Exhibition: Shall I compare thee? Shakespeare in translation

Exhibition celebrating Shakespeare, Ulrike Draesner and the Art of Translation opens in the Taylor Institution Library

400 years after Shakespeare’s death, the Taylorian Library presents ways in which his texts have stayed alive across the centuries in languages around the world under the title "Shall I compare thee? Shakespeare in translation"

A special focus lies on the “radical translation” by Ulrike Draesner, Writer in Residence in Oxford, on the occasion of the symposium discussing her work in April 2016. The German obsession with translating Shakespeare’s sonnets is shown in copies from the Taylorian holdings from the 19th to the 21st century. The worldwide context of Shakespeare-mania is explored in other forms of creative adaptation, across languages and media.

Cultural Economies and the Contemporary Moment

A programme of events exploring the relationship between culture and the economy organized by the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford

How should we understand the relationship between culture, economics, politics, and society? How does this relationship shift according to different historical conjunctures? How meaningful are terms such as “stagnation” and “crisis” when applied to cultural forms? Are the classic theories that attempt to relate “base” to “superstructure” or “economic, social, political capital” to “cultural capital” still compelling? These are some of the general issues that this programme of events sets out to examine.

Professor Mary Cosgrove (University of Warwick) will give a paper entitled 'Boredom in the Neoliberal Present: An Overview' on Wednesday 9 March, 5.30pm in the Lady Brodie Room, St Hilda's College, Oxford. All are welcome. Please RSVP to georgina.

Medieval Studies Lecture: Enthymeme and Emotion from Aristotle to Hoccleve

Next Tuesday's Medieval Studies Lecture will be given by Prof Rita Copeland (Taylorian, 5pm):

'Enthymeme and Emotion from Aristotle to Hoccleve'.

Rita Copeland is Professor of Classical Studies, English, and Comparative Literature, Sheli Z. and Burton X. Rosenberg Professor of Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America. Her talk will be followed by a drinks reception at 6.30-7.30pm in Room 2. All welcome.

Oxford Italian Play: Fiabe Italiane

Building on the success of last year’s inaugural Italian play, this year we are pleased to announce an exciting adaptation of short fairy tales from Italo Calvino’s landmark 1956 collection. Performed by students of Italian and lovers of Italian theatre, the show is a spirited tour of regional folk culture with stories of love, trickery, danger, death, and the beautiful endurance of life. The show is in Italian with English summaries provided.

Brazil Week 2016

Discussion on the Brazilian Author Raduan Nassar * a screening of cult director Luiz Fernando Carvalho’s elegant and textured adaptation of Nassar’s Lavoura Arcaica (1984) * Film: To the Left Hand of the Father (2001) * Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Seminar * Film Screening: Durval Records, dir. Anna Muylaert (2002) * Taylorian Lecture by Professor Pedro Meira Monteiro: “The Dusk of Writing: Machado de Assis’s Last Pages and the Unfulfilled Promise of Brazil” * Concert: Lambrego - songs inspired by the Brazilian songwriting tradition.

DARE VOCE AL VERSO: Incontro con Mariangela Gualtieri

The Italian Sub-Faculty and the Italian Cultural Institute in London

26th February 2016, 12.00am, Main Hall, Taylorian

An event with poet, playwright and voice-actress

Mariangela Gualtieri
DARE VOCE AL VERSO: Incontro con Mariangela Gualtieri

Writing from the Centre: the Irony of Otherness and Marginality in Amelia Rosselli’s Poetry

 Amelia Rosselli is recognized as one of the greatest poetic voices of the Twentieth Century.

On Monday 15th February 2016, St John’s College will be holding a study day for high achieving Year 12 students who are considering studying German at university.

The purpose of the event is to introduce students to higher level academic study of German and to offer an insight into how the course is taught at Oxford. Participants will have the opportunity to find out more about studying languages at Oxford and the application process. They will also take part in a translation workshop and an academic seminar, led by Oxford tutors and based on preparatory material sent out in advance. There will also be an opportunity to meet current students and have lunch and a tour of the college.

Students interested in attending this event should complete the application form which can be downloaded from the St John's College website. The form must be signed by a member of school staff and a parent or guardian. All applications must be received by post, or email by 4pm on Friday 29th January 2016. If you have any questions, please contact Emma Coulson, Access and Outreach Officer....

Cervantes & Shakespeare: 400 Years

An Anglo-Spanish Symposium at the University of Oxford to commemorate the 400th anniversaries of the deaths of Cervantes and Shakespeare, which will take place on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th January 2016 at the Weston Library & Exeter College.

Cervantes and Shakespeare, who died within eleven days of each other in 1616, are universally regarded as the supreme exemplars of literary achievement in their respective languages. This symposium brings together six British scholars of Cervantes and six Spanish Shakespeare scholars to explore the literary worlds of these two iconic authors, whose works convey the turbulent spirit of the restless age in which they lived.

Speakers will cover a broad range of topics, such as the ‘lost’ play by Shakespeare, inspired by a story from Cervantes’s Don Quixote; the extraordinary influence of Don Quixote; similarities and differences in form, style, and theme in their works; issues of interpretation; and the enduring fascination both writers have exerted on readers, writers and artists in modern times. All papers will be delivered in English, and there will be plenty of scope for discussion by speakers...

Celebrating German Studies

Both of the following events are free to attend but booking is essential. Please email office@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk by 20 January, noon, if you are interested in attending part or all of the event. A map for the event is available on the Website of the Taylor Institution.

