International Conference
In-betweenness and Nouvelle Brachylogie:
convergences and divergences of two concepts
The concept of Nouvelle Brachylogie (Mansour M’henni (2015), Le retour de Socrate. Introduction à la Nouvelle Brachylogie, Tunis, Ed. Brachylogia) is defined as “a way of being towards oneself, towards the Other, according to a discourse based on the spirit of conversation as a principle both ethic and of philosophical realization of democracy, meant as the ideal participation of everyone, in the equality of the statutes, in the management of everyone’s affairs”.
From this perspective, the Nouvelle Brachylogie seems to be a two-faced discipline “brachipoetics” on the one hand, that is to say the method of approach and of analysis of the logic of discourse from a conversational point of view; and, on the other hand, “general brachylogy”, which deals with the implications and the functioning of conversational practices on everyday life, in which the philosophical essence and the ethical being that creates a desirable human ideal can be rediscovered. It seems that the idea of “conversation” can test the values of the Nouvelle Brachylogie and the potential for the modernization of relationships between humans, as well as between humans and the universe, especially if such concept of conversation is tied to its original meaning and revisited through Socratic dialogues in order to address the entire paradigm associated with it, notably in the light of modern works of intercommunication, with its partial and sectorial variants.
In such a context, the interstice between language and literature is declined in different ways: first of all, it possesses its own space and time configuration, since it stands for the time or the space that separates and/or unites, in one way or the other, two places or two important moments of an event (Confluence = Conjunction + Disjunction). Almost as a consequence, it also stands for a relational formula, for it would constitute an idea of balance, real or potential, between two divergent, or even opposite, forces. It is also conceived as a sort of crossroad, therefore as an encounter and an exchange, that is to say an affective perception or an intellectual representation of the relationship with ‘otherness’ – natural, human or conversational –, which can be questioned on different levels (philosophical, psychic, sociological, political, cultural, economic, etc.).
It is therefore logical that the interstice between language and literature creates concepts and notions which proliferate more and more in the modern world, where consonance and dissidence govern the management of the social sphere and the reflection on human existence. That is where we recover inter-culturalism, inter-language, inter-disciplinarity, and inter-discourse, dialogic or conversational; where we can perceive diversification, variety in a broader sense, and intercultural encounter.
It is in such a confrontational frame of mind, perhaps not alien to the ontological restlessness which marked the great changes of human existence, that the Naples-based Italian group of Brachylogy (Brachilogia Italia), in collaboration with the International Coordination of Research and Brachilogical Studies (CIREB – Paris), organizes this international conference.
The aforementioned subjects seem quite indicative of the aspects that could be addressed, but they are in no way restrictive, since any proposition is conceivable, provided that it justifies its articulation with the proposed issue.
The conference is organized around three axes:
literature;
linguistics, translatology and didactics;
culture and society.
The travel and accommodation of each speaker at the conference will not be covered by the organizers of the event.
The proceedings of the conference will be published in accordance with international and academic requirements.
Selective bibliography
Dessons Gérard, La voix juste. Essai sur le bref, Paris, Manucius, 2015.
Genette Gérard, La rhétorique restreinte, in « Communication, 1970, 16, n. 16, pp. 158-171.
Mansour M’henni, Le retour de Socrate, Tunis, Editions Brachylogia, 2015.
Mansour M’henni (éd.), Repenser la brachylogie pour une Nouvelle Brachylogie. Actes des trois premiers séminaires des études brachylogiques, Tunis, Latrach, 2016.
Montandon Alain, Les formes brèves, Paris, Hachette, 1992.
Montandon Alain, Formes brèves et microrécits, in « Les Cahiers de Framespa [En ligne], 14 | 2013, mis en ligne le 06 mars 2016.
Montandon Alain, « Les espaces blancs de l’aphorisme » Plus Oultre. Hommage à Daniel-Henri Pageaux, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2007.
Roukhomovski Bernard, Lire les formes brèves, Paris, Nathan, 2001.
Saint-Gérand Jacques-Philippe, Substances et transformations : La théorisation des formes brèves sans les manuels de rhétorique du XIXe siècle, in Formes littéraires brèves, Actes du Colloque organisé par l’université Blaise Pascal en coopération avec l’Université Clermont-Ferrand, 29 novembre – 2 décembre 1989 publié dans Romanica Wratislaviensia XXXVI, Wroclaw, 1991.
