Event Details

Join us to celebrate the launch of the new book Catherine Malabou and Contemporary French Literature and Film: Witnessing Plasticity, by Lancaster University Lecturer Benjamin Dalton (Edinburgh University Press, 2026)

BOOK LAUNCH: Catherine Malabou and Contemporary French Literature and Film: Witnessing Plasticity, by Benjamin Dalton

February 19^th 2026, 5-6:30pm, Lancaster University Library Events Space

In what ways do our bodies and brains mutate and transform? What kinds of metamorphoses do we embark upon during our lives? How have different disciplines conceptualised bodily mutability and transformation, from neuroscientific discourses of the neuroplastic transformability of the human brain to epigenetic explorations of the unpredictability of biology itself? What does it mean to witness those around us transform and change? What happens when somebody we love metamorphoses, even to the point of becoming unrecognizable?

The new book by Benjamin Dalton, Catherine Malabou and Contemporary French Literature and Film: Witnessing Plasticity(Edinburgh University Press, 2026), tackles these questions in bringing the work of contemporary French philosopher Catherine Malabou on plasticity together with representations of bodily and neural transformation in contemporary literature and film. Join us for the launch of the new book by Benjamin Dalton which explores these questions.

Join us to celebrate the publication of this book and to learn more about the stories behind it, from intellectual adventures through French philosophy to personal experiences of brain surgery. This event will comprise both a drinks reception and a panel discussion, bringing together scholars working on bodies, brains, and transformation across the university.

About the author:

Benjamin Dalton is Lecturer in French Studies in the School of Global Affairs at Lancaster University. He has published widely on the work of the contemporary philosopher Catherine Malabou, with articles in Essays in French Literature and Culture,Dalhousie French Studies, French Studies, Film-Philosophy,Modern and Contemporary France, andParagraph, as well as his 2026 book with Edinburgh University Press, Catherine Malabou and Contemporary French Literature and Film: Witnessing Plasticity. His more recent research at the intersections of medical humanities and French studies has focused on dialogues between philosophy and hospital design, arguing that such dialogues hold the key to transforming the hospitals of the future (see recent articles in Nottingham French Studies, Senses & Society, and Paragraph). He is also founder and leader of the Queer Medical Humanities Network at Lancaster University.