde est absence de lumi&#232;re, source de d&#233;sordre ; elle est ainsi la compagne du chaos dans Paradise Lost de Milton, portant la trace de cette anarchie qui pr&#233;c&#232;de la cr&#233;ation divine. Mais ce temps mort pens&#233; comme moment originel est aussi le temps de la mort, le terme vers lequel tend toute existence.Ces connotations a priori n&#233;gatives t&#233;moignent toutefois de la richesse m&#233;taphorique de la nuit, que ne cessent d&#8217;explorer la litt&#233;rature, la peinture et le cin&#233;ma. La nuit y est le lieu d&#8217;une ambigu&#239;t&#233; et d&#8217;une impr&#233;cision qu&#8217;il faut envisager, non pas uniquement comme facteurs de d&#233;sordre, mais comme rendant possibles une vie et une identit&#233; diff&#233;rentes. C&#8217;est un espace liminal, le temps d&#8217;un renversement, o&#249; les d&#233;marcations et fronti&#232;res sont plus facilement franchies. La nuit appara&#238;t donc comme le lieu d&#8217;une m&#233;tamorphose potentielle, d&#233;finitive ou non, qui semble &#233;chapper radicalement aux normes qui r&#233;gissent les pratiques diurnes. N&#233;anmoins, n&#8217;est-elle que transgression ou bien institue-t-elle son propre r&#233;gime d&#8217;existence ?La nuit propose en effet une exp&#233;rience des possibles et offre donc une prise &#224; l&#8217;imaginaire. La nuit, pour Burke, est l&#8217;espace du sublime, elle d&#233;cuple les effets, intensifie les &#233;motions. La nuit sera donc le temps privil&#233;gi&#233; du r&#233;cit et par l&#224;, l&#8217;espace o&#249; se d&#233;ploie l&#8217;imaginaire. Il n&#8217;est d&#8217;ailleurs pas surprenant que la nuit soit associ&#233;e, comme dans Les Mille et Une Nuits, au temps de la narration. Si elle est le moment o&#249; celle-ci peut avoir lieu, comme lors des veill&#233;es nocturnes ou des bedtime stories, elle n&#8217;est alors plus seulement le temps du repos et du sommeil.L&#8217;alternance de l&#8217;&#233;veil et du sommeil peut donc &#234;tre perturb&#233;e, aboutissant &#224; un d&#233;r&#232;glement de l&#8217;esprit, qui peut aller de la simple insomnie &#224; la folie. Les villes de nuit regorgent de personnages pr&#233;sent&#233;s comme peu recommandables et on d&#233;c&#232;le dans la p&#233;nombre les contours d&#8217;une vie cach&#233;e, inavouable ou r&#233;prim&#233;e. Le jour serait ainsi l&#8217;espace du public, la nuit le domaine de l&#8217;intime. Chez Stevenson, Jekyll se m&#233;tamorphose nuitamment en Hyde ; au jour conviennent les apparences de respectabilit&#233;, &#224; la nuit, les pulsions d&#233;brid&#233;es qui contreviennent &#224; la morale officielle. La nuit, propice &#224; l&#8217;anonymat et au travestissement, est pour Elizabeth Bronfen, &#171;&#160;the privileged stage for transgressions.&#160;&#187; Transgression des limites m&#234;mes de l&#8217;humain, lorsqu&#8217;apparaissent &#224; la nuit tomb&#233;e des cr&#233;atures nouvelles et fantastiques : vampires (Dracula de Bram Stoker, ou encore la s&#233;rie True Blood), loups-garous, sorci&#232;res&#8230; La nuit est aussi le temps de la sexualit&#233; et des activit&#233;s licencieuses, comme chez Joyce, o&#249; le nighttown de &#171; Circe &#187; devient le th&#233;&#226;tre cauchemardesque de tous les d&#233;r&#232;glements. Sur un autre registre, celui de la com&#233;die, Frank Capra explore les possibilit&#233;s subversives de la nuit dans It Happened One Night, et c&#8217;est de pr&#233;f&#233;rence la nuit que les protagonistes de Clockwork Orange s&#8217;adonnent &#224; l&#8217;ultra-violence et assouvissent leurs pulsions les plus morbides.Mais cet espace du d&#233;r&#232;glement porte aussi en lui des formes d&#8217;expression nouvelles. La nuit est le temps o&#249; se manifestent notamment les subcultures, o&#249; s&#8217;expriment les rythmes de la marginalit&#233;. C&#8217;est le cas pour les sound systems jama&#239;cains, v&#233;ritables nightclubs du pauvre, qui font danser les &#171;&#160;midnight ravers &#187; chant&#233;s par Bob Marley, pr&#233;curseurs des musiques &#233;lectroniques de toutes sortes qui essaiment &#224; la fin du vingti&#232;me si&#232;cle. Cette vie nocturne, souvent en butte aux autorit&#233;s, peut se lire &#224; la fois comme un d&#233;fi lanc&#233; au mainstream polic&#233; qui s&#8217;affiche au grand jour, et comme un d&#233;fouloir carnavalesque dont l&#8217;exc&#232;s m&#234;me contribue &#224; maintenir la norme qu&#8217;il pr&#233;tend subvertir.Enfin, on pourra interroger la stabilit&#233; de la