Literature
Politics and Public Space in Contemporary Argentine Poetry
Book at Lunchtime event. This book addresses the connection between political themes and literary form in the most recent Argentine poetry. Ben Bollig uses the concepts of “lyric” and “state” as twin coordinates for both an assessment of how Argentinian poets have conceived a political role for their work and how poems come to speak to us about politics. Drawing on concepts from contemporary literary theory, this striking study combines textual analysis with historical research to shed light on the ways in which new modes of circulation help to shape poetry today.
The book's author, Professor Ben Bollig (Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford) explored the issues raised with:
Maria del Pilar Blanco (Professor in Spanish American Literature, University of Oxford)
Eduardo Posada-Carbo (Professor of History and Politics of Latin America, University of Oxford)
Leigh A. Payne (Professor of Sociology, University of Oxford)
The session was chaired by Bart van Es (Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford).
Living Bilingual
Professor Elleke Boehmer (Director of TORCH) delivers a talk as part of the Creative Multilingualism and TORCH Bitesize Talks at Linguamania, Ashmolean Museum. Professor Elleke Boehmer (Director of TORCH) delivers a talk as part of the Creative Multilingualism and TORCH Bitesize Talks at Linguamania, Ashmolean Museum.
Literature and the Public Good
Part of the Book at Lunchtime series What is the public value of literary studies? What is the justification for literature at the present time? Literature and the Public Good looks at literature's value and its public presence, and its contribution to the public good. The book's author, Professor Rick Rylance (School of Advanced Study) will explore the issues raised with Jane Hiddleston (Professor of Literatures in French, University of Oxford), Timothy Michael (Tutorial Fellow in English Literature, University of Oxford), Ankhi Mukherjee (Professor of English and World Literatures, University of Oxford), and Helen Small (Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford).
Digital Unwrapping: Homer, Herculaneum, and the Scroll from Ein Gedi
With Dirk Obbink (Associate Professor in Papyrology and Greek Literature, Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford) Dirk Obbink (Associate Professor in Papyrology and Greek Literature, Faculty of Classics, Oxford) discusses their work using digital technologies to reveal and read the 'invisible library' hidden within ancient manuscripts.
Useful Frames and Dead Pasteboard
Sarah Hook looks at Victorian photographic card portraits, and charts their appearances in novels and poems from the period. She tells the story of loving and burning card portraits, which were widely circulated in nineteenth-century society and became objects of intense feeling in Thomas Hardy’s writing.
All images of Thomas Hardy used in this presentation are from the National Portrait Gallery, London:
Thomas Hardy, by (Mary) Olive Edis (Mrs Galsworthy). Bromide print, 1923. NPGx17356.
Thomas Hardy, by Francis Henry Hart, for Elliott & Fry, published by Ogden's.
Cigarette card, 1894, published c. 1895-1907. NPG x136531.
Thomas Hardy, by Henry Walter ('H. Walter') Barnett. Whole-plate glass negative, 1909. NPG x81696.
Thomas Hardy, by (Mary) Olive Edis (Mrs Galsworthy). Bromide print, 1914. NPGx17363.
Sarah Hook is a DPhil candidate at Wolfson College, Oxford, researching the links between Victorian writers and the language and spaces of portraiture in the mid- to late nineteenth century."
How English Became English
A Book at Lunchtime discussion looking at the English language and how it is developing with Simon Horobin, Faramerz Dabhoiwala, Martin Wynne, Philip Durkin and Susie Dent. The English Language is spoken by more than a billion people throughout the world. But where did English come from? And how has it evolved into the language used today?
Simon Horobin (Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Oxford) explores these questions with Faramerz Dabhoiwala (Associate Professor of Modern History, University of Oxford), Martin Wynne (Digital Methods Specialist, Oxford e-Research Centre, University of Oxford) and Philip Durkin (Deputy Chief Editor, Oxford English Dictionary) in a discussion centered around his new book 'How English Became English'.
The discussion is chaired by Susie Dent (English lexicographer and etymologist. Host of Countdown's "Dictionary Corner") and touches on topics as wide-ranging as cultural imperialism, snobbery, bullet points, Shakespeare, toilet brushes and alphabetti spaghetti.
Thinking with Literature
A Book at Lunchtime discussion with Terence Cave about literature's links to cognitive science. Terence Cave, professor of French Literature and the author of Thinking with Literature, discusses the cognitive function of literature and its creation of new ways of thinking; with contributions from Ilona Roth (Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Open University), Marina Warner (Weidenfeld Professor of Comparative European Literature, St Anne's College, University of Oxford), and Deirdre Wilson (Emeritus Professor of Linguistics, UCL).
Part of the TORCH Book at Lunchtime series.
Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland
Robert Douglas-Fairhurst explores how every generation has created its own Wonderland, and why we are still so curious about Alice’s dreamworld 150 years after the original publication of 'Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland', Robert Douglas-Fairhurst (Professor of English Literature, University of Oxford), author of the Costa-shortlisted biography 'The Story of Alice', examines the character of Lewis Carroll and the creation of his iconic heroine. From Victorian Oxford to the modern online world, he explores how every generation has created its own Wonderland, and why we are still so curious about Alice’s dreamworld. This talk was part of an event exploring the work of celebrated Oxford storytellers Lewis Carroll, J.R.R. Tolkien and Philip Pullman and how their stories have been reimagined using a range of digital media. Watch the full discussion here: https://youtu.be/aPKENNrUmfI.
Live and Let Die - in Greek Epic
Almut Fries explores the iconography of the black-figured wine jug in this TORCH Bite-Size talk at the Ashmolean Museum LiveFriday The Attic black-figured wine jug illustrates a crucial scene from The Illiad, a tale in which heroism and villainy merge. This talk will explain the iconography of the vase painting (including the symbolism of the animal skins Dolon and Diomedes are wearing) and locate it in Greek mythical history – Homer and beyond
Indian Arrivals, 1870-1915: Networks of British Empire
Elleke Boehmer discusses her new book with Megan Robb, Faisal Devji and Santanu Das Elleke Boehmer (Professor of World Literature in English, University of Oxford) discusses her new book with Megan Robb (Lecturer of Hindi and Urdu, Oriental Institute, and Junior Research Fellow at New College, University of Oxford), Faisal Devji (University Reader in Modern South Asian History, University of Oxford) and Santanu Das (Reader of English Literature, Kings College London). The discussion is introduced and chaired by Professor James Belich (Beit Professor of Imperial and Commonwealth History, University of Oxford).
Elleke Boehmer's book "Indian Arrivals 1870-1915: Networks of British Empire" explores the rich and complicated landscape of intercultural contact between Indians and Britons on British soil at the height of empire, as reflected in a range of literary writing, including poetry and life-writing. The book's four decade-based case studies, leading from 1870 and the opening of the Suez Canal, to the first years of the Great War, investigate from several different textual and cultural angles the central place of India in the British metropolitan imagination at this relatively early stage for Indian migration. Focusing on a range of remarkable Indian 'arrivants' -- scholars, poets, religious seekers, and political activists including Toru Dutt and Sarojini Naidu, Mohandas Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore -- "Indian Arrivals" examines the take-up in the metropolis of the influences and ideas that accompanied their transcontinental movement, including concepts of the west and of cultural decadence, of urban modernity and of cosmopolitan exchange.