LECTURE ON FRENCH LITERATURE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND SET FOR NOVEMBER 2 AT 8 PM IN THE NEW YORK ROOM AT MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE

For immediate release
October 26, 2000

LECTURE ON FRENCH LITERATURE IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
SET FOR NOVEMBER 2 AT 8 PM IN THE NEW YORK ROOM
AT MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE

SOUTH HADLEY, Massachusetts—The vogue of French literature in medieval England during the era of Henry II and the flamboyant Eleanor of Aquitaine will be the topic of a public lecture by professor Ian Short of Birkbeck College, University of London, Thursday, November 2. "Cultural Encounters: French Literature in Twelfth-Century England," to be held at 8 PM in the New York Room of Mary Woolley Hall, is sponsored by the French department at Mount Holyoke and will be presented in English. The talk is free and open to the public. For more information, the public may phone 413-538-2074.

The lecture is named for a retired Mount Holyoke College professor, Ruth J. Dean, and marks the publication of Dean's new text, Anglo-Norman Literature: A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts, printed this year by the Anglo-Norman Text Society, Birkbeck College, London.

Ian Short, an Anglo-Norman specialist, is a professor of French who has authored, edited, and translated numerous books in his field. He is president of the Anglo-Norman Text Society, which publishes books and promotes the study of Anglo-Norman language and literature through its publications. Ruth Dean was among the founding members of the society.

Margaret Switten, Mount Holyoke College professor of French, notes that the Anglo-Norman era, an obscure period to many, in fact figures prominently in the cultures of both Britain and France. "After the Norman Conquest established Duke William of Normandy of as the King of England, French culture and language were infused into English culture," she says. "French knights came to Britain; French religious orders formed branches there; and French town dwellers settled there. And, of course, the English court was French speaking." The Anglo-Norman regnum was a unique and privileged locus of multiculturalism — French, Latin, Celtic, Anglo-Saxo — a rich matrix from which came, among other things, the legends of King Arthur. Short's lecture will focus on twelfth-century Britain as a cultural melting pot and as the place where French literature, to all intents and purposes, began.

Dean's book serves as a guide to the texts, manuscripts, and critical studies of nearly 1,000 works composed in Anglo-Norman, a form of French spoken in England after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. A long-awaited reference book, the text is the most comprehensive guide to be published since Johan Vising's pioneering Anglo-Norman Language and Literatureof 1923. Ruth Dean, a specialist in paleography (the study of ancient writings) and Anglo-Norman, taught at Mount Holyoke until 1967. At that time, the College established the lecture series in her name. Since then the French Department has brought a number of outstanding medievalists to campus. Dean's distinguished career as a medievalist led to her election as the first woman president of the Medieval Academy of America.

Home | MyMHC | Web Email | Directories | SiteMap | Search | Help
Admission | Academics | Campus Life | Athletics
Library & Technology | About the College | Alumnae | News & Events | Offices & Services
Copyright © 2001 Mount Holyoke College. This page created by the Office of Communications and maintained by dwright. Last modified on November 26, 2001.