A talk "Plague in the USA" with historian Patrick Boucheron

How to illuminate the United States today through the prism of an event that America did not actually experience: the Black Death (peste noire) that struck Europe from 1347 to 1352.
When they arrived at Ellis Island on August 29, 1909, Sigmund Freud is supposed to have whispered in Carl Jung's ear: "They don't know that we are bringing them the Plague". It is in this mysterious, and probably unfounded, quote that the research project led by historian Patrick Boucheron finds its source.

Patrick Boucheron is a Professor and Chair of the History of Powers in Western Europe, XII - XVI centuries at the Collège de France. He specializes in the Middle Ages, particularly in Italy. His work also concerns the writing of history and changes in the discipline. It was in this spirit that he wrote Histoire mondiale de la France (Seuil, 2017). As Villa Albertine's resident in Chicago in February 2023, he will talk at the Alliance Française about his latest project entitled "Plague in the USA" as part of the Marianne Midwest Series.

Daisy Delogu is an eminent specialist in medieval French literature and a professor at the University of Chicago. In her work, she seeks to reveal the complexity of thought and sophistication of literary practices found in the vernacular texts of the Middle Ages, a period often mischaracterized as violent or backward.

This program is part of the Marianne Midwest, a series of talks on contemporary topics presented by Villa Albertine - Chicago in partnership with the France Chicago Center at the University of Chicago and the Alliance Française de Chicago.