Round Table: The Future of German Studies
22 January 2016, 2pm, Taylor Institution, Room 2

On the Occasion of the Inaugural Lecture of Henrike Lähnemann, Chair in Medieval German Literature and Linguistics

Speakers: Prof. Dr. Hans-Jochen Schiewer (University of Freiburg), Dr Wilhelm Krull (VolkswagenStiftung), Dr Dorothea Rüland (DAAD), Prof. Katrin Kohl (Oxford German Network), Dr Carsten Dose (FRIAS), Chair: Prof. Ritchie Robertson (Taylor Chair of German Studies)

22-23 January – Women and the Canon. A symposium organized by Adele Bardazzi, David Bowe, Natalya Din-Kariuki, Julia Hartley. 25 February – Italian Cultural Institute in London, Londra per Amelia Rosselli.

Inaugural Lecture for the Chair in Medieval German

Henrike Lähnemann's Inaugural Lecture for the Chair in Medieval German Literature and Linguistics on The Materiality of Medieval Manuscripts will take place on 21 January 2016, 5pm, in the Lecture Theatre of the Taylor Institution, followed by a reception, 6pm. All welcome!

Focus of the lecture will be the new acquisition of the Bodleian Library, an illuminated and glossed Psalter from the Cistercian abbey of Medingen, written and illustrated by the cantrix Margarete Hopes around 1500, then annotated and altered through the early 16th century. The (sometimes scandalous) story of how the manuscript was produced, annotated, augmented, dissembled finally happily reunited in Oxford will be the starting point to look at a cultural history of manuscripts. The complex composition of the Psalter with sewn-in cloth, heavy use of gold, multiple layers of illumination and heavy reworking raises important question about the materiality of manuscripts especially in the period when the parallel production of prints started.

A Masterclass 'Medingen Manuscripts' on 22 January, 10-12noon in the Weston Library, will offer the opportunity to inspect the Psalter in the context...

Maison Française d’Oxford

French Literature from the Modern to the Postmodern

Convened by Philippe Roussin CNRS-MFO and Michael Sheringham

All Souls College, Monday 8 June 2015 at 14:15

Programme
14.15 Introduction et Accueil
14.30 Maryline Heck (Université de Tours) ‘Modiano, Klarsfeld et Dora : retour sur un malentendu’.
15. 15 Michael Sheringham (Université d’Oxford) ‘L’Angleterre dans Une Jeunesse’
16.00 Tea
16.30 Philippe Roussin (CNRS-MFO)‘Pans de mur’ : Modiano et Proust
16.45 Dominique Rabaté (Université Paris-Diderot)‘Éclats de Louki. Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue et le récit polyphonique’
17.30 Modiano Prix Nobel : Discussion générale

As part of her UK tour German poet, short story writer and performer Ulrike Almut Sandig will appear in Oxford on Tuesday 3 March (7th week), 5.30pm: Lecture Theatre (2nd Floor), Radcliffe Humanities, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG. View poster (Word)

This will be a bilingual performance of poetry and prose including specially commissioned new work and translations, sound art, film and a discussion of her new volume Buch gegen das Verschwinden (2015), followed by a reception. All welcome!

Born in Großenhain in the former East Germany in 1979, Ulrike Almut Sandig is one of the most acclaimed German writers of her generation and has received six major literature awards since the publication of her first poetry collection Zunder in 2005. Since her debut she has published two further collections including Dickicht (2011) and the prose volume Flamingos (2010) and Buch gegen das Verschwinden (2015), as well as a CD of ‘poetry for lovers of pop music’ (2012)

Programme for Brazil Week 2015, 19–23 January 2015.

International Colloquium on Contemporary Brazilian Literature

Programme for the International Colloquium on Contemporary Brazilian Literature, which took place on Monday 19 January 2015 at the Dorfman Centre, St. Peter's College.

Professor Carlo Caruso, Durham, will deliver the Clara Florio Cooper Memorial Lecture at 5pm, on Thursday 14 May 2015, in the Main Hall, Taylor Institution, St Giles’, Oxford, OX1 3NA.

Subject: ‘War, hunger and censorship: Italian as seen through the letters of Italian POWs in the Great War’

Followed by a wine reception
All welcome

View poster (PDF)

Launch of Oxford Medieval Studies (Torch Research Programme)

Thursday 3rd Dec. (week 8), at 5:15pm. Main Hall, Taylor Institution, followed by a drinks reception. All welcome.

Speakers include:


Emma Dillon (Professor of Music, King's College London)
Henrike Lähnemann (Chair of Medieval German Literature and Linguistics, University of Oxford)
David Wallace (Judith Rodin Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania)
Chris Wickham (Chichele Professor of Medieval History, University of Oxford)

The discussion will be chaired by Sally Mapstone (Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education) and Professor of Older Scots Literature.

Etymological Thinking in the 19th and 20th Centuries

The Italian Department of the University of Oxford is pleased to announce a two day interdisciplinary conference on Etymological Thinking in the 19th and 20th Centuries which will take place at the Taylor Institution the 6th and 7th November.

Etymology becomes a distinctive feature of intellectual and literary culture in the 19th century, remaining one throughout the 20th century. Interest in etymology characterizes the development of linguistics, philology, and literature. Its powerful but also problematic status prompts writers and intellectuals of different backgrounds to explore etymology in relation to such essential notions as temporality, history, and memory, as well as to recast questions of kinship and diversity between languages. At the same time, this new “etymological thinking” has played a significant role in shaping collective identities, ideologies, and psychologies.

The conference will involve literary scholars, experts on cultural studies, philologists, classicists, linguists and experts in translation. Papers will investigate topics such as etymology as a literary device in different genres, the relevance of etymologies to the...

2pm, Tuesday 10 February, Room 3, Taylorian Institute, St.