Shakespeare Inside-out: depth / surface / meaning

10th Anniversary : 5th Biennial British Shakespeare Association Conference
24-26 February, 2012 Lancaster University

Shakespeare Inside-out: depth / surface / meaning

Shakespeare’s texts produce meaning by turning insides out. We are drawn into the plays and poems from the outside through surfaces: books, screens, words, objects, costumes, the surfaces of actors' faces and bodies, retellings or adaptations, teaching spaces and theatres, and via our experiences of immediate effects like music, laughter, tears, movement. The texts, meanwhile, turn deep human questions, emotions, subjectivities outwards by projecting them as words and performance. This conference will ask how the relationship between surface and depth operates in Shakespeare's work. How does it function in different types of performance practice from live theatre to film? In the traces of the past that have come down to us? And in our practices as teachers and critics? The conference will explore 'the deep value of surfaces’ (Shusterman), the dynamic relationship between surface and depth across a range of practices: reading, watching, editing, teaching, performing. While postmodernism's defining feature is supposedly 'the emergence of a new kind of flatness' (Fredric Jameson), early modern constructions of inwardness, or 'depth', have been the subject of some brilliant work on emotion, the body, subjectivity and psychological character. We will investigate how multi-layered surfaces offer different ways to get inside Shakespeare's texts, to access cognitive, emotional and psychological depth. We will consider how, alternatively, spectacular and brilliant surfaces may block such routes, emptying out texts / bodies / performances and reflecting only those who watch or produce them in different ways. Contemporary culture and economic recession arguably frustrate our pedagogical preferences for 'deep' rather than 'surface' learning. Proposals for panels, papers, workshops or presentations on any aspect of the topic are welcomed from across the membership of the BSA by 1 October 2011 (a.g.findlay@lancaster.ac.uk)



Questions we might address include:

· How are emotions represented, invoked and experienced in and through Shakespeare’s texts?

· How do superficial artefacts used in performance or printing such as costume and props, illustrations, type, decorations, act as 'talismans' for different kinds of engagement with Shakespeare?

· How do rituals and ceremonies in Shakespeare work as superficial orderings of emotion and violence?

· Do Shakespeare's texts offer 'deeper' rewritings of source texts or do the inter-textual relationships themselves deserve more in-depth study than they have received to date?

· How do adaptations or retellings of Shakespeare act as gateways to and from the texts?

· Does music in Shakespearean performances add depth or is it the 'icing on the cake'?

· How much deeper can we dig behind the fairly sparse documentation of early modern theatre practices – playing and watching?

· Does learning about Shakespeare happen on an immediately-measurable level or at more intangible cognitive, affective and spiritual levels or both at once?

· Is it possible (or even desirable) to quantify what goes on as the result of a performance, a film, a teaching session

The Uses of Space In Early Modern History 1500-1850, Seminar Series

International History Department, LSE

The study of space and place is an increasingly important research-field in the humanities and social sciences. This series explores how spatial ideas and approaches can be used to understand the societies, cultures and mentalities of the past. Leading scholars from a range of disciplines will reflect on the uses of space in two respects: how spatial concepts can be employed by or applied to the study of history; and how particular spaces were used for practical and ideological purposes in specific periods

Series Organiser: Dr Paul Stock p.stock@lse.ac.uk
Place: LSE New Academic Building, room 2.14 Time: 18.00 All welcome

23 February 2012: Dr Amanda Flather (Essex) 'Gender and the use and organisation of sacred space in early modern England'.

