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Publication Nicolas Sarkozy: Performing the French presidency(Intellect, 2021-03-01) Stewart, MauraA presidential election can be viewed as a national drama in which a candidate casts herself/himself as a courageous protagonist who seeks to become a collective symbol that embodies the best qualities of the nation. Drawing from the fields of performance studies, French studies, cultural studies and political rhetoric, this article provides a critical reading of a key moment in the 2007 presidential campaign: Nicolas Sarkozy s first official performance as presidential candidate on 14 January. Focusing on the staging of the nomination speech, the strategic use of repetition and expression of emotions, and the notion of personal change, this article explains how Sarkozy s speech represented a rupture in terms of his image and personality, which in turn served to neutralize the threat posed by his main presidential rival, Ségolène Royal. This analysis can thus help to shed light on current political developments: the rise of populist newcomers in Europe.Publication Strangers in the frame: Inside and outside the Cent Nouvelles nouvelles(Oxford University Press, 2018-05-30) Emerson, CatherineThis article examines the way in which tales of the Burgundian Cent Nouvelles nouvelles are interpreted differently by different reading publics. Taking a neglected tale in the corpus, nouvelle 66, as a starting point, the article argues that this nouvelle exemplifies tendencies observable throughout the collection, particularly in regard to surprising physical characteristics of outgroup members such as women and clerics. Viewed in the context of the tales' original readership, such stories cement ingroup solidarity amongst a group of elite men who, whilst sharing some characteristics, were reasonably diverse in a number of ways. However, the original reading context is not fully reconstructable because it is unclear as to what the narrative frame actually represents. Once the tales move beyond this frame, the court of Philippe le Bon becomes a spectacle itself, and this is reflected in a number of readings which censure the original audience. The article argues that this reaction is present in the very first edition and is indeed inherent in the narrative frame of the Cent Nouvelles nouvelles.Publication Using an example: Denis Sauvage, Philippe de Commynes and the ‘Vieil Exemplaire’(Brill, 2018-03-20) Emerson, CatherinePhilippe de Commynes was part of a community of writers in the fifteenth century who referred to their work as Mémoires, but readers did not recognize this as a generic marker and first editions of his work were published as Chroniques. This article examines the editing strategies of Denis Sauvage, the first editor to use the title Mémoires, and his references to an unidenified manuscript. For Sauvage and his publisher, Galliot Du Pré, the manuscript has intellectual and financial value, justifying the granting of a new royal privilege for exclusive publication. However, in many cases, the base text remains the text as originally published, with references to the manuscript serving to draw attention to the skill of the editor’s craft. Similar approaches can be identified in modern editions of medieval histories.Publication Setting a place in the Cent Nouvelles nouvelles: The illustrations of Glasgow, Hunter 252(SRNU (Stichting van Romanisten aan de Nederlandse Universiteiten) and Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals, 2017-06-26) Emerson, CatherineReading MS Hunter 252 as a performance, this article examines the way that the manuscript s illustrations enhance the spatial element of the collection. The case of tale 65 is examined in particular to show how the illustration of an identifiable place contributes to the tale. The illustration sets up multiple interrelations between different levels of diegesis, different spaces on the page and different stories in the collection to implicate the spectator (the viewer or reader) in the manuscript s performance.Publication "L'anglais tel qu'on le court": Antoine Blondin's "clichéd view of Englishness" in Tours de France: Chroniques intégrales de L'Équipe 1954-1982(Liverpool University Press, 2014) Cooke, Ruadhán; Hugh Dauncey, Jonathan Ervine, and Cathal Kilcline; |~|From 1954 to 1982, the right-wing French novelist Antoine Blondin wrote adaily chronicle for the three weeks of the Tour de France cycle race in thepages of the newspaper L’Équipe in which he was given the freedom tocover the event from a very different perspective and in a very differentstyle to that of the professional sports journalists and cycling experts of theday. The collected chronicles published in 2001 constitute a unique corpusand have a special place in the annals of both sports and media literature.A ten-man Great Britain team competed in the 1955 Tour – the first Britonssince 1937 – providing Blondin with a golden opportunity to exploitpopular national stereotypes and stock French perceptions of the English.By the time of Blondin’s last contribution to the paper in 1982, the Tour deFrance was