On the 6th of June, the ECLA community welcomed Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov. The evening entitled Survival Kits for Apocalypses included readings from Gospodinov’s play The Apocalypse Comes at 6 pm (in which two ECLA students were also involved in the reading), from his poetry, and from the latest novel The Physics of Sorrow. Georgi Gospodinov also presented some of his
TagLiterature
Rommel on Sympathy, Self-interest and Literature’s Significance
The influence of literature on popular discourse, and more surprisingly, the dependence that a society has on this discourse, came to light in a January 31st lecture by Professor Thomas Rommel of Jacobs University. During the 18th Century Britain became a primary site for the intensifying relationship between political and cultural concerns. Eventually these concerns
“Happy Hour in Harsh Winter”: Jennifer Clarvoe’s Poetry Reading at ECLA
After the lecture for the Forms of Love 1st year core course, Jennifer Clarvoe came back on January 24th, to give a public reading of her works. What our professor David Hayes announced in the beginning of his laudatio took me by surprise: it was the first ever proper poetry reading at ECLA. I had had the feeling that, to
“You be good, see you tomorrow, I love you”
On January 23rd, ECLA was happy to welcome Jennifer Clarvoe, poet and professor at Kenyon College, to talk about Ovid’s Amores, one of the poetic texts for our core class Forms of Love. Jennifer’s specialty is twentieth-century American Poetry and her particular interest lies in poetic rhythm, and poetic form in general. True to her
Homage to Heinrich Von Kleist
Reading Kleist’s stories hurts, he stabs a dagger into my heart, I feel the world is wrapped in hopelessness, I feel paralyzed, and I feel something is true. Living can be a difficult task and involves mistakes, and this is brought painfully to life in Kleist’s writings. The uncertainty of life is brought forth in
On Love and Friendship
Week Two of the winter term kicked off with a discussion of the Forms of Love. To enhance our perspective on the topic, Craig Williams, who studied Classics at Yale University and is the author of Roman Homosexuality and Reading Roman Friendship (forthcoming), as well as various articles and reviews on Latin poetry and Roman
Autumn Reading at ECLA
This year ECLA hosts 60 students representing 30 different countries. Students are spread out between three separate programs, each tailored for different student needs. As the campus proceeds with plans for designing new residential and study spaces, ECLA is expanding while still keeping an intimate atmosphere where everybody knows one’s name and discussions are often
The Novel in New Lands. Bruno Macaes’ Annual Conference Seminar
The end of the Annual Conference 2010 brought us Bruno Macaes’ seminar “The Novel in New Lands,” analyzing the topic of cultural exchange by looking at a particular cultural referent: how national heritage and habits in literary production remain sovereign over the foreign influences they receive. Bruno argued that the History of Literature shouldn’t think