fronti&#232;re entre jour et nuit. &#192; la faveur de bouleversements techniques, sociaux, et culturels, l&#8217;alternance apparemment immuable de la nuit et du jour subit des transformations consid&#233;rables : c&#8217;est l&#8217;effet notamment de la g&#233;n&#233;ralisation de l&#8217;&#233;clairage public dans les pays industrialis&#233;s &#224; partir du dix-neuvi&#232;me si&#232;cle. Alors que la nuit &#233;tait le temps des travaux inf&#226;mants, li&#233;s &#224; la mort et &#224; l&#8217;ordure, la ma&#238;trise de la lumi&#232;re permet d&#8217;&#233;clairer les usines de la r&#233;volution industrielle, comme celles d&#8217;Arkwright d&#232;s 1790. L&#8217;&#233;clairage au gaz se r&#233;pand bient&#244;t dans les rues de Londres ou de Manchester, afin notamment de lutter contre le crime : les r&#233;verb&#232;res sont surnomm&#233;s police lamps. Enjeu de pouvoir &#233;conomique ainsi que de contr&#244;le social, l&#8217;&#233;clairage permet de red&#233;finir le rapport &#224; la nuit et d&#8217;en assimiler la part d&#8217;ombre. La g&#233;n&#233;ralisation inexorable de l&#8217;&#233;clairage et des &#233;crans n&#8217;aboutirait-elle pas &#224; un jour perp&#233;tuel ? La nuit serait-elle devenue obsol&#232;te ?Les approches de la litt&#233;rature et des arts visuels anglophones puisant dans d&#8217;autres disciplines (philosophie, sociologie, histoire...) seront particuli&#232;rement appr&#233;ci&#233;es. Les propositions de communication pourront explorer les pistes suivantes :La nuit comme objet de repr&#233;sentation litt&#233;raire et visuelle (peinture, cin&#233;ma)Les repr&#233;sentations nocturnes de la villeLa nuit comme le temps de la transgression, de la subversion, du d&#233;sordreLes enjeux techniques et sociaux li&#233;s &#224; la lumi&#232;re et l&#8217;obscurit&#233;La nuit et le r&#233;cit&#160; &#160;&#160;&#160;La nuit et le r&#234;ve, les visions et les hallucinationsLa nuit comme invitation au travestissement, &#224; la performance, &#224; la m&#233;tamorphoseModalit&#233;s de soumissionLes propositions (300 mots maximum), en fran&#231;ais ou en anglais, accompagn&#233;es d&#8217;un courte notice bio-bibliographique devront &#234;tre adress&#233;es &#224; l&#8217;adresse e-mail suivante : laboratoire.ovale@gmail.com. Dur&#233;e des communications : 20 minutes.Date limite d&#8217;envoi des propositions : 6 avril 2020.Date de r&#233;ponse&#160;: fin avril 2020.Contactlaboratoire.ovale@gmail.comhttps://vale.sorbonne-universite.fr/?page_id=461https://ovale.hypotheses.orgInformations pratiquesLa journ&#233;e est ouverte &#224; tous.La journ&#233;e se d&#233;roulera &#224; la Maison de la Recherche de Sorbonne Universit&#233; (28 rue Serpente, 75006 Paris).&#160;Comit&#233; scientifiqueDoctorants et membres du bureau d&#8217;OVALECorentin J&#233;gou&#201;lise RaleNicolas Thibault Ainsi que des Professeur.e.s Line CottegniesFr&#233;d&#233;ric RegardKerry-Jane WallartBibliographieBaldwin, Peter C., In&#160;the Watches of the Night: Life in&#160;the Nocturnal City, 1820-1930, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012. Baudry, Patrick, &#171;&#160;L&#8217;ambigu&#239;t&#233; nocturne, une habitation&#160;&#187;, in Soci&#233;t&#233; &#38; Repr&#233;sentations, n&#176;4, 1997, pp. 47-57. Beaumont, Matthew, Nightwalking: A Nocturnal History of London, Londres: Verso, 2015. Bronfen, Elisabeth, Night Passages. Philosophy, Literature, and Film, New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. Burke, Edmund, The Philosophical Enquiry into the Origine of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, Oxford: R. et J. Dodsley, 1757. Cabantous, Alain, Histoire de la nuit. XVIIe-XVIIIe si&#232;cle, Paris: Fayard, 2009. Chatterton, Paul et Hollands, Robert, Urban Nightscapes. Youth Cultures, Pleasure Spaces and Corporate Power, Londres: Routledge, 2003. Dickens, Charles, Night Walks (1850-1870), Londres: Penguin Books, 2010. Durot-Bouc&#233;, Elizabeth, Spectres des Lumi&#232;res: du frissonnement au frisson &#8211; Mutations gothiques du XVIIIe au XXIe si&#232;cle, Paris: Publibook, 2008. Ekirch, A. Roger, At Day&#8217;s Close. Night in Times Past, New York: Norton, 2005. Foessel, Micha&#235;l, La Nuit. Vivre sans t&#233;moin, Paris: Autrement, 2017. Genette, G&#233;rard, &#171;&#160;Le jour, la nuit&#160;&#187;, in Langages, 3e ann&#233;e, n&#176;12, 1968, pp. 28-42. Laughton, Charles, The Night of the Hunter, 1955. M&#233;nager, Daniel, La Renaissance et la Nuit, Gen&#232;ve: Droz, 2005. Montandon, Alain (&#233;d.), Dictionnaire litt&#233;raire de la nuit, 2 vol., Paris: Honor&#233; Champion, 2013. Palmer, Bryan D., Cultures of Darkness: Night Travels in the Histories of Transgression, New York: Monthly Press, 2000.  