Dear colleagues,

 We are delighted to announce the first Italian Studies research seminar of the year. On Tuesday 24 November at 5pm Dr Maria Pavlova (Warwick) will present her recently published book, Saracens and their World in Boiardo and Ariosto (Cambridge: Legenda, 2020). Respondent: Dr Marco Dorigatti (Oxford).

Read on for a brief description of the book:

A ubiquitous presence in European chivalric literature, the multifaceted figure of the Saracen Other plays a vital role in shaping the knightly values and ideologies underpinning some of the most influential narrative poems of the Italian Renaissance. By combining historical research and close reading and bringing to bear a wealth of literary and documentary sources, some of which have never before been published, this book analyses portrayals of Saracens and their world in Boiardo’s Inamoramento de Orlando and Ariosto’s Orlando furioso.

Pavlova assesses for the first time the degree of realism in Boiardo’s and Ariosto’s representations of Islam and Islamic culture(s) and discusses the ideological implications of the two poets’ innovative treatment of their Saracen characters. She locates these and other fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century chivalric works within the rich, vibrant history of interactions between Italian rulers and their Islamic counterparts as well as within the centuries-long literary tradition, going back to such archetypal texts as the Chanson de Roland and the Chanson d’Aspremont.

 If you'd like to attend this book presentation (all are welcome), which will be held online via Microsoft Teams, please fill in this short registration form: https://forms.gle/Yyjcm1LKxvfuSAas6. The deadline for registration is 24 hours before the seminar. To register for the entire programme of Italian research seminars, please email Federica Coluzzi or Maria Pavlova. A poster is available here.

Joint Seminar with the School of Modern Languages and Cultures/Translation Studies:  

 Speakers: Loretta Collins and Maria Grau Perejoan,

on their recent publication “The Sea Needs No Ornament/ El mar no necesita ornamento: A Bilingual Anthology of Contemporary Caribbean Women Poets (Peepal Tree  Press, 2020). 

https://www.peepaltreepress.com/books/sea-needs-no-ornament-el-mar-no-necesita-ornamento 

Please note that all our talks will be held online this year and you will need to register your interest with Dr Fabienne Manicom, director of the Centre. Please email her on F.Viala@warwick.ac.uk. You will then receive further details about accessing the lecture via Teams.

CRPLA is hosting an on-line reading group this autumn, to discuss the concept of crisis. We will meet on Tuesday evenings 5.30-7.00 pm, in Weeks 2, 4, 8 and 10. Each meeting will consider the concept of crisis from a different perspective. Professor Miguel Beistegui will launch the reading group in Week 2, with a brief history of the concept and readings on its role in political economy and legal theory.

Further information on readings and logistics are available here:

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/philosophy/research/researchcentres/phillit/crisisreadinggroup/