UPCOMING EVENTS

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• LO061 Play Reading

  • When
    06 Oct 2023
  •  
    2:30 PM - 5:00 PM
  • Location
    To Be Determined
  • Spaces left
    12

  Starting in the October 2023, usually on the 1st Friday of the month, WICE will be having a cold play reading group. This group will gather and read out loud various plays that meet the following criteria:

  • English language
  • Award winning
  • One or two acts
  • 6 - 9 characters

  We hope to have the autumn trimester's plays chosen and a meeting place identified soon, so keep an eye on this space for further information.
  

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• BO112 French Lit for Fun

  • Start
    11 Oct 2023
  •  
  • End
    13 Dec 2023
  •  
  • Schedule
    3 sessions
  • Location
    Zoom online
  • Spaces left
    10

  Register

  Course Description

  Discover and discuss contemporary classics in this lively class for high-intermediate and advanced French speakers. You’ll read a book at home, either a short novel or play, then participate in a class discussion. The instructor will supply context and cultural elements, as well as discussion questions intended to spark reflection and debate. In the spirit of literary cafés, the class will help you gain a deeper knowledge of French societal issues and controversies.

  For the fall term, we will read Annie Ernaux’s La Place,  a short novel written after her father's death; Incendies, a play by Canadian-Lebanese author Wajdi Mouawad which was later made into a film by Canadian director Denis Villeneuve; and Le consentement by Vanessa Springora, a powerful look at her complicated involvement with the writer Gabriel Matzneff who pursued her when she was 14 and he was 50. A film based on the book is due in October.
  

  
  

  About the instructor

  Bleuenn Simon has taught French literature and French as a second language for over 18 years in France and in the United States. She is also a theater teacher, amateur actress, and author.

   

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• LO261 Booker Book Group

  • When
    26 Oct 2023
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
  • Location
    To Be Determined
  • Spaces left
    12

  Starting in the September 2023, WICE will be having an additional book group centered around Booker Prize winners and short list candidates. All of the books that will be read will have a French translation available.

  We hope to have the autumn trimester's books chosen and a meeting place identified by early-September, so keep an eye on this space for further information.

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• LS281 Booker Books: "Great Granny Webster," by Caroline Blackwood

  • When
    26 Oct 2023
  •  
    5:30 PM - 7:00 PM
  • Location
    To Be Determined
  • Spaces left
    12

  Register

  'Tell all truth but tell it slant.' This pithy statement by Emily Dickinson captures the essence of literature and our shared love for it. From our own unique coordinates and with our own slant perspectives of the world, we come together once every month to discuss, dissect, and glean new truths about ourselves, others, and our relationship with an ever-changing world through the medium of great literature. We present to all our members - The Booker Book Club.

  For our very first meeting, we propose the 1977 Booker shortlisted novella "Great Granny Webster" by Caroline Blackwood. Granny Webster is a steely and humorless English aristocrat. Her daughter talks to trees. And her granddaughter is the heartthrob of social gatherings. Deftly woven in the hands of Caroline Blackwood, this pacy read is in equal parts moving, macabre, and comic. A lasting account of three generations of English women shaped by traditions and time.

  Note: Original language version can be found online or by order in English bookstores including Shakespeare & Co. French (translated) version can be found online or in certain libraries across Paris.

  About the Organizer
  

  Saumya obtained her PhD from Oxford University in the field of artificial intelligence in 2019 and has since worked as a researcher, technology consultant, professor, mentor, and a tutor. She is currently on sabbatical in Paris where she is immersing herself in the arts, literature, yoga, social conversations, and techno-criticism. You can find her at writing events and open mic nights around Paris. She happened to meet the most warm and welcoming WICE community on a walk in Parc de Sceaux and is thrilled to be leading the Booker Book club.

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• LO271 Mémoires d'une jeune fille rangée (Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter), by Simone de Beauvoir

  • When
    27 Oct 2023
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
  • Location
    To Be Determined
  • Spaces left
    7

  Register

  

  Simone de Beauvoir's autobiographical account of her early life in a conservative Parisian family.

  Published in 1958, the memoir serves as both an intimate account of her early life and a critical examination of the societal norms and gender roles that shaped her. As she navigates family expectations and intellectual pursuits, de Beauvoir lays the groundwork for her future seminal works, notably "The Second Sex."

  The book is not just a personal narrative but also an exploration of the formative influences that spark a young woman's journey toward intellectual freedom and feminism.

