CfP: Staging American Fiction in France

Staging American Fiction in France: Adapting Non Dramatic Texts from the US (1960-2025) 

5-6 February 2026, University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès, France

This two-day symposium is part of the ACTiF research program on “American Contemporary Theater in France” (ANR-23-CE54-011/2023/CE54, ACTiF – American Contemporary Theater in France), coordinated by the Centre for Anglophone Studies (CAS -EA801).

The symposium proposes to focus on the reception of non-dramatic US fictions in France through their adaptation to the stage (1960-2025).

A special issue of a peer-reviewed journal will later be dedicated to the theme of the symposium so that expanded versions of the conference papers may be submitted for publication.

Please send paper proposals (25 minutes, in French or in English) and a short bio-bibliography to emeline.jouve@univ-tlse2.fr and aurelie.guillain@univ-tlse2.fr by June 30, 2025.

Call for Papers :

At the dawn of the twentieth century in France, the adaptation of non dramatic texts took on a particular significance as stage directors established themselves as authors in their own right, as opposed to mere servants of a pre-existing text. Some adaptations would be conceived as transpositions and would fit into a traditional naturalistic aesthetic but some artists, like Jean-Louis Barrault, saw it as an opportunity to summon unconscious psychic forces in the service of the creative gesture for both the actor and the director: adaptation was then seen as a source of regeneration for theatrical practice (Barrault 32-34).

In the 1960, 1970s and 1980s, the connection between adaptation and creativity remained relevant as the post-1968 French theatre sought to open up new avenues of politicisation and critical reflection for its audiences. Referring to his adaptation of Aragon’s Cloches de Bâle (1975), Antoine Vitez spoke of théâtre-récit and théâtre indirect that fostered the spectator’s awareness of being exposed to a “counterfeit” (Vitez 494-95): as actors alternate between reading and embodying the novelistic text, the show creates a distanced mode of listening for the audience. Through this sort of adaptation, identification or distancing effects are placed at the heart of the theatrical performance, in the wake of Brecht or in reaction to his views. Moreover, especially from the 1990s onwards, adaptation has fuelled the emergence of intermedial “montage” (the adapted text being often only one of the many materials that make up the performance) or “postdramatic” forms (Lehmann): then it is the process of adapting a novel, rather than the novelistic fable, that is presented to the audience.

Between 1960 and 2026, the volume and proportion of adaptations have increased on the French stage, and the share of American fiction has risen steadily, whereas at the beginning of the period, adaptations of Russian or German texts tended to dominate the theatrical landscape. 

Adaptations of American texts in France have drawn little critical attention despite some pioneering studies such as those by Judith Graves Miller. Yet these adaptations can help us enlighten both aesthetic developments and cultural transfers that took place during this period; they constitute a significant aspect of the reception of US fiction in France.

What kind of vision of the United States is presented in these adaptations? In its creation or reception, is the show associated with a form of “American-ness” (a notion that calls for problematization) or is the American-ness of the text erased? Is the source text credited with any particular strength because of its supposed American-ness, and if so, for what reasons? We can also examine the way popular US culture is used, inasmuch as it is the portion of that culture to which French audiences are most exposed. The role of the musical and the connotations it carries can be of particular interest in this regard. Theatre performances can also be explored as serious, parodic or satirical commentaries on some aspects of American arts, culture or politics.

The symposium will not only examine the reception of US texts through their French adaptations : it will also be an attempt at identifying what the adaptation may have contributed to the artistic process itself. Some adaptations have a clearly identified naturalistic, melodramatic or grand-guignol aesthetic; others, on the other hand, elicit a strongly experimental drive and a taste for generic hybridity (theatre, puppets, reading, dance-opera-video). What kind of poetic force is the American text credited with? What significance and source of inspiration is found in the mythologies of the United States, their culture or their history for those who create the adaptation?

The period studied is between 1960 and the present day. We invite proposals for papers on the following topics (indicative list only):

• Study of adaptations of American fiction by a specific director (e.g., to name only a few: Stuart Seide-Herman Melville; Rodolphe Dana-John Cheever; Jacques Lassalle-Henry James and William Faulkner; Céline Pauthe-Henry James; Séverine Chavrier-William Faulkner; Tiphaine Raffier-Philip Roth; Julien Gosselin-Don DeLillo; Eva Doumbia-Toni Morrison, etc.).
• Study of the adaptation process as an inter-semiotic phenomenon: close examination of shows adapted from American fiction; aesthetic issues, modes of reception.
• Study of the adaptation process as a collective creation; the different players involved in the adaptation process
• The passeurs of American literature: initiators, intermediaries, translators, adapters, interpreters, agents
• Historical and/or sociological approaches to the adaptation of US fiction: negotiations around adaptation/translation/performance rights; symbolic capital, reputation of the adapted text; artistic and commercial strategies; the role of cultural institutions.
• Comparative study of adaptations of US fiction in France and other European countries.

