Duration
15h Th, 30h SEM
Number of credits
| Master in ancient and modern languages and literatures, research focus | 10 crédits | |||
| Master in French and Romance languages and literatures : general, research focus | 10 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
All year long, with partial in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The Semiotics and Rhetoric seminar in 2025-2026 will focus on the study of 'affective rhetoric' in texts containing controversial ideas (primarily). We will consider how this type of text develops an objective power to affect. The approach will be rhetorical, incorporating elements of semiotics and pragmatics.
The theoretical (philosophical and political) foundations of this approach - the centrality of affects - are mainly Spinoza, Frédéric Lordon, Gilles Deleuze and Jean-François Lyotard. From this perspective, literary texts, but more broadly any type of semiotic encounter, are always seen as affections.
The first part of the seminar will consist of readings by students and presentations by lecturers, providing the terminological and conceptual basis for a rhetorical analysis of affects.
The second part, entitled 'Laboratory 1' and 'Laboratory 2', will present specific ways of identifying affects in texts and grouping them together (into 'desire regimes', 'affective tonalities' and 'sentiment structures').
The third and final part will be devoted to monitoring students' work (selection of the corpus, selection of tools, initial results, writing, etc.)
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
At the end of this seminar, students will be able to:
- participate in contemporary research in rhetoric;
- understand the theoretical, methodological and critical issues involved in studying affects in polemical texts;
- identify affects in texts and assemble them more broadly as parts of an identifiable structure;
- conduct personal research on this topic, using concepts and methods of analysis, leading to the production of a written paper.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Competence in French language is essential for an appreciation of the complexities of French discourse.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The seminar is organised in two parts:
- Q1: introductory session, program of readings and case studies presented by holders ;
- Q2: follow-up of individual work.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Active seminar. Classe attendance is mandatory.
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- MyULiège
Further information:
The distribution of bibliographic sources (listed below in alphabetical order) for course materials and required reading will take place during the first seminar session.
Marc Angenot, La Parole pamphlétaire. Typologie des discours modernes, Paris, Payot, 1982.
Marc Bonhomme, « Les figures pathiques dans le pamphlet : l'exemple du Discours sur le colonialisme d'Aimé Césaire », dans M. Rinn (dir.), Émotions et discours, Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2008, p. 165-176.
Déborah Brosteaux, « Dans le maelström des désirs fascistes », dans Les Désirs guerriers de la modernité, Paris, Seuil, « La couleur des idées », 2025, p. 143-196.
Judith Butler, La Vie psychique du pouvoir. L'assujettissement en théories, Paris, Amsterdam, 2022.
Gilles Deleuze & Félix Guattari, « 20 novembre 1923 - Postulats de la linguistique », dans Mille Plateaux, Paris, Minuit, 1980, p. 95-139.
Gilles Deleuze & Claire Parnet, Dialogues, Paris, Flammarion, « Champs essais », 2023 [1977], p. 65-66.
Thierry Drumm, « Tell, don't show : le microchoc des histoires. Postface », dans B. Massumi, Agitations. Capitalisme et plus-value de vie, Bruxelles, Météores, 2024, p. 165-181.
Jacques Fontanille, « Les voies (voix) de l'affect », dans Actes sémiotiques, n°120, 2017.
François Fourquet, L'idéal historique, Paris, UGE, « 10/18 », 1976 [1974].
Algirdas J. Greimas & Jacques Fontanille, Sémiotique des passions. Des états de choses aux états d'âmes, Paris, Seuil, 1991.
Paul Guillibert, « La nature ne raconte pas d'histoires. Le naturalisme culturel de Raymond Williams », dans Terre et Capital, Paris, Amsterdam, 2021, p. 125-160.
Anne Hénault, Le Pouvoir comme passion, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1994.
Eva Illouz, Les Émotions contre la démocratie, Paris, Premier Parallèle, 2022.
Frédéric Lordon, La société des affects. Pour un structuralisme des passions, Paris, Seuil, « Points Essais », 2015 [2013].
Frédéric Lordon & Sandra Lucbert, Pulsion. Capitalisme, fascisme et pulsionnalité 1, Paris, La Découverte, 2025.
Jean-François Lyotard, « Petite économie libidinale d'un dispositif narratif », dans Des dispositifs pulsionnels, Paris, UGE, « 10/18 », 1973, p. 179-224.
Brian Massumi, « L'autonomie de l'affect », dans L. Mariani & C. Plancke (éd.), (D)écrire les affects, Paris, Petra, 2018, p. 55-93.
Raphaël Micheli, Les émotions dans les discours. Modèle d'analyse, perspectives empiriques, Bruxelles, De Boeck, « Champs linguistiques », 2014.
François Provenzano & Antoine Janvier, « Critique du capitalisme néolibéral et travail rhétorique chez Frédéric Lordon : un discours d'affectation », dans Dissensus, n° 6, 2016, p. 42-56.
Jacques Rancière, Le partage du sensible, Paris, La fabrique, 2000.
Written work / report
Continuous assessment
Further information:
The assessment will be based on an individual piece of written work, in the form of a scientific article, on a freely chosen issue related to the seminar theme.
The assessment criteria are as follows
- theoretical interest and originality of the topic
- analytical finesse
- formal completion
- attendance at seminar sessions.
If the student uses artificial intelligence, he or she must provide detailed information about their use of AI in a dedicated section: tool used, prompt, type of assistance requested (rewording, summarising, analysis, brainstorming, linguistic correction, etc.), results obtained, critical assessment of these results, sections of the work concerned.
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
The seminar will be briefly introduced at the Masters presentation session on Wednesday 24/9/2025 at 10am in Classroom Wilmotte.
Students interested in taking part in the seminar should contact François Provenzano (Francois.Provenzano@uliege.be) and Arnaud Massin (Arnaud.Massin@uliege.be) by e-mail no later than 1 October 2025.
A full schedule of sessions will be provided to interested students.
Contacts
Centre de Sémiotique et Rhétorique
3 place Cockerill B-4000 Liège
4e étage
Arnaud Massin, PhD Student
Arnaud.Massin@uliege.be
François Provenzano, professeur
Francois.Provenzano@uliege.be
Secrétariat : Ariane Nusgens 04 366 56 50