Ovid and Plutarch

Two calls for papers for two conferences on the afterlife of Ovid and Plutarch to be held at the Warburg Institute on 7-8 March and 23-24 May 2013. Details below: http:/warburg.sas.ac.uk/index.php?id=687 http:/warburg.sas.ac.uk/index.php?id=688

Medieval and Renaissance Summer School

There are a small number of places, for MA and PhD students, on the first Birkbeck Medieval and Renaissance Summer School. The Summer School offers activities designed to give you a chance to develop your interests, ideas and plans, in a sociable and scholarly atmosphere. You will be introduced to a range of scholars working in English and European history, literature, theatre and art history in the period c. 1350 – c. 1650. Date: 27-29 June 2012 Time: 9.30am - 7.30pm each day Cost: £20 Staff and students at Birkbeck and participating institutions / £40 EU delegates / £140 non-EU delegates Venue: 43 Gordon Square, WC1H Booking: https://www2.bbk.ac.uk/english/ The Summer School will start with a lecture on the medieval and Renaissance city - exploring Jerusalem, Rome and London. We will then explore maps, manuscripts and archives and have our own tour of medieval and early modern Westminster. There will be masterclasses, seminars and tours with leading scholars in their fields. We will discuss playhouses and visit one. We will visit the new Victoria & Albert Museum Renaissance galleries and visit several other institutions connected to London’s medieval and early modern past. The Summer School will also include lectures by Birkbeck staff: Professor Anthony Bale, Dr Stephen Clucas, Dr Isabel Davis, Dr Adam Smyth, and Professor Sue Wiseman. And, of course, the Summer School will end with a party. For further details, email Professor Sue Wiseman (s.wiseman@bbk.ac.uk)

‘New Directions in the Renaissance’

Friday 2 November 2012 The University of Edinburgh CALL FOR PAPERS The cultural movement known as the Renaissance, and the profound affect it had on the intellectual and artistic life of early modern Europe, continues to provide inspiration for new scholars across a wide range of disciplines. ‘New Directions in the Renaissance’ is an interdisciplinary conference which aims to provide a forum for those studying the Renaissance in its birthplace and heartland, Italy, to reflect on the broad range of topics and themes which characterise study in this field. Contributors are invited to explore emerging areas of inquiry, new approaches to existing Renaissance scholarship, and the use of new media and sources in their research. Participants must be concerned with the Renaissance in Italy between c.1400-c.1600, but topics are not otherwise limited. The conference offers the opportunity for postgraduate students and early career researchers (whether at PhD, MPhil, or MSc by Research level) from universities across the UK to present their research in a constructive, friendly environment. It is expected that funding will be available for speakers’ travel and accommodation. Please send proposals of 300 words for papers of 20 minutes, along with a short biography, to: edinburghnewdirection@gmail.com by Friday 1 June 2012.

