Benjamin Hoffmann and Lucille Toth from the Department of French and Italian give a joint lecture titled "Improvisation, Structure, and the Literary Text."
A novelist and scholar of eighteenth-century French literature, Benjamin Hoffmann is the author of a diverse body of work published in French and English, including novels, monographs, critical editions, edited volumes, as well as numerous articles and short stories. In this conversation with Associate Professor Lucille Toth, Hoffmann will discuss his three most recent works (L’île de la Sentinelle, Gallimard, 2022; Les Minuscules, Gallimard, 2024; and Je suis Murakami, Zone Critique, 2025), while examining the interplay between literary criticism and creative writing.
What does it mean to navigate the liminal space where fiction converges with scholarship? How does one articulate a vision at the intersection of disciplines such as literary studies and anthropology? Can a unifying thread be discerned across works that span a variety of genres and forms such as dystopia, magical realism, autobiography, campus novel, travel writing, and historical fiction? Finally, how does the process of writing fiction differ from that of crafting scholarly discourse?
Inaugural lectures celebrate Arts and Humanities faculty who have been promoted to the rank of professor. All lectures are held in the Faculty Club Grand Lounge from 4-6 p.m. and are preceded by a reception and followed by Q&A and discussion. All lectures are free and open to the public.
The Arts and Humanities Inaugural Lecture Series is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences.