Fools and Folly in Early Modern Europe

Saturday 18 February 2012
https://www.soton.ac.uk/cmrc/news/conferences/2011_12/18_fools_and_folly.html

A one-day symposium hosted by the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Culture at the University of Southampton and Chawton House Library, Hampshire

This one-day symposium on Fools and Folly in Early Modern Europe will bring together historians, art-historians and literary scholars from the UK, Europe and beyond who are currently working on folly. While the 'wisdom' of folly in the early modern period has become a familiar concept, it has lacked significant cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural investigation. This symposium will include papers on Erasmus's character of Folly; the fools of Tudor interludes, French 'soties' and Shakespearean drama; king's fools and court jesters; carnivals and festive folly; and the representation of folly in art. Speakers will examine and consider the many manifestations of folly in early modern Europe and consider its different political, religious and social purposes. The event will also, via roundtable discussions, invite contributions about other research into folly, and related foolish things.

Speakers include:
Professor Luc Duerloo (Antwerp) on Hapsburg court culture
Dr Peter Happé (Southampton) on Ben Jonson
Professor Richard Hillman (Tours) on Mad Discourse
Dr Suzannah Lipscomb (UEA) on Tudor natural fools
Dr Alexander Samson (University College London) on Spanish folly and madness
Dr Peter Sillitoe (V&A) on Masques
Professor David Smith (New Hampshire) on Jan Steen
Professor Greg Walker (University of Edinburgh) on John Heywood
Dr Anna Whitelock (Royal Holloway) on Archie Armstrong

The symposium will be held in the unique setting of Chawton House Library, an Elizabethan manor house and former home of Jane Austen's brother. Coffee, lunch, tea and drinks will all be provided.

Registration cost: £40. Some postgraduate bursaries will also be available.

For further details and to register, please contact: Dr Alice Hunt; a.hunt@soton.ac.uk

On Kings and Cannibals: Ethnography, Ethnology and Mapping the Americas in Early Modern Europe

The Institute of Historical Research, and the University of Notre Dame present a series of seminars in GLOBAL HISTORY at the London Centre of the University of Notre Dame, 1 Suffolk Street, SW1Y 4HG (off Pall Mall East, west of the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery) on Wednesdays at 5.30 p.m.

Registration essential; please email Charlotte Parkyn (cparkyn@nd.edu).
Forthcoming Programme for 2012

15th February: Surekha Davies (Birkbeck), “On Kings and Cannibals: Ethnography, Ethnology and Mapping the Americas in Early Modern Europe”

Dr Davies´s articles on early modern cartography, ethnography, and mirabilia have attracted much admiration. Having completed a book on New World ethnography and maps, she is working on the global history of colonial science.

The University of Notre Dame invites seminar-goers to wine at or after the seminars. Seminar-goers who would like to dine with the speaker should send a cheque for £40 to Felipe Fernández-Armesto, UND, 1 Suffolk Street, London SW1Y 4HG at least a fortnight in advance. Men wear suit and tie to the dinner parties and women are kindly asked to dress accordingly. Steering group: William Clarence-Smith (SOAS), Surekha Davies (Birkbeck), Felipe Fernández-Armesto (Notre Dame), Geoffrey Hosking (SEES, UCL). N.B: Seminar-goers should register with cparkyn@nd.edu. Enquiries to FELIPE.FERNANDEZ-ARMESTO@nd.edu.

Forum for European Philosophy Event: Consilience: Neuroscience, Responsibility and the Law


In this series, a panel debates a topic with the aim of fostering interdisciplinary communication and mutual understanding. Emphasis will be placed on trying to identify common questions and on seeking to integrate knowledge from different areas of expertise.

Neuroscience, Responsibility and the Law
Tuesday 14 February, 6.30 – 8pm
Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, Lincoln's Inn Fields, LSE

Update, Thursday 9 February: Please note that the venue of this panel discussion has been changed to the Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE

Roger Brownsword, Professor of Law, King's College London
Neil Levy, Deputy Director (Research), the Oxford Centre for Neuroethics and Head of Neuroethics, Florey Neuroscience Institutes, University of Melbourne
Sir Michael Rutter, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London

Chair: Kristina Musholt, LSE Fellow, Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method and Deputy Director of the Forum for European Philosophy

The prospects for our understanding of the brain and the development of psychopathologies are steadily increasing. What does this mean for the way we think about criminality and responsibility? Could developments in the neurosciences change our understanding of morality? Could they lead to changes in our legal system? If so, what might these changes look like?

