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.

Film Screening: Discovering the World. A new documentary about Clarice Lispector

Taciana Oliveira’s film about the life and work of renowned Brazilian author Clarice Lispector (1920-1977), released in December 2015, will be shown at selected venues around the world as part of a series of international events programmed to mark Lispector’s birthday.

Saturday 12 December, 2pm
Taylor Institute, University of Oxford
St Giles’, Oxford OX1 3NA

This beautiful documentary includes rare footage and interviews with Lispector’s family and friends, such as Ferreira Gullar, Nélida Piñon, Augusto Ferraz, Alberto Dines, Marina Colasanti, Affonso Romano de Sant'Anna and Luiz Carlos Lacerda.

Introduced by Dr Claire Williams (St. Peter’s, Oxford). The film runs for 95 minutes and is in Portuguese, with English subtitles.

FREE EVENT – ALL WELCOME, but please book your place by emailing:
sandra.beaumont@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk

The Weidenfeld Visiting Professorship in Comparative European Literature, Trinity Term 2015: Humanitas lecture series by Javier Cercas. View poster (PDF)

The lectures are free and open to all. For more information please visit www.torch.ox.ac.uk/humanitas.

All events will take place at 5:30pm in the Mary Ogilvie Lecture Theatre, St Anne's College:


Tuesday 12 May: The Third Truth (part 1)
Thursday 14 May: The Third Truth (part 2)
Tuesday 19 May: Vargas Llosa's Question
Thursday 21 May: The Blind Spot
Tuesday 26 May: The Man Who Says No
Thursday 4 June: In Conversation: European Literature, Politics and Historical Memory

Registration is open for the Humanities Graduate Open Day which will take place on 13 November 2015.

In the Shadow of Kafka, a series of documentaries and drama on BBC Radio 3 from Sunday 10 May–Saturday 16 May, will examine one of the most elusive and intriguing figures in 20th century literature, Franz Kafka.

100 years since the publication of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, the Czech writer remains one of the most influential writers of the last century, inspiring generations with his novels and short stories, themes of alienation, authority and mythical transformation. In the Shadow of Kafka will re-examine this legacy, exploring Kafka’s life and work through the lens of contemporary writers and dramatists including Margaret Atwood, April de Angelis, Hanif Kureishi, Karen Leeder, Mark Ravenhill and Jeff Young in a week of special broadcasts.

Ian Thomson, University of East Anglia. View poster (PDF)

At the British Library Conference Centre, 29 June 2015 at 6pm. Wine and light refreshments will be served after the lecture.

Attendance is free but registration is required. If you intend to come to the lecture please email Chris Michaelides: chris.michaelides@bl.uk, ISLG Chair, and type ISLG Lecture in the subject line.

Week 1. OCCT welcome lunch
Friday 16 Oct, 13:00-14:00
Radcliffe Humanities Building, Colin Matthew Room

Week 2. Maison Française and OCCT hosted conference: Paris and London 1851-1900
13:30 Friday 23 Oct – 16:00 Saturday 24 Oct
Maison Française, see MFO website for programme

Week 3. Fiction and Other Minds seminar:
Wednesday 28 Oct, 16:30-18:30
Speakers: Peter Garratt (Durham): ‘Mind Bloat and The Lifted Veil’
Helen Small (English/Oxford): 'On the Verification of Mental Experience’
Chair: Ben Morgan (German/Oxford)
Radcliffe Humanities Building, Seminar Room

Why Camões Still Matters: Copies in Search of Originals: inaugural lecture celebrating the appointment of Phillip Rothwell as King John II Professor of Portuguese.

5pm (doors open 4:30pm), Monday 26 January 2015, Main Hall, Taylor Institution, Saint Giles', Oxford, OX1 3NA.

Monday 18 May (4th week) at 6pm, in the Holywell Music Room, Holywell Street, OX1 3BN.

Twenty-five years since the fall of the Berlin Wall the poet Volker Braun will give a special reading of old and new work and answer questions with David Constantine and Karen Leeder. Introduced by Ian Wallace.

View poster (Word)

Sir Robert Taylor Society Conference 2015

The Sir Robert Taylor Society is a network of Modern Languages Teachers and members of the Medieval and Modern Languages Faculty at the University of Oxford. As part of the Modern Languages Schools Liaison initiative, we provide links between Higher Education institutions and schools in both the state and independent sectors.

Our next conference will be held in Pembroke College on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th September 2015. Highlights of the programme include a round table to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, a session on Modernism, a lecture to commemorate the 750th anniversary of Dante, and a performance of Chastity on the Verge.