Nicholas Vazsonyi is Professor of German and Comparative Literature at the University of South Carolina and the editor of the Cambridge Wagner Encyclopedia (forthcoming 2013), an international effort involving some 80 scholars from 11 academic disciplines and residing in 9 countries. He teaches and researches on German literature and culture, including music and film, covering the 18th through the 21st centuries. He has published monographs on Wagner and on Goethe, and edited volumes on Wagner’s Meistersinger and on German national identity from 1750 to 1871.

If the purpose of "Speaking in Tongues" is to bridge the divide between medieval and early modern studies, then one issue that must be faced is whether there was a great change in emotions or affectivity from one period to the other. Certainly the prevailing thesis, hanging on the coattails of Norbert Elias's Civilizing Process, is that there was a great change--and it can be summed up as the transition from medieval emotionality to modern restraint.

With responses by Nancy Condee (Global Studies), Alberta Sbragia (Political Science) and Gregor Thum (History).

Russell Berman is Director of German Studies at Stanford, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Editor of TELOS,
and recent President of the Modern Language Association. He is an expert on German literature and culture and
on cultural relations between Europe and the United States, and is a pioneer in German Cultural Studies.
In more than 80 articles and five books, he has written widely on modern German and European literature and politics,

A focus on Europe with responses by Neil Doshi (French), Randall Halle (German) and Ronald Judy (English).

Faculty and graduate students in Pitt Humanities departments can access readings for colloquia by logging in to , clicking on the tab “My Resources,” clicking on “Humanities Center,” and then clicking on “Colloquium Series” where there is a link to the pdf files. Anyone else wishing to access the readings may request the reading at humctr@pitt.edu.

Reflections about Johannes Reuchlin, Some Notaries, and Some Learned Jews. With responses by Ryan McDermott (English) and Ron Zboray (Communication).

Faculty and graduate students in Pitt Humanities departments can access readings for colloquia by logging in to , clicking on the tab “My Resources,” clicking on “Humanities Center,” and then clicking on “Colloquium Series” where there is a link to the pdf files. Anyone else wishing to access the readings may request the reading at humctr@pitt.edu.

Dr. Venuti will give a seminar focusing on different ways of thinking about translation, using theory and examples of translations between English and other languages. He will focus on particular texts and ways to teach them, again, to students without strong second language skills. Amani Attia (Arabic Coordinator), Lina Insana (Associate Professor of Italian), and Gina Peirce (Assistant Director of Russian and East European Studies) will also speak at this workshop.

For seminar materials, contact: Carol M. Bové.

Prof. Venuti will give an overview of literary translation including the ways in which a translated text offers a set of relations, a form of intertextuality, analogous to the set offered by the source text. He will discuss particular strategies one might use with undergraduates and beginning graduate students who often lack advanced knowledge of a second language, for instance two English versions of the same source text. There will be ample opportunity for discussion.

Organizer: The Marginal Theory Society

*Anyone is welcome to attend any of the presentations.*

Marginal Theory Workshop: "Non-Traditional Approaches to International
Relations"

Schedule of events:

Saturday, February 9th

9:45-10:00 - Introduction

10:00-10:30 - First Speaker - Dr. Daniel Lieberfeld - (Duquesne - Social
and Public Policy) - "Leadership and Post-conflict Reconciliation"

10:30-11:00 - Q and A

11:00-11:15 - mini-break

11:15-11:45 - Second Speaker - Dr. Robert Cavalier (CMU - Philosophy) -
"Toward a More Deliberative Democracy - Here and Abroad"

Abstract:

Story-telling is ubiquitous, ranging from fiction to gossip, but what exactly is the core structure of narrative? This talk will propose that narrative thinking takes place when we consider alternative versions of an event – and make excuses. Based on this suggestion, the talk provides an overview of this theory of narrative and ends with a speculation about the connection of narrative and moral reasoning.