The majority of the chapters in this book were originally presented as papers at a conference held at Queen's University Belfast in September 2006. The volume explores the oral-written dynamic in the conte français/francophone, focusing on key aspects of the relationship between oral and written forms of the conte. The chapters fall into four broad thematic areas (the oral-written dynamic in early modern France; literary appropriations and transformations; postcolonial contexts; storytelling in contemporary France: linguistic strategies). Within these broad areas, some chapters deal with sources and influences (such as that of written on oral and vice versa), others with the nature of the discourse resulting from an oral-written dynamic (discourse structure, linguistic features etc.), some with the oral-written interface as it affects the definition of genre, others with the role of the 'oral' within the literary or written text (use of storytelling scenarios, the problematics inherent in transcribing/adapting the spoken word, etc.). This chronological and methodological range allows us to situate the emergence of the form in socio-cultural and historical terms, and to open up debate around the role of the conte in particular geographical and political contexts: regional, national, European and postcolonial.

This book contains contributions in both English and French.

Contents:

Janice Carruthers/Maeve McCusker: Contextualising the oral-written dynamic in the French and francophone conte - Richard Francis: The shadow of orality in the Voltaire conte - Sophie Raynard : Mises en scène de l'oralité dans les récits-cadres de Mme d'Aulnoy : les enjeux - Ruth B. Bottigheimer: A new history for fairy tales - Tim Farrant: Definition, repression and the oral-literary interface in the French literary conte from the 'folie du conte' to the Second Empire - Jean-François Perrin : Une interface paradoxale au XVIIIe siècle : conte merveilleux et bibliothèque des savoirs chez Thomas-Simon Gueullette - Anne Defrance : Du conte 'parodique' au conte pédagogique : Le Prince Désir de Mme Leprince de Beaumont - Mary Gallagher: The Creole folktale in the writing of Lafcadio Hearn: an aesthetic of mediation - Maeve McCusker: Mastering the word: appropriations of the conte créole in Antillean theory - Andy Stafford: The politics of orality and allegory in the African conte - Nadine Decourt : Autour de quelques contes maghrébins en situation interculturelle : création d'un texte à l'interface oral-écrit - Janice Carruthers: The oral-written dynamic in 'new' storytelling in French - Patrick Caudal: Tense switching in French oral narratives - Nathalie Guézennec : Parallélismes et contes oraux bas-bretons : niveaux, rôles et fonctions.