On the afternoon of April 1, 2011, the famous French linguist, Dominique Maingueneau delivered a speech at the invitation of Institute of French Language & Culture, SIS.

Dominique Maingueneau, the professor of linguistics at the University of Paris-Est Créteil, is a member of the Institut Universitaire de France. Due to years’ research in French linguistics and discourse studies, he masters a profound knowledge of this field. He has published many works and his papers have been published in authoritative journals around the world.

Professor Maingueneau’s speech was titled “female figures in French literature”, including two parts. First he presented the roles of women in French saloons. In the 17th century, most of the literary activities took place in saloons of noble women’s inner chambers, where they chatted with the artists and scholars, pursued their self-emancipation. Gradually, a special sort of literary language characterized by affectation but elegance was developed. Second, Professor Maingueneau analyzed the character of evil beauty in French literature. Evil beauty referred to a woman who enticed men with her sensuous attraction to the abyss of degeneration and corruption. Though she always ended up in misfortune, she was still regarded as the threat to the social order at that time. The two themes of the speech seemed to be independent from each other, but they all presented the relationship between women and aesthetics, from the perspective of saloon literature, female aesthetics and evil beauty, literally interpreting the correlation between female beauty and strength.

The speech clearly imparted a large amount of knowledge, which not only broadened audience’s view but also intensified students’ desire to study French literature. The speech ended in the most warming atmosphere and applauds.

(Translated by YANG Liu)