no longer uncharted territory for Britons who have been unrepresentedon only three occasions since 1955. Against the backdrop of asporting rivalry between the “dearest of enemies,” this article examines references to British (and occasionally Irish) riders in Blondin’s chronicles ofthe period and reflects on the construction of identities inherent in suchrepresentations. À partir de 1954 et jusqu’en 1982, le romancier français de droite AntoineBlondin écrivit une chronique quotidienne pendant les trois semaines duTour de France dans les pages du journal L’Équipe où une liberté totale luifut accordée pour couvrir l’événement d’un point de vue et dans un styletrès différents de ceux des journalistes sportifs et des experts du cyclismede l’époque. Les chroniques intégrales publiées en 2001 constituent uncorpus unique du genre et occupent une place importante dans les annalesde la littérature sportive et des médias. Une équipe composée exclusivementde coureurs britanniques – les premiers à y participer depuis 1937 –prit le départ du Tour en 1955, offrant ainsi à Blondin une occasion enor d’exploiter des stéréotypes nationaux et d’explorer la façon plus oumoins superficielle dont les Français percevaient leurs voisins d’outre-Manche. Quand Blondin signa sa dernière chronique en 1982, le Tour nereprésentait plus une terre inconnue pour les Britanniques qui, depuis1955, n’ont manqué le rendez-vous estival qu’à trois reprises. Dans cecontexte d’une rivalité sportive entre “les meilleurs ennemis,” cet articleexaminera les références faites aux coureurs britanniques (et parfois irlandais)dans les chroniques de Blondin et réfléchira à la constructiond’identités suggérée par de telles représentations.Publication The green fields of France: Ireland's sporting heroes and the Tour De France(Taylor & Francis, 2006-07-06) Cooke, Ruadhán; |~|Irish cyclists have been a regular feature of the Tour de France. By examining the lives and feats of the various Irish born riders that have taken part in the world's most famous bike race, this paper demonstrates the values and virtues that are considered heroic in this particular setting. While acknowledging the skill of the riders under consideration, the paper also examines whether it is the race itself and its long history that contributes to and creates such heroes.Publication IRF Off: Connacht's fight for survival and the foundation myth of a rugby Identity(Taylor & Francis, 2017-08-24) Cooke, Ruadhán; Ó Cofaigh, Éamon; |~|Last of the four provincial branches to be formed in 1885, Connacht has always been fourth among equals in the pecking order of Irish rugby. In the late 1990s, spiralling costs associated with the administration of a game that was no longer amateur prompted the Irish Rugby Football Union to assess the viability of its constituent parts and to implement radical cost-cutting strategies, resulting in advanced plans to disband Connacht as a professional entity at the end of the 2002/2003 season. The response to the threat of extinction crystallized into an unprecedented movement of resistance which mobilized the western rugby community, garnered support from wider society and earned the backing of a number of senior political figures, culminating in the now famous March on Lansdowne Road in January 2003. By the end of the month, it was announced officially that the IRFU would not proceed with its plans to disband Connacht. This article will revisit the near-death experience of 2002/2003, analyse the narrative and dynamics of the protest movement and consider the broader and lasting significance of the successful campaign to save Connacht Rugby, particularly in respect of regional identity and collective identification.Publication Michel Déon: un grand périple a great voyage(NUI Galway, 2017) Conroy, Jane; |~|An illustrated tribute to académician Michel Déon published by NUI Galway to mark his generosity and support for French in the University and his contribution to Franco-Irish relationsPublication How French is 'French' sport?(Edinburgh University Press, 2015-12) Dine, Philip; |~|This article explores how sports in France have responded to the challenges of globalization, and also to the opportunities of an increasingly multicultural society. Two case studies are offered in which a distinctive national model may be seen to have been exposed to powerful transnational forces between 1985 and 2015, a period which also corresponds to sport's digital age. The sports primarily targeted are football and athletics, the most visibly international of modern games, as highlighted by their quadrennial showcases: the World Cup and the Olympic Games. The resulting case studies are intended to suggest some of the ways in which the state, the media and the relevant federations have responded to the multiple challenges of the corporate-financed and electronically mediated ‘global sporting system’. Featured athletes include Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram, Marie-José Pérec and Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad.Publication Time and the Traveller: The Case of Coquebert de Montbret(Peter Lang, 2013) Conroy, Jane