International Conference in Aix-en-Provence 19 - 21 octobre 2007
Report on the Aix Colloquium
Without
any hesitation 2007 has been a good year. The most eventful moment was
the Colloquium in Aix-en-Provence. In spite of the massive rail-strike
of the French Railway on October 18th most participants made it to Aix,
however there was a constant need for juggling the different sessions.
People coped very well with all the changes, which somehow made things
more informal. In fact, the already very friendly atmosphere seemed to
get even better!
The weather in Aix was simply splendid. The Colloquium was on the theme ‘Visages de la Provence!, and Provence played its part by showing us one of its bes ‘visages’! The University of Aix-en-Provence and the Mairie were both extremely helpful, generous and hospitable. The Observatoire de Recherches Littéraires Actuelles et Contemporaines (ORLAC) gave us a tea-party; the Mairie invited us to a vin d’honneur-buffet. The latter was held in a splendid room of the seventeenth-centrury Mairie, with grand portraits and paintings all around. That event was followed by a concert in the Cathedral, organised by Jean-Sébastien Macke in collaboration with the Harmonique d’Aix-en-Provence, in which, we learned, Zola once played!
The Colloquium gathered about fifty participants from all over
the world–alphabetically, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada,
France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal Rumania,
Sweden and the United States. Subjects covered music and art as well as
literature, though Zola, inevitably, dominated. Our Guests of Honour,
the justly celebrated Zola Scholar, Henri Mitterand, and Martine Le
Blond Zola did us proud. Henri Mitterand spoke on Zola and Maupassant
with his usual verve, humour and insight. Martine Le Blond Zola showed
some fascinating photographs from her family album: it was really
touching to hear Zola referred to as ‘mon arrière-grand-père’;
it seemed to make him all the more real and human, without in any way
diminishing him. A more formal account of the Colloquium is to be found
in one of the next issues of the French Studies Bulletin.
The President of the Emile Zola Society.
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