Podcasts of most FEP events are available online after the event. They can be accessed at www.philosophy-forum.org

All events are free and open to all without registration
For further information contact Juliana Cardinale: 020 7955 7539

Forum for European Philosophy
Cowdray House, Room G.05, European Institute
London School of Economics, WC2A 2AE

EMPHASIS Seminar: As Above, So Below: Medieval and Early Modern Conjunctions of Astrology and Alchemy

The purpose of EMPHASIS (Early Modern Philosophy and the Scientific Imagination) is to provide a London forum for scholars working in the history of philosophy, intellectual history and the history of science of Europe in the period 1400-1650. The term 'philosophy' is interpreted in its fullest Renaissance sense, and includes such themes as: Neoplatonism, scholasticism and late Aristotelian philosophy, Epicureanism, stoicism, scepticism, cosmological theories, the classification of the disciplines, encyclopaedism, Lullism, the art of memory, the philosophy of mathematics, theories of the soul, theories of language and signs, etc.

Saturday 11th February, 2.00-4.00pm: Room G37, 1st Floor, Senate House south block.  PLEASE NOTE: THESE SEMINARS ARE VERY POPULAR AND THE MEETING ROOM IS OFTEN VERY FULL.  Refreshments provided.

Peter J. Forshaw (University of Amsterdam): 'As Above, So Below: Medieval and Early Modern Conjunctions of Astrology and Alchemy'

Societas Magica: International eColloquium, Thomas Vaughan's Alchemy and the Reform of Ritual Magic in Seventeenth-Century England

Lauren Kassell (Cambridge University)

AGR 2D71, 1:00pm Thursday, February 9 (7 pm GMT)
(NOTA BENE: The announced time is local time in Cambridge, UK.)

At present we have been able to establish nodes in electronic seminar rooms in Waterloo, Saskatoon, Cambridge, and Paris. For those who wish to establish a node your own institution, we plan to expand in the future, once we have the technical expertise. 

In the meantime, those who wish to participate you can still do so independently by going to the following URL, downloading the software, and logging on on the day of the talk.

Software Download

However you are able to join us, I look forward to your participation in what will unquestionably be a valuable and rewarding talk.

Frank Klaassen
frank.klaassen@usask.ca

The Uses of Space In Early Modern History 1500-1850, Seminar Series


International History Department, LSE

The study of space and place is an increasingly important research-field in the humanities and social sciences. This series explores how spatial ideas and approaches can be used to understand the societies, cultures and mentalities of the past. Leading scholars from a range of disciplines will reflect on the uses of space in two respects: how spatial concepts can be employed by or applied to the study of history; and how particular spaces were used for practical and ideological purposes in specific periods

Series Organiser: Dr Paul Stock p.stock@lse.ac.uk
Place: LSE New Academic Building, room 2.14 Time: 18.00 All welcome

9 February 2012: Prof Michael Heffernan (Nottingham) 'Disciplining Space: Geography and Cartography in the Paris Academy of Sciences 1666-1793'

The Natural Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes: its context and developments

Organised by Daniel Garber (Princeton University), Noel Malcolm (All Souls College) and Martine Pércharman (CNRS-MFO).

The speakers will be: Philip Beeley, Stephen Clucas, Daniel Garber, Franco Giudice, Francesca Giuliano, John Henry, Douglas jesseph, Cees Leijenhorst, Agostino Lupoli, Timothy Raylor and Elaine Stroud.

The sessions will be chaired by Noel Malcolm, Kinch Hoekstra, Luc Borot, Catherine Wilson, Daniel Garber and Martine Pécharman.