  “It is a book that will leave no one indifferent, and no one affected in quite the same way.” — New York Times

  “This excellent autobiography . . . of the bending of the twig is, in certain respects, more sympathetic than the later leafings of the tree; but the line between the child Simone and the woman of The Second Sex and The Mandarins is direct and clear.” — Chicago Sunday Times

  Note: Both English and original language versions can be found online or by order in English bookstores including The Red Wheelbarrow and Shakespeare & Co. French (translated) version can be found online or in certain libraries across Paris.

  
  

  About the Facilitator
  

  Victoria Wilhelm, who will be leading the discussion, is a graduate student in French Literature and Culture at the Sorbonne, in Paris.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

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• LN031 Play Reading

  • When
    03 Nov 2023
  •  
    2:30 PM - 5:00 PM
  • Location
    To Be Announced
  • Spaces left
    12

  Starting in the October 2023, usually on the 1st Friday of the month, WICE will be having a play reading group. This group will gather and read out loud various plays that meet the following criteria:

  • English language 
  • Award winning
  • One or two acts
  • 6 - 10 characters

  We hope to have the autumn trimester's plays chosen and a meeting place identified soon, so keep an eye on this space for further information.
  

  Show details
• LN231 Booker Book Group

  • When
    23 Nov 2023
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
  • Location
    To Be Determined
  • Spaces left
    12

  Starting in the September 2023, WICE will be having an additional book group centered around Booker Prize winners and short list candidates. All of the books that will be read will have a French translation available.

  We hope to have the autumn trimester's books chosen and a meeting place identified by early-September, so keep an eye on this space for further information.

  Show details
• LN241 L'Anomalie (The Anomaly), by Hervé le Tellier

  • When
    24 Nov 2023
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
  • Location
    To Be Determined
  • Spaces left
    9

  

  Published in 2020, L'Anomalie won the prestigious Prix Goncourt in the same year. An  Oulipian work, the novel explores a wide range of themes including identity, reality, and the human condition, all framed within a speculative fiction scenario that involves a commercial airplane and its passengers experiencing an inexplicable anomaly.

  The story poses existential questions through its complex narrative structure and multiple viewpoints, which allows it to delve into the psyches of various characters. The novel has been praised for its ambitious storytelling, which combines elements of mystery, science fiction, and philosophical inquiry.

  "Swerves between various genres—science fiction, a thriller, love stories, an introspective work—without being confined by any of them." —New York Times

  Registration will open on 27 October 2023.
  

  About the Organizer

  Victoria Wilhelm, who will be leading the discussion, is a graduate student in French Literature and Culture at the Sorbonne, in Paris.

  
  

  
  

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• LD011 Play Reading

  • When
    01 Dec 2023
  •  
    2:30 PM - 5:00 PM
  • Location
    To Be Determined
  • Spaces left
    12

  Starting in the October 2023, usually on the 1st Friday of the month, WICE will be having a cold play reading group. This group will gather and read out loud various plays that meet the following criteria:

  • English language 
  • Award winning
  • One or two acts
  • 6 - 9 characters

  We hope to have the autumn trimester's plays chosen and a meeting place identified soon, so keep an eye on this space for further information.
  

  Show details
• LD141 Booker Book Group

  • When
    14 Dec 2023
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
  • Location
    To Be Determined
  • Spaces left
    12

  Starting in the September 2023, WICE will be having an additional book group centered around Booker Prize winners and short list candidates. All of the books that will be read will have a French translation available.

  We hope to have the autumn trimester's books chosen and a meeting place identified by early-September, so keep an eye on this space for further information.

  Show details
• LD151 L'Evénement (Happening), by Annie Ernaux

  • When
    15 Dec 2023
  •  
    2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
  • Location
    To Be Determined
  • Spaces left
    8

  Set in 1963, four years before the legalization of oral contraception in France and twelve years before the Veil Act (which legalized abortion), the autobiographical narrative describes the troubles a young student faces when seeking out an abortion.

  The story begins her recounting how waiting for the results of an HIV test reminded her of the similar stressful experience of discovering she was pregnant.
  

  She speaks about the stress of finding out, and the consequences, such as hiding it from her parents and public, searching for a doctor who would perform the still-illegal procedure, revealing the pregnancy to some close friends for help, and the emotional toll of the abortion itself.

  Entries from her journal frame the events from the first three months of her pregnancy to the abortion and recovery.

  Claire Devarrieux, of Libération, wrote that Ernaux's story "transcends individuality."

  Emily Eakin, of The New York Times Book Review wrote, "As subject matter goes, little could be more inherently provocative. Ernaux's take is all the more so for being unabashedly philosophical rather than moral."

  Registration opens on 24 November 2023.

