Thanks to all of our workshop participants!  An online version of Hayden White's keynote address is now available: click HERE. 

Fall 1999 Event: A weekend with Hayden White, Professor Emeritus of the History of Consciousness Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz
 November 12-13, 1999

Schedule of Events

 Friday, Nov. 12 (6:30pm - Freeman Auditorium) "History as Fulfillment," Keynote address by Hayden White.
Professor White will discuss the issue of the nature of the specifically "historical" relationship between past and present.  Every culture has an idea of past and present, but not all cultures conceive the relationship between them as a "historical" relationship.  White will be using the idea of "figure-fulfillment" from Christian sources (cfr. Auerbach's essay "Figura" or his discussions of Dante and Balzac in Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature) as a way of characterizing Western culture's notion of a specifically historical relationship. 
The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.

 

  Saturday, Nov. 13 (11am - Woldenberg Art Center, Room 209) "Figural Realism in Witness Literature: Primo Levi," Graduate/Faculty Workshop with Hayden White. 
Professor White is preparing for dynamic interaction in this workshop so participants are encouraged to actively engage in the discussion.  White will be reflecting on Primo Levi's  Survival in Auschwitz, the genre of the testimonial, the problem of referentiality in relationship to the past and especially to what has come to be called "extreme events."  The question is this:   Is referentiality limited to "literal" (as against "figurative") utterances and if not, how can metaphor "refer"? Refreshments will follow.

If you are interested in signing up for the workshop, please let us know at isn@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu,
so we can forward you more details about the event as they become available.

---