Saint-Girons, Baldine, Les marges de la nuit. Pour une autre histoire de la peinture, Paris: Les &#201;ditions de l&#8217;Amateur, 2006. Summers-Bremner, Eluned, Insomnia: A Cultural History, Londres: Reaktion Books, 2008.June 15th, 2020OrganisationA Graduate Conference Organized by the OVALE Research Team, Research Centre VALE, Facult&#233; des Lettres de Sorbonne Universit&#233;Argument&#8220;[A] great cause of the night is lack of the sun.&#8221; Such is the negative definition of the night given by the shepherd Corin in As You Like It. Thus he testifies to a linguistic opposition, a relation of dependence between night and day. But that relationship is imbalanced: night is the other side of the day, which constitutes the normal term by which it is determined. Consequently, day and night are defined culturally: while the former is the time of life and work, the latter means darkness, and potential disorders. Night is the bride of chaos in Milton&#8217;s Paradise Lost, bearing the trace of the anarchy which precedes divine creation. But that suspension, conceived of as a primeval moment, is also the time of death, the bound of all existence.These presumably negative connotations bear witness to the metaphoric richness of the night, explored relentlessly in literature, the visual arts, and on film. The night is the locus of an ambiguity and indeterminacy, which should not be viewed merely as factors of disorder, but as possibilities for different lives and identities. It is a liminal space, the time for reversals, when boundaries are more easily crossed. The night, therefore, appears as the site of a potential metamorphosis, whether definitive or not, which seems to radically elude the norms governing diurnal practices. Nonetheless, is it merely a form of transgression or does it inaugurate a mode of existence of its own?The night opens up new possibilities, fuelling the imagination. For Burke, it is the locus of the sublime, multiplying effects and intensifying emotions. As a consequence, night is also the time associated with story-telling, and, subsequently, the time when the imagination can freely roam. Incidentally, it is not surprising that night should be associated with the time of narration, as in the Arabian Nights. Since it is the time when story-telling may occur, as for vigils or bedtime stories, it is no longer just the time for resting and sleeping.The alternation between waking and sleeping is liable to be disrupted, thus unsettling the mind, with consequences which may range from insomnia to insanity. Urban nights are rife with allegedly disreputable characters. In the darkness one may discern the outlines of a hidden life, unspeakable, repressed. Daytime, then, would correspond to the public sphere, whereas nighttime would be the realm of the intimate. In Stevenson, it is at night that Jekyll turns into Hyde; the appearances of respectability are fit for the day, while the night accommodates the unbounded drives which contravene official morality. With is possibilities for anonymity and cross-dressing, the night is &#8220;the privileged stage for transgressions,&#8221; as Elizabeth Bronfen writes. Such transgression may even overstep the boundaries of humanity, when fantastic creatures come out at night &#8211; vampires, werewolves, witches&#8230; The night is also the time for sexuality and licentious activities, as in Joyce&#8217;s Ulysses, when the nighttown in &#8216;Circe&#8217; becomes the nightmarish stage of all possible misbehaviours. On a comic note, Frank Capra explores the subversive possibilities afforded by the night in It Happened One Night, while the protagonists of Clockwork Orange wait till night to unleash their ultra-violence and satisfy their morbid drives.Yet, that locus of unsettlement also opens up onto new forms of expression. The night is the time when subcultures come into being, when marginalised rhythms can be heard. That is the case for Jamaican sound systems, for instance, the poor man&#8217;s night club, where Bob Marley&#8217;s &#8220;midnight ravers&#8221; congregate and dance &#8211; forerunners of all the varieties of electronic music which were to flourish at the end of the twentieth century. This nightlife, often repressed by the authorities, can be read as a challenge to the polite