GRAND CONSPIRACY FICTIONS

Conspiracy figurations are neither specific to the present day, nor just the preserve of idiots. Their historical depth and heterogeneity are obvious when one considers the multiple aesthetic productions they have been linked to since the development of late modern media culture. From the early 19^th  century onwards, fictitious conspirators spread throughout Western European novels, then diversified to be integrated into other narrative forms, such as cinema and TV series, as well as in various geocultural areas.

Rather than associating conspiracist narratives with crises, which would unambiguously determine their content and stakes, this book considers the multiple worldviews that emanate from them, feeding a “grand narrative” that has been perpetuated over several centuries by multiplying its media, its compelling revelations, and its targets. Based on a comparative and interdisciplinary study of a hundred or so works of fiction narrating large-scale conspiracies in various European languages over more than two centuries,  Grand Conspiracy Fictions  takes a fresh look at a notorious social imaginary. Faced with the manifestations of unproven conspiracies that permeate our democracies, our cultural world and our daily lives, this book offers tools to nuance and better adjust our responses.
Translated from the French by Dominique Macabies and Chloé Chaudet.

Chloé Chaudet est maîtresse de conférences HDR en littérature comparée à l'Université Clermont Auvergne et membre junior de l'Institut Universitaire de France (IUF). Elle s'est spécialisée dans l'étude des relations entre littérature, politique et mondialisation dans les domaines linguistiques ouest-européens. Ces dernières années, elle a étendu ses travaux à l'analyse comparée de la fiction (littéraire, mais aussi audiovisuelle). Ses recherches actuelles portent sur les fictions et les imaginaires du complot dans l'espace atlantique (XIX^e-XXI^e siècles) selon une perspective historique, narratologique et sociocritique.