Call for Papers: Ars et Medicina symposium

7-8. May 2012, The Norwegian Institute in Rome, Italy

From antiquity to the present, medical science and art have been inextricably entwined. The first anatomical theories in Ancient Greece developed in conjunction with and parallel to artistic theories about human proportions. From the 16th c. artists practiced dissection in order to improve their depictions of human form, and their drawings in anatomical atlases were used to educate generations of medical professionals. The Charcot school in Paris studies art works in an attempt to improve their understanding of psychological phenomena like hysteria. Sigmund Freud ´s psychological theories were enriched by his study of literature, and his theories inspired the arts of literature and film. The theory and practice of connoisseurship is based on principles borrowed from medical science. Contemporary artists collaborate with medical scientists, and medical professionals still find inspiration for new medical techniques and practices in art. The lectures in this symposium will necessarily be only a small selection of in-depth case studies illustrating the varied relationships between art and medicine.

The symposium lectures will be structured in sessions composed of lectures related to each other by topic and/or disciplinary perspective. Both medical scientists with interests in the arts, and scholars of the arts with interests in science and medicine are encouraged to participate. One goal of the symposium is to provoke all participants to confront the challenge of engaging in discussion of how medical science and the humanities enrich and inspire each other.

We hope that the participants will attempt to transcend disciplinary borders and challenge pre-existing interpretations of the relationship between medical theory, practice and artistic expression.

All lectures will be published as videopodcasts. Selected papers will be included in a subsequent edited digital book or journal volume devoted to the symposium topic. The symposium papers should be 20 minutes (ca. 10 double-spaced pages) and in English.

Please send a one-page CV and an abstract of 150-200 words to Einar Petterson einarp@ifikk.uio.no by March 15, 2012.

Participants will be notified by March 25, 2012.

Organizers:
Einar Petterson, Professor of Art History, University of Oslo, Norway
Knut Kvernebo, MD, PhD, FRCS, Professor of Cadio-Thoracic Surgery, Oslo University Hosptial, Ullevaal

The symposium (reception, lunches and a symposium dinner) is sponsored by the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo, Norway.

Professor dr.philos. Einar Petterson
Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas
University of Oslo
Norway
einarp@ifikk.uio.no

Book Launch, Colin Howson, 'Objecting to God' (CUP)

I am pleased to announce that Colin Howson, an emeritus professor of the
LSE department of philosophy, will do a talk about his latest book. You
are all cordially invited.

Regards,

Luc Bovens
Professor
Head of Department
Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, LSE

Friday, May 4 in T206 or LAK206 from 4 to 5:30, followed by a reception
on the first floor of the Lakatos Building

Objecting to God (Cambridge University Press, 2011)

The growth of science and a correspondingly scientific way of looking at
evidence have for the last three centuries slowly been gaining ground
over religious explanations of the cosmos and mankind's place in it.
However, not only is secularism now under renewed attack from religious
fundamentalism, but it has also been widely claimed that the scientific
evidence itself points strongly to a universe deliberately fine-tuned
for life to evolve in it. In addition, certain aspects of human life,
like consciousness and the ability to recognise the existence of
universal moral standards, seem completely resistant to evolutionary
explanation. In this book Colin Howson analyses in detail the evidence
which is claimed to support belief in God's existence and argues that
the claim is not well-founded. Moreover, there is very compelling
evidence that an all-powerful, all-knowing God not only does not exist
but cannot exist, a conclusion both surprising and provocative.

A Performance History of Plays Written By Early Modern Women (Lumley – Behn)

While plays written by women are now part of the scholarly canon, the irregular performances or readings that do take place are mainly private events in academic environments. Gathering information on these ‘irregular’ performances requires intensive searching that often produces inadequate data because there is an acute lack of stage and performance history of the plays written by early women dramatists. From the small amount of material we have there can be no doubt that plays by early women dramatists are performable in both private and public spaces, but there can be no tradition of performance, no chance of building upon earlier productions, if no stage history exists. Just as the plays themselves became lost or muted after their composition, so the lack of scholarly projects based on the performance history of early women’s dramatic writing prevents the development of a repository of previous production experience and, as such, hinders future stagings. If we cannot prove that these plays were performable, how can we ensure that in the future they will be performed?

