Document Type
Presentation
Location
Magnolia Room, LSU Student Union / Zoom
Start Date
5-3-2026 2:30 PM
End Date
5-3-2026 2:50 PM
Abstract
In a time of widespread cynicism and disillusionment with the political and economic status quo in France, how can literature give a voice to those discontents while inspiring hope? My contribution will explore Virginie Despentes’ use of slang from 1990s French alternative music subcultures in her narrative depictions of contemporary economic precarity and social alienation in the Vernon Subutex series (2015-17). I will discuss how Despentes uses French slang to establish a distance between economically marginalized characters and more affluent Parisians, highlighting how the former draw on vocabulary from Anglophone indie rock and hip-hop subcultures as an expression of a shared experience of precarity in contemporary France. I will address how Despentes’ use of slang aligns with her ambition to write for ‘the unwanted’, and her affinity for French protest movements such as the Nuit debout (depicted in the Subutex series), which aimed to unite a diverse French working class, with distinct experiences of economic and social alienation, into a cohesive social movement. I will also address how Despentes’ work sits within French discourse over the ‘créolisation’ of the French language, in light of influences from the global francophonie and beyond on metropolitan French culture. My analysis of Despentes’ Vernon Subutex will demonstrate how the contemporary French novel can give a voice to those socially and economically alienated from the political status quo in France, while inspiring hope in alternative sociopolitical formations.
Included in
1990s alt music slang and socioeconomic precarity in Despentes’ "Vernon Subutex" series
Magnolia Room, LSU Student Union / Zoom
In a time of widespread cynicism and disillusionment with the political and economic status quo in France, how can literature give a voice to those discontents while inspiring hope? My contribution will explore Virginie Despentes’ use of slang from 1990s French alternative music subcultures in her narrative depictions of contemporary economic precarity and social alienation in the Vernon Subutex series (2015-17). I will discuss how Despentes uses French slang to establish a distance between economically marginalized characters and more affluent Parisians, highlighting how the former draw on vocabulary from Anglophone indie rock and hip-hop subcultures as an expression of a shared experience of precarity in contemporary France. I will address how Despentes’ use of slang aligns with her ambition to write for ‘the unwanted’, and her affinity for French protest movements such as the Nuit debout (depicted in the Subutex series), which aimed to unite a diverse French working class, with distinct experiences of economic and social alienation, into a cohesive social movement. I will also address how Despentes’ work sits within French discourse over the ‘créolisation’ of the French language, in light of influences from the global francophonie and beyond on metropolitan French culture. My analysis of Despentes’ Vernon Subutex will demonstrate how the contemporary French novel can give a voice to those socially and economically alienated from the political status quo in France, while inspiring hope in alternative sociopolitical formations.
Comments
Biography: Daniel Lightfoot is a current PhD candidate in French at the University of St Andrews in St Andrews, Scotland. Daniel’s research explores depictions of cross-cultural religious encounters in the contemporary Francophone novel, including the works of Francophone novelists in the Middle East and North Africa as well as metropolitan French authors. Prior to arriving in St Andrews, Daniel completed his BA in History at NYU and his MA in Middle East and North African Studies at the University of Michigan, where his MA thesis addressed the reception of Michel Houellebecq’s novel Soumission in the Arab francophonie. Before starting his PhD, Daniel spent three years in France teaching English, including two years as a lecteur d’anglais at the Sciences Po and Université de Lorraine campuses in Nancy, Grand Est.