Professor Weingarden Presents Papers at Princeton and FSU

This month Professor Lauren S. Weingarden presented a paper, “Cross-Contaminated Bodies: Constructing Obscenity in the Public Imaginary” at the 41st Annual Nineteenth-Century French Studies Colloquium, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. Weingarden organized the panel, “Dirty Sisters: Censoring Contaminated Word and Image,” for the Conference theme, “Contaminations,” which included her paper, together with papers presented by FSU doctoral student Jennifer Pride, “Dodging the Censors: Daumier’s Haussmannization Prints,” and Karen L. Carter (Kendall College of Art & Design), “‘Contamination through the Eyes’: The Censorship of Illustrated Posters in Fin-de-siècle Paris.”

Professor Weingarden also presented “Prequels and Sequels: Tracking ‘Death of the Author’ in Modern and Contemporary Art and Theory,” at “Roland Barthes Centenary: FSU faculty reflect on Barthes effect on their research.” This multidisciplinary faculty symposium on the centenary of French theorist Roland Barthes’s birth was held on November 12. One of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century, Barthes (1915-1980) is known as the leading figure in Structuralism and Semiotics who proclaimed the “death of the author.” Organized by Professor Aimee Boutin, Modern Languages, the symposium included faculty from Modern Languages, English, and Art History, who discussed how Barthes’ path-breaking and idiosyncratic writings, and his interest in fragments, music, and photography, have affected their research.