mainstream which enjoys broad daylight legitimacy, and as a carnivalesque outlet whose very excesses contribute to uphold the norm it aims to subvert.Finally, it is possible to question the stability of the borders between day and night. On account of technical, social, and cultural changes, the seemingly immutable alternation of day and night undergoes considerable transformations: this is the case, notably, with the spread of public lighting in industrialised countries since the nineteenth century. While the night was the time of degrading activities, associated with garbage and death, the mastery of light made it possible to light up the factories of the industrial revolution, such as Arkwright&#8217;s in 1790. Then, gas lights became widespread in the streets of London or Manchester, notably as a way to fight crime: street lamps were even nicknamed &#8216;police lamps&#8217;. At the intersection of economic power and social control, public lighting became a way of redefining our relation to the night and to assimilate its dark continent. Does the inexorable generalisation of lighting and the ubiquity of screens result in a day without end? Is the night a thing of the past?Papers that adopt an interdisciplinary approach (philosophy, history, sociology, visual arts...) are more than welcome. Papers may explore (but are not limited to) the following themes:Literary and visual representations of the nightThe city by nightNight as a locus of transgression, subversion, and disorderManaging the night: social and technical implications of the nightNight and story-tellingNight and dreams, visions and hallucinationsNight and identity: cross-dressing, performance, metamorphosisSubmission guidelinesAbstracts of about 300 words, written in French or English, can be sent to the following email address, along with a short bio: laboratoire.ovale@gmail.com.Papers should be 20-minute long.Submission deadline: April 6th, 2020. Notification of Acceptance by late April.Contact informationlaboratoire.ovale@gmail.comhttps://vale.sorbonne-universite.fr/?page_id=461https://ovale.hypotheses.orgPractical informationThe conference is public.The scientific committee is composed of Corentin J&#233;gou, &#201;lise Rale, and Nicolas Thibault, PhD candidates and members of the Board of OVALE, as well as of Professor Line Cottegnies, Professor Fr&#233;d&#233;ric Regard, and Professor Kerry-Jane Wallart.The conference will be held at the Maison de la Recherche of Sorbonne Universit&#233;, in Paris (28, rue Serpente, 75006).BibliographyBaldwin, Peter C., In&#160;the Watches of the Night: Life in&#160;the Nocturnal City, 1820-1930, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012. Baudry, Patrick, &#171;&#160;L&#8217;ambigu&#239;t&#233; nocturne, une habitation&#160;&#187;, in Soci&#233;t&#233; &#38; Repr&#233;sentations, n&#176;4, 1997, pp. 47-57. Beaumont, Matthew, Nightwalking: A Nocturnal History of London, London: Verso, 2015. Bronfen, Elisabeth, Night Passages. Philosophy, Literature, and Film, New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. Burke, Edmund, The Philosophical Enquiry into the Origine of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, Oxford: R. and J. Dodsley, 1757. Cabantous, Alain, Histoire de la nuit. XVIIe-XVIIIe si&#232;cle, Paris: Fayard, 2009. Chatterton, Paul and Hollands, Robert, Urban Nightscapes. Youth Cultures, Pleasure Spaces and Corporate Power, London: Routledge, 2003. Dickens, Charles, Night Walks (1850-1870), London: Penguin Books, 2010. Durot-Bouc&#233;, Elizabeth, Spectres des Lumi&#232;res: du frissonnement au frisson &#8211; Mutations gothiques du XVIIIe au XXIe si&#232;cle, Paris: Publibook, 2008. Ekirch, A. Roger, At Day&#8217;s Close. Night in Times Past, New York: Norton, 2005. Foessel, Micha&#235;l, La Nuit. Vivre sans t&#233;moin, Paris: Autrement, 2017. Genette, G&#233;rard, &#171;&#160;Le jour, la nuit&#160;&#187;, in Langages, 12, 1968, pp. 28-42. Laughton, Charles, The Night of the Hunter, 1955. M&#233;nager, Daniel, La Renaissance et la Nuit, Gen&#232;ve: Droz, 2005. Montandon, Alain (ed.), Dictionnaire litt&#233;raire de la nuit, 2 vol., Paris: Honor&#233; Champion, 2013. Palmer, Bryan D., Cultures of Darkness: Night Travels in the Histories of Transgression, New York: Monthly Press, 2000.  Saint-Girons, Baldine, Les marges de la nuit. Pour une autre histoire de la peinture, Paris: Les &#201;ditions de l&#8217;Amateur, 2006. Summers-Bremner, Eluned, Insomnia: A Cultural History, London: Reaktion Books, 2008.