The Natural Philosophy of Thomas Hobbes: Its Context and Development

Date: Friday 03 Feb 2012 (All day) to Saturday 04 Feb 2012 (All day)
Place: Friday: MFO - Saturday: All Souls College
Research programme: Modernities

Friday 3 February, Maison Française d’Oxford

Morning Session
Chair: Noel Malcolm (All Souls College, Oxford)

10.30-11.30 Timothy Raylor (Carleton College, Northfield)
Hobbes's Method of Composition and its Implications

11.30-12.30 Stephen Clucas (Birkbeck College, London)
Defining the Terms of Motion in Hobbes's Natural philosophy

Afternoon Session I
Chair: Kinch Hoekstra (University of California, Berkeley)

14.00-15.00 John Henry (University of Edinburgh)
Galileo, Hobbes, and the Physics of Simple Circular Motion

15.00-16.00 Douglas Jesseph (University of South Florida)
Hobbes on the Foundations of Natural Philosophy

Afternoon Session II
Chair: Luc Borot (MFO)

16.30-18.00 Daniel Garber (Princeton University)
Hobbes, Descartes, and Laws of Nature

Francesca Giuliano (Università del Salento)
Response to Dan Garber

Saturday 4 February, All Souls College

Morning Session I
Chair: Catherine Wilson (University of Aberdeen)

9.30-10.30 Franco Giudice (Università degli Studi di Bergamo)
The Place of Optics in Hobbes's Natural Philosophy

10.30-11.30 Elaine Stroud (University of Wisconsin)
Lines of Vision: A Construction Integrating Physics, Geometry, and Psychology

Morning Session II
Chair : Daniel Garber ( Princeton University)

11.45-12.45 Philip Beeley (Linacre College, Oxford)
Experimentarian Philosophers. Hobbes's Writings on Pneumatics and their Reception by Boyle and Wallis

Afternoon Session
Chair: Martine Pécharman (CNRS-MFO)

14.00-15.00 Agostino Lupoli (Università degli Studi di Milano)
Hobbes’s Concept of Accident

15.00-16.00 Cees Leijenhorst (Radboud University Nijmegen)
Causality and Representation in Hobbes's De Corpore


Graduate Seminar in Early Modern Intellectual History: ‘Scientific and Other Mentalities in Early Modern Europe'

Convenors: Prof. Maclean and Dr Malcolm; All Souls (Hovenden Room), Wednesdays 5.00 p.m.

1 Feb: Prof. Daniel Garber (Princeton): ‘Ghosts: More, Glanvill and the Experimental Philosophy’

The Social History of Knowledge: Encylopédie to Wikipedia

The Institute of Historical Research, and the University of Notre Dame present a series of seminars in GLOBAL HISTORY at the London Centre of the University of Notre Dame, 1 Suffolk Street, SW1Y 4HG (off Pall Mall East, west of the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery) on Wednesdays at 5.30 p.m.

Registration essential; please email Charlotte Parkyn (cparkyn@nd.edu).
Forthcoming Programme for 2012

1st February: Peter Burke (Cambridge) with Steve Fuller (Warwick) and Felipe Fernández-Armesto (Notre Dame) in a panel on Professor Burke´s The Social History of Knowledge: Encylopédie to Wikipedia (There will be a reception after the seminar. )

Professor Burke is one of the most influential and admired living historians. He joins the Auguste Comte Professor at Warwick University, whose books include Science vs Religion and New Frontiers in Science and Technology Studies.

The University of Notre Dame invites seminar-goers to wine at or after the seminars. Seminar-goers who would like to dine with the speaker should send a cheque for £40 to Felipe Fernández-Armesto, UND, 1 Suffolk Street, London SW1Y 4HG at least a fortnight in advance. Men wear suit and tie to the dinner parties and women are kindly asked to dress accordingly. Steering group: William Clarence-Smith (SOAS), Surekha Davies (Birkbeck), Felipe Fernández-Armesto (Notre Dame), Geoffrey Hosking (SEES, UCL). N.B: Seminar-goers should register with cparkyn@nd.edu. Enquiries to FELIPE.FERNANDEZ-ARMESTO@nd.edu.