Durand, Alain-Philippe 1968-

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DURAND, Alain-Philippe 1968-

PERSONAL: Born April 25, 1968, in Marseille, France. Education: Emporia State University, B.A. (cum laude), 1992; University of Kansas, M.A. (French literature; with honors), 1994, M.A. (Latin American studies), 1995; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Ph.D., 1999.

ADDRESSES: Office—University of Rhode Island, Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literature, Kingston, RI 02881. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer and educator. North Carolina Central University, Durham, visiting instructor of Romance languages, 1998–99; University of Rhode Island, Kingston, assistant professor of French, film studies, and comparative literature, 1999–2004, associate professor, 2004–. Chimères, editor-in-chief, 1992–95.

MEMBER: Modern Language Association, American Comparative Literature Association, American Association of Teachers of French, Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Delta Phi.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Black, Blanc, Beur: Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture in the Francophone World, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD), 2002.

Un monde techno: nouveaux espaces électroniques dans le roman français des années 1980–1990 (title means "A Techno World: New Electronic Spaces in the Novel of the 1980s and 1990s"), Weidler Buchverlag (Berlin, Germany) 2004.

Contributor of articles to periodicals, including French Review, ADFL Bulletin, Romance Quarterly, L'Atelier du Roman, AATF National Bulletin, Romance Notes, Etudes Francophones, Romance Languages Annual, Chimères and Transculture.

WORK IN PROGRESS: The French Jorge Amado, a volume edited with Naomi Mandel tentatively titled Contemporary Extreme Novels, and an article on representations of hip-hop culture in Marseille's soccer stadium.

SIDELIGHTS: Alain-Philippe Durand told CA: "Although I received my training and specialize in contemporary French literature, my research has always been guided by an interdisciplinary method. In addition to literary and cultural theories, anthropologic, sociological, and philosophical approaches feed my own analysis of literature and culture. The core that influences all my scholarly projects consists of a fascination for spaces and places; intertextuality; semiotics; modern technological devices and electronics; and the kind of popular culture that characterizes the extreme contemporary.

"My main area of interest concerns the novel. While I published articles on Honoré de Balzac and Machado de Assis, among others, I have focused more recently on contemporary novelists. My book, Un monde techno: nouveaux espaces électroniques dans le roman français des années 1980–1990 (title means "A Techno World: New Electronic Spaces in the Novel of the 1980s and 1990s"), examines the invasion of contemporary society by technology, the mass media, and popular culture. In France, this phenomenon is reflected in the novels of a new generation of writers published in the last twenty years. I am concentrating in particular on the nature of these new spaces as it is clear that the invasion of technology in contemporary society has created a new environment that French anthropologist Marc Augé calls 'non-places.'

"My research for Un monde techno, coupled with my work at Duke University with Fredric Jameson and the reading of more postmodern theorists such as Jean Baudrillard, Pascal Bruckner, Umberto Eco, Alain Finkielkraut, Donna Haraway, Jean-François Lyotard, and Paul Virilio, resulted in several other publications and projects. Later on, I became intrigued by how the appropriation of both spaces and modern technologies is central to the entire hip-hop culture. After realizing that France has the second largest market for rap music in the world (behind the United States) and that no book had been entirely devoted to francophone hip-hop culture, I decided to edit a volume on the topic. I continue to work on hip-hop culture.

"Postmodern theorists have also had an impact on my interest in French cinema. Many of the themes that interest me in the French novel of the last twenty years are found in contemporary French cinema, particularly in the 'Cinéma du look' period of the 1980s. This is why I pay close attention, in my film courses and in my research, to films by directors such as Luc Besson and Jean-Jacques Beineix."