  About the Organizer
  

  Victoria Wilhelm, who will be leading the discussion, is a graduate student in French Literature and Culture at the Sorbonne, in Paris.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

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• WM1002 Storyscapes: The Passion - Jeanette Winterson

  • When
    19 Jan 2024
  •  
    2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
  • Location
    Louvre
  • Spaces left
    8

  Event Description

  In this novel (pardon the pun) offering, WICE attendees will read Jeanette Winterson’s 1987 novel “The Passion,” and then tour the Louvre examining and discussing different paintings that relate to the novel’s plot, themes, characters, events, and locations.

  “The Passion” is described on Amazon as “Set during the tumultuous years of the Napoleonic Wars, The Passion intertwines the destinies of two remarkable people: Henri, a simple French soldier, who follows Napoleon from glory to Russian ruin; and Villanelle, the red-haired, web-footed daughter of a Venetian boatman, whose husband has gambled away her heart. In Venice's compound of carnival, chance, and darkness, the pair meet their singular destiny.”

  The exact meeting place will be emailed the day before the event. The event is expected to last approximately three hours, including time for coffee or drinks afterwards to socialize.
  

  About the Instructor
  

  Robin Price is a long-time Paris habitué, beginning with having run away from home at age 17 to attend her senior year in high school here.

  She majored in French and Art History as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware, and routinely participates in similar book/museum tours in her home town of Minneapolis, MN

  
  

  
  

  
  

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• L'Art de Perdre (The Art of Losing), by Alice Ziniter

  • When
    26 Jan 2024
  •  
    3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
  • Location
    To Be Announced
  • Spaces left
    9

  Naïma is a young French woman working in a Parisian art gallery. She represents the third generation of her family, whose roots trace back to Algeria.
  
  Throughout the novel, Naïma grapples with questions of identity, belonging, and the complex history of her family. Her grandfather, who immigrated to France from Algeria, carries with him the memories and traumas of the Algerian War of Independence, a subject that has always been taboo in their family.
  
  Driven by a need to understand her family's past and her place within it, Naïma embarks on a journey to explore her Algerian heritage. This takes her to Algeria, where she learns about her family's history and the broader context of Franco-Algerian relations.

  Deriving its title from the first line of Elizabeth Bishop's seminal poem "One Art," Alice Zeniter's "The Art of Losing" also won the Dublin Literary Award,  the 2017 Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, the Porte Dorée Literary Prize, and Le Monde's Literary Prize.

  
  

  
  

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• L'Ordre du Jour (The Order of the Day), by Éric Vuillard

  • When
    23 Feb 2024
  •  
    3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
  • Location
    To Be Announced
  • Spaces left
    8

  

  In this 2018 Goncourt Prize winner, author Éric Vuillard follows the actions of European politicians and business leaders in the run up to World War II.

  The novel tells the fascinating account of the failed diplomacy, broken relationships, and the catastrophic momentum that led to the war.
  
  The leaders of German industry—believing they will prosper under the Nazi regime—agree to lend their support to Adolph Hitler. Of course, things don't go entirely as planned, and as on thing leads to another, the world slides inexorably towards the abyss.
  

  Not quite fiction, but not quite fact, the French describe it as a récit, while the English newspaper The Guardian calls it "an historical essay with literary flourishes."

  The Guardian said: "However you decide to categorise it, this is a thoroughly gripping and mesmerising work of black comedy and political disaster. It seems designed single-mindedly to remind us that, as it says, “Great catastrophes often creep up on us in tiny steps.”

  

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• L'Œuvre au Noir (The Abyss), by Marguerite Yourcenar

  • When
    22 Mar 2024
  •  
    3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
  • Location
    To Be Announced
  • Spaces left
    9

  

  "L'Œuvre au Noir" is a historical novel chronicling the life of the fictional character Zeno, a 16th-century physician, alchemist, and philosopher.

  Set during the Renaissance, a time of great scientific and philosophical upheaval, the novel delves into Zeno's quest for knowledge in various fields such as medicine, alchemy, and humanism. His intellectual pursuits, often in conflict with religious orthodoxy, lead him to face persecution and personal struggles.

  Yourcenar's novel explores themes of intellectual freedom, existential quest, and the tension between science and religion. Her prose weaves historical accuracy with profound character insight, capturing the zeitgeist of the Renaissance.

  "L'Œuvre au Noir" is a complex and richly layered novel that portrays the life of an intellectual pioneer in an era teetering between medieval superstition and the dawn of modernity.

  Registration opens on Friday, 24 November.

  
  

  
  

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