CMRS Opening Reception
October 15, 2001
The Center invites faculty and graduate students with an interest in Medieval and Renaissance Studies to attend a reception to mark the opening of the academic year. Meet the Center's staff, including Director Andy Kelly, and find out about the programs, awards, and fellowships available to students from CMRS. Drop by and see us!
CMRS Faculty Roundtable
Wednesday, October 17, 2001
Professor Yona Sabar (Near Eastern Languages and Cultures) discusses "Are the Days of Aramaic Numbered? A Socio-Linguistic Study of the Christian and Jewish Aramaic Vestiges." Aramaic was once an international language of the Assyrian and Persian empires and the literary language of important books on Rabbinical Judaism and early Christianity. It continued to flourish during the Middle Ages, but now may be on the verge of expiration as a spoken language. The present generation of its Jewish and Christian speakers may be the last 'Mohicans'.
CMRS faculty, associates, Council members, staff, and graduate students are invited to attend. Bring your lunch! The Center will provide soft drinks and coffee.
Italian Jews: Memory, Music, Celebration
October 24 through November 5, 2001
CMRS is one of many co-sponsors of this multifaceted program--featuring lectures, musical performances, films, and other events--coordinated by Luisa Del Giudice (Director, Italian Oral History Institute, and CMRS Associate).
Launching Hernández: The Works and World of Dr. Francisco Hernández October 30, 2001 (By invitation only)
A special program to celebrate the publication of two books produced under the aegis of CMRS--Searching for the Secrets of Nature: The Life and Works of Dr. Francisco Hernández and The Mexican Treasury: The Writings of Dr. Francisco Hernández (Stanford University Press, 2000). The event will include illustrated presentations by the editors and some of the contributors to the volumes, and will feature a panel of specialists of Hispano-American culture, Mexican civilization, and Latino health. Co-sponsored by CMRS, the Department of Medical Classics, the UCLA Biomedical Library, and the Center for Latino Health. Both books will be available for purchase at the event.
CMRS Faculty Roundtable: "Pumpkins and Pigs: The Inner and Outer Fringes of Halloween" October 31, 2001
Professor Joseph Nagy (English) and Dr. Leslie Ellen Jones (CMRS Associate) will discuss Halloween's Celtic roots and contemporary manifestations in text and tradition. Tricks and treats will be served; costume optional. CMRS faculty, associates, Council members, staff, and graduate students are invited to attend. Bring your lunch! The Center will provide soft drinks and coffee.
Innocent III and Mary Magdalen's Confession: A Little-Known Sermon on the Saint
November 1, 2001
Katherine L. Jansen (History, Catholic University of America) brings to our attention a sermon composed by Innocent III for the feastday of Saint Mary Magdalen. Professor Jansen demonstrates (by way of the sermon's content and style) that the pope's interest in confession long preceded the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, which was the capstone of his pontificate. Innocent III's unusual treatment of the Magdalen's confession contributed to the creation of a devotional literature centered on the confession of the saint. Co-sponsored by CMRS, the Center for the Study of Women, the Dean of Social Sciences, and the Department of History.
A Concert by UCLA Sounds Early Music Ensemble: "Doleful Dirge & Dress: Music for Mourning & Measured Merry-Making"
November 1, 2001
UCLA Sounds Early Music Ensemble presents a program of medieval and Renaissance music for the traditional, Celtic year's end (Samain, October 31), and the celebrations of All Hallow's Eve (a.k.a. Halloween), All Saints' Day (November 1), and All Souls' Day (November 2).
California Medieval History Seminar
November 3, 2001
The California Medieval History Seminar meets at the Huntington Library to discuss four, pre-distributed research papers (two by faculty members, two by graduate students or recent Ph.D. recipients). Participants are expected to have read the papers in advance and come prepared to discuss them. To promote an active discussion, attendance is limited. Presenters and paper titles are announced by e-mail approximately 6-8 weeks before the meeting.
The California Medieval History Seminar is supported by the generosity of a number of sponsors, including: the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the UCLA Dean of Social Science, the California Institute of Technology, the History Department of the University of California, the History Department of UCLA, the Huntington Library, and the Huntington-Caltech Committee for the Humanities.
"Shylock: Shakespeare's Alien"
November 7, 2001
Celebrated actor Patrick Stewart visits UCLA as a UC Regents' Lecturer hosted by CMRS and the Department of English. In this public lecture, titled "Shylock: Shakespeare's Alien," he contemplates the character Shylock (a role that he himself has played on stage) from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Co-sponsored by CMRS, the Department of English, and the Friends of English.
CMRS Faculty Roundtable: "The Theater of the World: A Renaissance Atlas"
November 14, 2001 David Deckelbaum (Cartographic Information Librarian, Young Research Library) discusses Medieval and Renaissance maps, in particular, those bequeathed to CMRS recently by Margaret Romani. CMRS faculty, associates, Council members, staff, and graduate students are invited to attend. Bring your lunch! The Center will provide soft drinks and coffee.
Anatomizing London: The Rise and Fall of the Seventeenth-Century Character Sketch
November 15, 2001
The character-sketch collections associated with the names of Hall, Overbury, and Earle have been traced to Theophrastus, but many other elements contributed to the rise of the genre, including Jonson's humors, court games, and an interest in elliptical styles. Striking the balance between the generic and the individual portrait was part of the game, creating a trajectory from the moralized character to the depiction of eccentrics. In this lecture, CMRS Visiting Professor Donald Beecher (Carleton University) examines the emergence and mannerist collapse of this short literary form.
Will and Lois Matthews Samuel Pepys Lecture and Feast
November 28, 2001 (By invitation only!)
Each year, through the generosity of Will and Lois Matthews, the Center invites its faculty, associates, and Council members to a lecture by a distinguished scholar followed by dinner and a reading from seventeenth-century British society wit and diarist Samuel Pepys. This year's guest speaker, Professor Emeritus Max Novak (English, UCLA) will discuss "Pepys's Flirtation with Libertinism and that 'Virgin Throng' of Restoration Actresses."
The Earliest Breton Inscriptions
December 3, 2001 CMRS co-sponsors a lecture by Wendy Davies (University of London). Professor Davies is one of today's preeminent historians specializing in early medieval Wales and Brittany. This event is presented by the UCLA Celtic Colloquium. For more information, please contact Professor Joseph Nagy at jfnagy@humnet.ucla.edu.
CMRS Faculty Roundtable: "Medieval Scandinavia in the Digital Age"
December 5, 2001
Professor Timothy Tangherlini (Scandinavian Section) discusses "Medieval Scandinavia in the Digital Age." He will present some tools available in the digital realm for the study of Old Norse, as well as explore some of the current initiatives in Old Norse digitization and other computational tools for the study of Medieval Scandinavia.
CMRS faculty, associates, Council members, staff, and graduate students are invited to attend. Bring your lunch! The Center will provide soft drinks and coffee.
Exile: "Heroes Leave Their Shores—Loss, and the Dynamics of Artistic Creation"
December 7, 2001
CMRS is one of the co-sponsors of this multi-day program organized by Professor Nancy van Deusen (Claremont Graduate University). The program begins on Tuesday, December 4, and continues through Sunday, December 9, 2001, with events at various locations in the Los Angeles area. Advance registration and fee required for some events. On Friday, December 7th, conference sessions will take place at UCLA and will include a session on the Middle Ages.
