Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

L’Usage De La Rhétorique Émotionnelle Dans Les Récits De Jean Hatzfeld, Michael Rinn

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

In France, the books of Jean Hatzfeld -- journalist and writer -- have played a key role for the public opinion to become aware of the tragedy of the genocide of the Rwandan Tutsi in 1994. Our paper aims to show how the discourse strategy of Jean Hatzfeld aims to influence the reader by using emotions. We would like to know how this rhetoric of emotions relies on specific cultural codes which are largely western centered. Our thesis is that since Auschwitz, those codes have constructed an argumentative framework for contemporary understanding of passion and pain in discourse.