Select Bibliography

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BAK, Hans, Céline MANSANTI, dir. Transatlantic Intellectual Networks, 1914-1964. Cambridge, UK : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019.

BARRAULT, Jean-Louis. « Le Roman adapté au theâtre » Cahiers Renaud-Barrault (Octobre 1976), pp. 27-58.

BENHAMOU Anne-Françoise, Jernite KENZA, Floriane TOUSSAINT. « Le texte au théâtre, mutations et résilience ». Manuel des études théâtrales, M. Poirson, dir., Armand Colin, 2024.

BESSON, Jean-Louis, M. MÉGEVAND, J. RYNGAERT, D. SCHRÖPFER Schröpfer, A. TALBOT, A. « ‘Faire théâtre de tout’. De Vitez, Mnouchkine, Bezace à Danis, Minyana, Renaude… » Études théâtrales, N° 38-39 (1), 2007, pp. 94-104. https://doi.org/10.3917/etth.038.0094.

CARRIÈRE, Jean-Claude, Jack GAJOSK, Dominique LEDUR, Jean-Paul RAPPENEAU (et al.). L’adaptation. Du théâtre au cinéma, du roman au théâtre ; Théâtre et adolescence, Études Théâtrales n. 2, Louvain-la-Neuve, 1992.

CORVIN, Michel. « L’adaptation théâtrale : une typologie de l’indécidable ». Pratiques : linguistique, littérature, didactique, n°119-120 (2003), pp. 149-172. https://doi.org/10.3406/prati.2003.2020

COTTENET, Cécile et Sophie Vallas, « Introduction. Passeurs de la littérature des États-Unis en France, 1917-1967 (2) », Transatlantica [En ligne], 1 | 2023, mis en ligne le 01 juin 2023, consulté le 25 mars 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/20685 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/transatlantica.20685

DARNTON, Robert. « What is the History of Books? ». The Kiss of Lamourette: Reflections in Cultural History. London: Faber & Faber, 1990, pp.107-35. 

HESSE-WEBER, Armelle. « Adaptation théâtrale de textes étrangers : histoire et enjeux »,Horizons/Théâtre, 3 | 2013. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/ht/3024 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/ht.3024

HUTCHEON, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. Routledge, 2006.

LEHMANN, Hans Thies. Le théâtre postdramatique. L’Arche, 2002.

MILLER, Judith Graves. Theater and Revolution in France since 1968. Lexington: French Forum, 1977.

MILLER, Judith Graves. “Novels into Theatre: Adaptation as a New Mode of Reading.” Theatre Journal, Ohio State University (December 1981), pp. 431-452. 

PORTES, Jacques, dir. L’Amérique comme modèle, l’Amérique sans modèle. Presses Universitaire de Lille, 1993.

PLANA, Muriel, Roman, théâtre, cinéma au XXème siècle. Adaptations, hybridations et dialogues des arts.Bréal, 2004.

REYNES-DELOBEL, Anne Reynès-Delobel, Benoît TADIE. “Introduction. Passeurs de la littérature des États-Unis en France, 1917-1967, première partie”. Transatlantica [Online], 2 | 2022, Online since 01 December 2022, connection on 18 January 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/20326; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/transatlantica.20326

SAPIRO, Gisèle. Qu’est-ce qu’un auteur mondial? Le champ littéraire transnational. Paris: Seuil, 2024.

SARRAZAC, Jean-Pierre. « Le partage des voix », Nouveaux territoires du dialogue, Jean-Pierre Ryngaert, Actes Sud-Papiers, 2005, pp. 11-21.

TOUSSAINT, Floriane. « De la table au plateau. La génétique théâtrale au défi d’une mutation majeure de la pratique de l’adaptation de romans à la scène ». Genesis, avril 2024. https://www.thalim.cnrs.fr/auteur/floriane-toussaint

VITEZ, Antoine. Le Théâtre des idées. Gallimard, 1991.