Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Philosopher Sheds Light on the Postmodern Ego, November 3

Chestertown, MD, October 26, 2005 — Washington College's Department of English, Department of Philosophy, and Philosophy Club, with help from the Sophie Kerr Commitee, present "The State of the Postmodern Ego," a lecture by Dr. John Hurley, Thursday, November 3, at 4:30 p.m. at the Rose O'Neill Literary House. The event is free, and the public is invited to attend.

A professor of philosophy at the University of Hartford, Hurley will discuss the four well-known themes in the postmodern movement—its interdisciplinary structure, its dearth of grand narratives, the absence of a logocentric deus ex machina, and the virtual status of the human body—as they relate to literary criticism. He will also relay his belief that the underlying state of the postmodern ego embraces the full implication of the cogito in all of its forms.

Hurley is the author of two philosophy-focused novels, Diary of the Attending Rays (Potes & Poets Press, 1999) and Those Brownsville Blues (Potes & Poets Press, 2001).

The talk is sponsored by the Sophie Kerr Committee, which works to carry on the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has done so much to enrich Washington College's literary culture. When she died in 1965, Kerr left the bulk of her estate to the College, specifying that one half of the income from her bequest be awarded every year to the senior showing the most "ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor" and the other half be used to bring visiting writers to campus, to fund scholarships, and to help defray the costs of student publications.

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