Arts and sciences and French criticism

Dahan-Gaida, Laurence. Conversations entre la littérature, les arts et les sciences, Besançon, Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté, 2006.

This collection of articles was published after the 3^rd Congress of the Society for Science, Literature and the Arts (SSLA), which took place in Paris in 2004. Though the event gathered researchers from around the globe, the book brings together the papers presented by French academics. By doing so, this collection aims to define the contours of French criticism on the question of the connections between arts and science. Thus, along with thematic and historical approaches, the book presents a strong theoretical angle and considers, in its introduction, the strengths and weaknesses of the method adopted by cultural studies. While some articles inscribe themselves in the tradition of history of ideas, others explore the literary appropriation of scientific knowledge or the status of imagination in science. The question of form is also addressed through the study of the poetic function of science, and its ability to structure the literary work.