Distinguished English Scholar to Discuss 'Shakespeare and The Canterbury Tales' at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — Washington College's 2008-2009 Sophie Kerr Lecture Series begins with a presentation by Helen Cooper, one of England's foremost medieval and Renaissance literary scholars, on "Shakespeare and The Canterbury Tales: The Case of A Midsummer Night's Dream," at the Casey Academic Center Forum on Tuesday, September 9, at 4:30 p.m.

Helen Cooper is Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge, and fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. She was an undergraduate, research student and research fellow at Cambridge before being appointed as the first woman fellow at University College, Oxford, in 1978.

In 2004 she returned to Cambridge as Professor of Medieval and Renaissance in English—a post originally created for famed Chronicles of Narnia author and Christian philosopher C.S. Lewis.

Professor Cooper is essentially interested in the continuity of literature across the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The author of numerous works of scholarship, her most recent book (the theme of which is reflected in her forthcoming Washington College presentation) is on romance, from its invention in the 12th century to the death of Shakespeare. She also has published extensively on The Canterbury Tales.

The Sophie Kerr Lecture Series honors the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has enriched Washington College's literary culture. The 2008-2009 series includes poetry readings, fiction readings, lectures and, as its culmination in March 2009, a special appearance by two-time U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser.

Admission to "Shakespeare and The Canterbury Tales" is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410/778-7879.

August 28, 2008

Wingate Memorial Lecture Examines Civilization and Madness

Chestertown, April 11—The transformation of the medieval world to Renaissance civilization challenged strongly held opinions about human behavior. Using the history of madness as a lens, noted scholar and author H. C. Erik Midelfort will examine the history of the Renaissance and the civilizing process in his talk "Madness and Civilization in Renaissance Germany." The illustrated lecture takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday April 20 in the Casey Academic Forum at Washington College.

Midelfort's highly praised study, A History of Madness in Sixteenth-Century Germany, forms the basis of his talk. The work has been praised for shedding light on the entire history of its era and on the nature of insanity and culture in general. It received the 1999 Ralph Waldo Emerson Award, one of three prestigious national Phi Beta Kappa Book Awards for outstanding nonfiction, as "a contribution to the cultural and intellectual understanding of mankind." Donald McColl, Washington College assistant professor of art history, researched the illustrations for the book.

Midelfort is C. Julian Bishko Professor of history and principal of Brown College at the University of Virginia, where he has taught since 1970. He has also written "Mad Princes of Renaissance Germany" and other studies of madness and the occult in the Renaissance. A magna cum laude graduate of Yale University, where he also received his Ph.D., Midelfort has taught at Stanford, Bern, Stuttgart and Harvard universities.

"Madness and Civilization in Renaissance Germany" is the Conrad M. Wingate Memorial Lecture in History. It is also sponsored by the Washington College Department of Art and the Washington College Phi Beta Kappa Association. It is free and open to the public. For more information, please call 1-800-442-1782.

Italian Renaissance Scholar To Lecture at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — Author and lecturer David S. Chambers of the Warburg Institute, University of London, will deliver a slide presentation and lecture at 4:30 p.m., Thursday Oct. 14, in the Hynson Lounge at Washington College.

An excellent and entertaining speaker, Chambers will discuss how the work of 19th-century scholar and literary artist Frederich Gregorovius embodies ideas of Renaissance Rome. Over a period of 15 years, Gregorovius wrote an 8-volume history still consulted by Italian Renaissance scholars and considered the best account of the medieval and Renaissance Rome by one man.

Chambers' most recent book, "Clean Hands and Rough Justice," closely examines an investigating magistrate in Renaissance Italy. He has written and edited many books and essays on medieval and early modern Italy. The Warburg Institute of the University of London exists to further the study of the classical tradition, defined as those elements of European thought, literature, art and institutions that derive from the ancient world.

"Gregorovius and the Idea of Renaissance Rome," sponsored by the Friends of the Miller Library, is free and open to the public.