Document Type
Oral Presentation
Campus where you would like to present
SURC Ballroom A
Start Date
15-5-2014
End Date
15-5-2014
Keywords
French, Theater, La Fontaine's Fables
Abstract
In conjunction with World Languages Day (May 2, 2014), students from the French program will be staging a bilingual French-English performance of The Complete Fables of Jean de la Fontaine with musical interludes from Isabelle Aboulker's adaptation of the fables for a children's opera. La Fontaine wrote during the reign of Louis XIV and was a keen observer of social dynamics at the court of Versailles; his fables contain valuable lessons on the nature of power that still hold true today. Moreover, La Fontaine's observations about the continuities between animal nature and human nature fly in the face of his contemporary, René Descartes's, philosophy and anticipated animal rights discourses. Even more fascinating is the fact that La Fontaine was able to critique both his absolute monarch and the illustrious Descartes through the seemingly innocuous medium of versified fables with anthropomorphized animals. “L'Homme en animal" highlights these two particular facets of La Fontaine's Fables: the critique of power and his reflections on humanity and animality. During this SOURCE presentation, students involved in the production will screen a video featuring highlights from the May 2 performance followed by their reflections on how the experience contributed to their own process of learning French language and culture. They will also engage the audience by encouraging them to try on some of the eighteen animal masks made for the production while also discussing the techniques used in crafting the masks.
For this presentation, Lyndsey Burkette received a Creative Expression Best Presentation Award for 2014.
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Michael; Burkette, Lyndsey; Andrus, Natalie; and Zencak, Victoria, "“L'Homme en animal,” Human Animals" (2014). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 10.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2014/creativeexpression/10
Additional Mentoring Department
World Languages
“L'Homme en animal,” Human Animals
SURC Ballroom A
In conjunction with World Languages Day (May 2, 2014), students from the French program will be staging a bilingual French-English performance of The Complete Fables of Jean de la Fontaine with musical interludes from Isabelle Aboulker's adaptation of the fables for a children's opera. La Fontaine wrote during the reign of Louis XIV and was a keen observer of social dynamics at the court of Versailles; his fables contain valuable lessons on the nature of power that still hold true today. Moreover, La Fontaine's observations about the continuities between animal nature and human nature fly in the face of his contemporary, René Descartes's, philosophy and anticipated animal rights discourses. Even more fascinating is the fact that La Fontaine was able to critique both his absolute monarch and the illustrious Descartes through the seemingly innocuous medium of versified fables with anthropomorphized animals. “L'Homme en animal" highlights these two particular facets of La Fontaine's Fables: the critique of power and his reflections on humanity and animality. During this SOURCE presentation, students involved in the production will screen a video featuring highlights from the May 2 performance followed by their reflections on how the experience contributed to their own process of learning French language and culture. They will also engage the audience by encouraging them to try on some of the eighteen animal masks made for the production while also discussing the techniques used in crafting the masks.
For this presentation, Lyndsey Burkette received a Creative Expression Best Presentation Award for 2014.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Johnson, Michael