Lecturer in English Literature 1500-1700

School of English

, Sussex Permanent, full time Salary range for Lecturer A: starting at £30,122 and rising to £35,938 per annum Salary range for Lecturer B: starting at £37,012 and rising to £44,166 per annum Closing date for applications: 11 June 2012 Expected start date: 1st September 2012 or by arrangement Description The School of English at the University of Sussex wishes to appoint a lecturer in one or more areas of early modern English Literature (1500-1700) from 1st September 2012 or by arrangement. The successful candidate will possess a completed doctorate in English or a related subject and have teaching experience at least to undergraduate level. You will possess high quality research publications that demonstrate your ability to achieve international distinction in your specialist area. The successful candidate will contribute teaching into a wide range of courses on the BA English Literature and develop research-led courses in your particular special field. You will also contribute teaching in your research area to one of the School’s MAs, notably the MA in Early Modern Literature and Culture, and participate in Sussex’s vibrant research culture, notably in the Centre for Early Modern Studies. The School enjoys a particularly strong reputation in early modern studies, co-ordinated through the Centre for Early Modern Studies which is based in English and led by Prof Andrew Hadfield, Dr Matthew Dimmock and Dr Margaret Healy. As well as regular speakers, symposia, and hosting conferences, the Centre has recently started a new project on Early Modern Sussex with a post-doctoral appointment. The Centre has connections with Petworth House and co-hosts an AHRC funded collaborative doctorate with the National Trust on a cache of 144 early modern play quartos acquired by the Earls of Northumberland in the 17th century. The School of English also has a close connection with London’s Globe Theatre. This post addresses the School’s desire to maintain its early modern strengths following the appointment of Prof Brian Cummings to an Anniversary Chair at the University of York. We welcome applicants with specialisms in any area within the field – from early Tudor writing to the Restoration. As well as demonstrating a research potential to become a leader in your field, you will possess a strong commitment to teaching and innovation in pedagogy. English recruits high quality undergraduates – normal A level entry requirement AAA – and is favourably ranked by good university guides: The Guardian 2012 guide places English 8th in the UK, The Complete University Guide 2011-12, places English 11th, while The Sunday Times University Guide places English 13th. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 95 per cent of the School’s research was rated as recognised internationally excellent or higher. For further information please contact Prof Thomas Healy, Head of School, (t.f.healy@sussex.ac.uk) Further particulars and how to apply at http://www.sussex.ac.uk/aboutus/jobs/643

Missing Texts (2 June, London)

A one-day conference on lost manuscripts, excisions, destroyed archives, blanks, fragmented texts, deletion, censorship, scattered pages, imagined originals, virtual disappearance ... Saturday June 2 2012, Keynes Library, 43 Gordon Square, London WC1. Details here To register, email Dr Adam Smyth (adam.smyth@bbk.ac.uk) and Dr Gill Partington (g.partington@bbk.ac.uk)

T

he British Milton Seminar has established a blog (http://britishmiltonseminar.wordpress.com/) to communicate information about meetings and calls for papers to its participants and potential participants. We hope that this will become the primary medium for such communications, substantially reducing postal costs. The site also contains links with other sites of interest to Miltonists. We urge you to register as a 'follower' with all expedition. Tom Corns Hugh Adlington

Fairfax 400 University of Leicester 30 June - 1 July 2012 This two-day interdisciplinary conference will investigate the impact of Sir Thomas Fairfax (1612–1671) upon his time and contemporaries. It will combine the approaches of historians and literary scholars to examine afresh his multiple roles as a general, politician, landowner, husband and literary figure. His memory, image and reputation in art, literature, media and film will also be assessed. The conference also includes a guided tour of Naseby battlefield. Conference website, including programme and booking information: http://www2.le.ac.uk/projects/fairfax

Royal Loss

Untimely deaths, public and private mourning, and the monarchs who never were November 6th 2012 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Henry, Prince of Wales, son and heir of James I & VI. Describing the death of the 18 year old prince, Roy Strong remarked that ‘the sense of tragic loss at the time was such that he was to remain for long an ideal monarch England never had’. The anniversary of his death will be marked by an exhibition this winter at the National Portrait Gallery in London, ‘The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart’. Significantly there is a current display at the NPG which focuses on the life and death of another heir to the throne of England who predeceased their father, Princess Charlotte of Wales. ‘Queens in Waiting: Charlotte and Victoria’, details the life of George IV’s daughter, and the public shock and outpouring of grief at her death in childbirth at the age of 21. It also conveys the dynastic crisis that ensued, as well as the impact of the dead Princess’s legacy upon her eventual successor, Victoria. As the deaths of Prince Henry and Princess Charlotte, as well as that of Princess Diana in modern times, demonstrate, untimely royal deaths have held both political and cultural significance in this country. In fact Royal deaths throughout history in England and elsewhere have resonated on both public and private levels both for contemporaries and succeeding generations. This one-day interdisciplinary conference will explore the rich and diverse topic of Royal death, loss and commemoration, and is open to applications discussing monarchies of any period and cultural and geographical background. Suggested topics may include but are by no means limited to; • Royal Funerals • Royal mourning and mourners – public and private royal grief • Royal memorials (structural, musical artistic or literary) and Funeral monuments • Epitaphs and Biographies in response to a royal death • The death of royal infants and children • The death of an heir to the throne • Sudden, unexpected royal death – responses to, and fear of death from acute royal illness • Progress and responses to long drawn out royal illness and death • Responses to royal assassination • Responses to royal execution • Feelings of lost hope or potential and ‘what if’ myths of Royal lives that were cut short • Royal widows and widowers • Commemoration ceremonies - sermons, music, rituals etc. • Apportioning blame for a royal death • Dynastic and succession crises, precipitated by royal death • Perceptions of Royal afterlife – for example apotheosis painting or literature, myths and ghosts, personal and public preparation of a royal individual for an afterlife • Portrayals of royal deaths in popular culture and later popular history • Forgotten Royal deaths Proposals of 300-500 words should be sent to Sarah Betts at royallossyork2012@gmail.com by 31st July 2012

