La Pornographie

In 1769, Restif de la Bretonne coined the word pornographe: one who writes (graphein) about prostitution (pornê is the prostitute). It is in literature, then, that what is known today as “pornography” was invented. This course will be dedicated to classics of the pornographic genre (from Sade to Bataille), to pornological essays (by Deleuze or Nancy), and to the political stakes of pornography in contemporary writings (by Despentes or Guibert). We will not forget cinema (with films by Genet or Bonello): if pornography pertains to a compulsion to show everything, what would be the blind spot of its absolute visibility? Taught in French.