This summer I will begin a three-year project that aims to gather information about the performance of Early Modern women’s plays. If you have any information I would be really grateful to have:

Any paper materials or recordings about past, present or future productions
If you are planning a production, could you let me know with the possibility of filming it?
If you have published anything that might be relevant – and this includes performance possibilities from the time of the play’s composition to today – can you give me link ?
If you have worked on, acted in or been a spectator of any performance would you be prepared to be interviewed about your experience?

Thank you for your help and I very much look forward to hearing from you

Marion Wynne-Davies
m.wynne-davies@surrey.ac.uk

Visiting Fellowship in Strasbourg

The Research Group EA 2325 SEARCH "Savoirs dans l'Espace Anglophone: Représentations, Culture, Histoire," University of Strasbourg (France), offers a Visiting Fellowship in the Humanities for the second year running.

Applications for a period of six months (January to June 2013) are now invited from scholars wishing to pursue research in any of the areas covered by the Group and engage in active participation in the Group's activities.

EA 2325 SEARCH has particular strengths in the following areas:

o Literature, 16th to 18th centuries

o Celtic studies

o Canadian studies

o Nabokov and contemporary American literature

o Contemporary American politics and culture

o India

Two scholarly societies are hosted by the University of Strasbourg and run by members of EA2325: "Société d'Études Canadiennes" and "Société Française Nabokov." Strasbourg has also been selected to coordinate research on 16th-18th centuries in the English-speaking world for the East of France.

EA2325 is made up of about forty professors, lecturers and doctoral students, who contribute to the Group's main research topic. As of September 2012 the theme of interest is "Contacts, frictions, clashes." EA2325 organizes seminars and conferences throughout the year, and is involved in fruitful interdisciplinary dialogue with other Research Groups in the University: modern languages, French literature, history, theology. The Visiting Fellow will be encouraged to take part in these activities and will be invited to present a paper at one of our seminars.

The Group has strong ties with scholars from the Universities of Basel (Switzerland), Freiburg-im-Breisgau (Germany), Haute-Alsace-Mulhouse (France) within the EUCOR-English network. The applicant will have the opportunity to present a paper in the EUCOR seminars and will have free access to the libraries of the four institutions.

The Fellowship is conceived as an opportunity to combine individual and self-directed research and engagement with the research conducted in the Group. Although the Fellowship does not imply full-time residence in Strasbourg, it would be of particular interest to scholars on leave from their home institutions, so as best to benefit from the city's rich cultural life and long-standing University tradition.

A CV and a cover letter stating how the applicant's project would fit in with the Group's activities should be sent to Prof. Jean-Jacques Chardin (chardin@unistra.fr) and Prof. Anne Bandry-Scubbi (bandry@unistra.fr) by September 15, 2012.

http://search.unistra.fr

Anne BANDRY Scubbi
Professeur des universités
Tél : +33 (0)3 68 85 67 13
Tél 2 : +33 (0)3 68 85 65 74
Fax : +33 (0)3 68 85 65 73
bandry@unistra.fr

EA 2325 SEARCH http://search.unistra.fr

Bureau 4220
Département d'études anglaises et nord-américaines

22 rue Descartes
F - 67084 Strasbourg
http://www.departement-anglais.unistra.fr

Literature, Ideas & Society: Seminar Programme 2011-2012

All sessions held at the Warburg Institute, Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AB.
Admission free, no need to book. Reception follows each session.

Session 3: Philosophy and Narrative - Wednesday, 2 May 2012, 5.15

Letizia Panizza (RHUL), Telling the Truth while Telling Lies: Ariosto's Debt to Lucian's Vera Historia
Maria Rosa Antognazza (KCL), Interpretive Guidelines for an Intellectual Biography of Leibniz