Category Archives: Events and Conferences

Workshop – Translating World War One: The Case of T. E. Lawrence

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Workshop organised by Mary Bryden, fellow at the Paris IAS

Date et heure:
12/05/2015 – 09:30 – 17:30

Lieu: Institut d’études avancées de Paris, 17 quai d’Anjou, 75004 Paris

During the current Centenary of the First World War, we are commemorating the first mass industrialised war. If the number of victims was unprecedented, so too was the manner in which this quickly became a literary war. Amongst those caught up in the conflict were many who wished to describe this radical break with normality. Some of these narrations appeared in the course of the conflict itself, while others formed part of the second wave of war literature, between 1929 and 1930. The prevalent literary model is that of the muddy fields and trenches of the Western Front. However, this journée d’étude will concentrate upon the Middle Eastern Front and, in particular, on the person of T. E. Lawrence, whose war book Seven Pillars of Wisdom describes his participation in the Arab Revolt from 1916 to 1918.

Further information, programme and registration.

Lecture: Futurism, Fascism, and the Art of War

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Futurism, Fascism, and the Art of War
Michael Subialka, Powys Roberts Research Fellow in European Literature
St Hugh’s College, Oxford

29 April 2015, 5 pm, Taylor Institution Library, St Giles’, Oxford

The Italian entry into World War I was rooted in a complex mix of secret diplomacy, longstanding nationalist sentiments, and popular cultural provocation. One of the features of that mix is that it made for strange bedfellows and stranger combinations of beliefs even within single groups or movements. The Italian Futurists are no exception, and their years of provocation on behalf of intervention against Austria-Hungary (and in Africa) can be traced to a series of conflicting impulses that emerge out of the 19th century. In their thought, the basic irredentist cause of “completing” the Risorgimento’s unification of Italy is combined with the 19th-century discourse on vitalism, Darwinian visions of race theory and natural selection, and also an impulse toward the abstract, mysterious, and metaphysical, transposed from the realm of religion to human action and artistic creation. This blend of impulses makes the Futurist provocation emblematic both of the late 19th century and of the coming era of Fascism. It is in this light that we should approach the shift of alliances achieved by the Patto di Londra (Treaty of London), signed secretly 26 April 1915, nearly a month before Italy’s entry into the war.

All welcome. Lecture followed by Futurist book display and reception.

Poster: 2015-03-FuturismFascismAndTheArtOfWar-Poster-1

Conference: Breaking Empires, Making Nations? The First World War and the Reforging of Europe

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The Chair of European Civilization at the College of Europe has the pleasure to invite you to an international conference

Breaking Empires, Making Nations? The First World War and the Reforging of Europe

From 14.00 on Tuesday 7 April until 18.30 on Wednesday 8 April 2015 at the Natolin campus of the College of Europe, ul. Nowoursynowska 84, 02-797 Warszawa.

Keynote lecture by Professor Sir Hew Strachan (Oxford): The Ideas of 1914.

R.S.V.P.
e-mail: anna.banach@coleurope.eu
Tel.: 22.54.59.480

Further information: Invitation to WW1 conference
Conference programme: Programme Natolin WW1 conference latest

CFP: Resistance to War 1914-1924

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Resistance to War 1914-1924
Leeds, United Kingdom, 18-20th March 2016

Ingrid Sharp and colleagues are planning a major international conference for March 18th-20th 2016 to consider and debate the various forms and expressions of resistance to the First World War within and across national contexts. It will coincide with the introduction of conscription in Britain, but will explore national, international and transnational aspects of resistance to the First World War.

Confirmed speakers so far include Cyril Pearce, Lois Bibbings and Julian Putkowski on Conscientious Objectors, Benjamin Ziemann on forms of German resistance to war and June Hannam on the Leeds-born peace activist Isabella Ford.

There will be panels on:

* the cultural representations of pacifism and the mobilization of art and literature to oppose the war;
* memory and commemoration of anti-war activism, including during the centenary;
* Classicists’ resistance to war;
* links and continuities with present-day organisations such as the Fellowship of Reconciliation and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom;
* groups and individuals committed to the international reconciliation of former enemies;
* the global dimensions of war resistance;
* ideological, feminist, political and religious motivations for opposing the war;
* the costs of war in terms of human suffering and trauma;
* Conscientious Objection and its international legacies
* pacifism in the inter-war period.

Offers of individual papers, panels or round tables are welcome. Please send these (500 words and 1 page cv) to: i.e.sharp@leeds.ac.uk

We will be working with Leeds City Museums and Galleries to provide a forum for public debate and exchange of ideas and knowledge and welcome local history groups who are researching COs and other war resisters in their own areas.

Deadline for abstracts: March 20th 2015

The Conference is supported by Legacies of War, Leeds and the Gateways to the First World War, Kent

CFP: ‘European “domestic fronts”: the home front at war (1914-1920)’

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Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour
19-20 November 2015

This conference, which will form the basis of a publication, intends to be
resolutely interdisciplinary, comparative and open to the wider European
dimension. The call for papers is addressed to both confirmed researchers
and PhD students. The working languages will be French and English.

Proposals (2500 characters max., accompanied by a short CV including
publications) should be sent by 4 May 2015 to: colloque-fronts-interieurs@univ-pau.fr

Further information: CFP Fronts-intérieurs-Pau

Play on WW1 Oxford – While They’re Away: The story of a city at war

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While They’re Away: The story of a city at war
The Old Museum, Oxford

7.30pm on 12 and 13 March
2.30pm matinee and 7.30pm on 14 March
£5/£4 concessions

A compelling new play drawn from authentic accounts of life at the home front in First World War Oxford. This original production brings to light the city’s role in the ‘War to end all wars’ and the parallel stories of the local people whose lives it changed forever. Playwright, Jeremy Allen has worked with members of the local community and delved into local archives to uncover the WW1 experiences of a varied cast of characters from Oxford’s past: including Siegfried Sassoon and Lady Ottoline Morrell, as well as many whose stories have yet to be told. City landmarks and buildings take on new meaning as their war-time role is revealed. The drama is performed in the Old Museum at Oxford Town Hall, the site of one of Oxford’s WW1 military hospitals.

An UnderConstruction Theatre production in partnership with the Museum of Oxford. Created as part of the Lost Voices of Oxford’s Great War, a community project to uncover the city’s untold First World War stories. Generously funded by the Heritage Lottery.

Age guideline: 12+

There will also be 2 schools performances with an accompanying workshop on Thursday 12 March & Friday 13 March, 10am-1pm (including break time). For more information or to book your class on a workshop please e-mail: aharland-lang@oxford.gov.uk

Ticket office: 01865 305305
Or buy online at: www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford
Or in person at the Oxford Playhouse Box Office

While They're Away Play Flyer

Talk on French Literature and WWI at University of Leeds: Wednesday 18 February

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‘What is a Crisis of Language? French Literature and the Great War.’
University of Leeds.

Wednesday 18 February, 5pm: Philippe Roussin (Visiting Professor in French Studies, Wadham College, Directeur de recherche CNRS / Maison Française d’Oxford) http://www.mfo.ac.uk/en/people/philippe-roussin

Venue: Parkinson Building B.09

Event organised in conjunction with Legacies of War: http://arts.leeds.ac.uk/legaciesofwar/
With the financial support of the French Embassy.

For more details:
Dr. Jim House
Research Leader for French
School of Languages, Cultures and Societies
University of Leeds
j.r.house@leeds.ac.uk