In 1678 a French author, Antoinette de Salvan de Saliès, published a historical novel defending the reputation of a German countess who, with the help of her French squire, had escaped her violent but politically powerful husband and settled in Albi, France. Jolene Vos-Camy will show why Saliès’s defense of the countess is to be believed over the easy titillating stories of illicit lust that so many told of the countess.
Throughout time women have faced pressure to conform to social norms. What happens when they refuse? Presentations by three Michigan women authors, Jolene Vos-Camy, Aurore J. Deka and Anne Duggan, will explore how women in history and in fiction have stepped outside the lines. Moderated by Françoise Guellec, Exec. Director of l’Alliance Française de Detroit. This is a free event – Complimentary Snacks & Pizza will be available after the three talks.
“When the Rain Sings” depicts the inner states of the main character of this novel, while echoing the film. The expression of uncertainty in the female character, Laura, constitutes her fault line throughout the book. Despite his evolution, questions persist, closely linked to his personality. Laura will enter into communion with herself through the realm of dreams, an opening marking a transition, a mystical and inevitable change. She integrates this new dimension into her life, like medicine for the mind, inner guidance. The dream elements become the key for Laura, ready to heal the betrayal of her past. From now on, she will abandon what she has surpassed, never going back despite the persistence of questions and doubts, which will not prevent her from moving forward like everyone else. It’s a specific moment in the life of a young woman, a microcosm on an existential scale. Evolutions alter our perspectives, certainties, and concerns.
Throughout time women have faced pressure to conform to social norms. What happens when they refuse? Presentations by three Michigan women authors, Jolene Vos-Camy, Aurore J. Deka and Anne Duggan, will explore how women in history and in fiction have stepped outside the lines. Moderated by Françoise Guellec, Exec. Director of l’Alliance Française de Detroit. This is a free event – Complimentary Snacks & Pizza will be available after the three talks.
Imagine a Cinderella who kills her stepmother, or decapitates an ogress, or triumphantly splashes mud on her sisters on her way to trying on the famed shoe. These are not the first images that come to mind when we think of Cinderella tales in our post-Disney world. But all these variations of the Cinderella story competed with one another for generations, and one woman author, Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy, produced a variant–“Finette Cendron”–that not only was frequently reproduced in France, England, and Germany, but also fed into oral traditions in these countries. In this talk we will explore the legacies of d’Aulnoy’s feisty French Cinderella.
Throughout time women have faced pressure to conform to social norms. What happens when they refuse? Presentations by three Michigan women authors, Jolene Vos-Camy, Aurore J. Deka and Anne Duggan, will explore how women in history and in fiction have stepped outside the lines. Moderated by Françoise Guellec, Exec. Director of l’Alliance Française de Detroit. This is a free event – Complimentary Snacks & Pizza will be available after the three talks.