Université de Toulouse Jean Jaurès, 27/10/2017.

Maison de la Recherche F 417

Org: Jeanne Mathieu, Nathalie Rivere de Carles, Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin

affiche Truce 

Prog Staging the Truce in EM History and Literature

Timothy Hampton reprises Grotius’ definition of truce as “the slumber of war” to show how early modern European playwrights staged that moment of negotiation as a paradox, as “an action that spends action, and by that very gesture reinstates power as potentiality” (Early Modern Diplomacy, Theatre and Soft Power, Palgrave, 2016, 28). A truce is thus a true moment of action, but an action that runs in parallel to a continuing state of war. However, it seems even nowadays to be confused with or taken as a form of static procrastination. If its outcome can prove sterile, the concept of truce and its performance should not be dismissed as fruitless. On the contrary, truce should be seen, as later suggested by Carl von Clausewitz, as an opportunity to be seized. This conference wishes to examine truce, its distinctive nature, and to see beyond its mere use as a delaying tactic.

If moments of truce are often recounted, their operational dynamic is often overlooked. Hence, this conference wishes to investigate the form, the assets and the challenges of truce in early modern political and religious conflicts. It intends to test the viability of this fundamental concept by confronting historical instances and literary representations of truce. The conference will thus focus on the form and on the agents of truce during historical conflicts as well as the way literature and especially theatre represented and even tested this moment of the “suspension of the actions of war”. The conference will emphasise not only the temporal nature of truce, but its practical and concrete aspects. The conference will also focus on the shortcomings of the concept and the practice of truce, and forensic papers on the failure of episodes of truce are sought.

10h Panel 1 Brokering the Truce in Early Modern European Culture / Faire la trêve dans la culture de la Renaissance européenne

Chair / Modératrice: Nathalie Rivère de Carles (Toulouse, CAS)

  • Diana Carrio Invernizzi (UNED, Madrid): The painter Gerard Ter Borch, a go-between in the context of the Truce of Westphalia (1648)
  • Marie-Céline Daniel (Paris Sorbonne, VALE): De l’abstinence de la guerre à la construction de la paix, la trêve « publiée » de 1589

11h pause / coffee break

11h 20 Panel 2 Dramatizing the Truce / Mettre en scène la trêve

Chair / Modérateur: Andrew Hiscock (Bangor, Marie Curie Fellow IRCL)

  • Luis Gonzalez (Toulouse, Framespa): “Sin cuartel”: Representations of War and Peace in Early Modern Spanish Drama.
  • Patricia Akhimie (Rutgers): Staging Gender and Diplomacy: Shakespeare’s Gallery in The Winter’s Tale

12h30 pause déjeuner / lunch break

14h Panel 3 Dramatic Time and the Creation of the Truce /Le temps au théâtre et la création d’une trêve

Chair / Modératrice: Janice Valls-Russell (Montpellier Paul Valéry, IRCL)

  • Christy Desmet (University of Georgia): Wine and Cates: Soft Diplomacy and the National Hero in 1 Henry VI
  • Nathalie Rivere de Carles (Toulouse – Jean Jaurès, CAS): The Play as Truce: Suspension and Diplomatic Time in Henry V and The Winter’s Tale

15h05 Panel 4 Truce Thinking on the Stage / Penser la trêve sur la scène

Chair / Modératrice: Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin (Montpellier Paul Valéry, IRCL)

  • Jeanne Mathieu (Montpellier Paul Valéry, IRCL): “We come then as good Angels Dorothea,”: Religious Dispute and Truce on the Early Modern Stage.
  • Sujata Iyengar (University of Georgia): From War Crimes to “Truce Thinking” in Shakespeare’s Henry V

16h15 pause / coffee break

16h30 Panel 5 Writing the Truce: reporting and redefining /Ecrire la trêve : rapporter et redéfinir

Chair / Modérateur: Pierre Kapitaniak (Montpellier Paul Valéry, IRCL)

  • Timothy Hampton (UC Berkeley): The Truce of Vaucelles as seen by Joachim du Bellay in The Regrets / La trêve de Vaucelles dans Les Regrets de Joachim du Bellay
  • Alberto Clerici (Niccolò Cusano, Roma): Reason of State: Italian narratives of the Twelve Years’ Truce (1609)

Partners:

Partner University Fund, Face Foundation, http://face-foundation.org/partner-university-fund/

Université de Toulouse Jean Jaurès http://www.univ-tlse2.fr/#m7670510153529742

Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3 https://www.univ-montp3.fr/

University of Georgia http://www.uga.edu/

Equipe Cultures Anglo-Saxonnes http://cas.univ-tlse2.fr/

Institut de recherche sur la Renaissance l’âge Classique et les Lumières http://www.ircl.cnrs.fr/

Euro Science Open Forum https://www.esof.eu/en/