The Shakespeare Institute Review

... is a new online academic journal, which is funded by the University of Birmingham College of Arts and Law. It is run by four research students at the Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-upon-Avon, UK. Students at this institution, and on other postgraduate Shakespeare programmes, are invited and encouraged to contribute short papers for publication. Each issue of the journal will be themed. We thought it exhilaratingly inappropriate, and so irresistible, to signal the birth of this journal with an issue looking at death. Students are encouraged to submit papers, between 1,500 and 2,500 words, on topics relating to death, mortality and religion in Shakespeare's plays, or elsewhere in the Early Modern period. Possible topics might include, but are not restricted to: • Critical examinations of the way that various of Shakespeare’s characters deal with death, or die. This could include close-reading, comparative analysis, and analysis from a specific theoretical position (Marxist, feminist, etc.). • Historical studies of how mortality or religion was understood in the early Modern period, and of how Shakespeare makes use of (and plays off) those understandings in his plays. • Considerations of the political, ethical, religious, spiritual and existential significances of mortality or religion in the Early Modern period, and for Shakespeare’s characters. • Comparisons between how Shakespeare understands mortality, and how other creative artists and philosophers–-of Shakespeare’s time, or before, or after–-have understood it. • More intensely personal and experientially engaged writing on how Shakespeare’s plays have helped you deal with death–-with your own mortality, or with the death of people that you know. How does Shakespeare make you look at death, and is this vision comforting or distressing? Does Shakespeare get to the truth of death, for you, or not? • Reflections on metaphysical and spiritual truths that arise from Shakespeare’s plays. • More provocative reflections on how the writing that is produced by the Modern academy–-writing that is critical, theoretical, historical—does not deal adequately with death in Shakespeare’s plays, and suggestions as to how this inadequacy can be rectified. Suggestions of other topics will be warmly received. Papers should be submitted to shakesreview@gmail.com, with a deadline of 20 May 2012. All submissions will be reviewed by the editorial board, and those submissions that are selected will be published in our first online issue. Please contact us (http://www.shakesreview.com/contact.html) for further information.

News in Early Modern Europe Centre for Early Modern Studies, University of Sussex June 6-7, 2012 Programme The following is provisional, and subject to change. Wednesday 6th June 09:00-09:30 Registration; tea & coffee Location: Fulton Building foyer 09:30-11:00 Plenary 1: Andrew Pettegree (University of St Andrews), 'Making the news in early modern Europe' Location: Fulton lecture theatre A 11:00-11:30 Tea & coffee Location: Fulton 114 11:30-13:00 Session 1a: News and propaganda Location: Fulton 101 * Cathy Parsons (University of Sussex), 'John Bale's King Johan: English history play or Henrician Protestant propaganda?' * Laurent Curelly (Université de Haute Alsace), 'When digging the ground grabbed the headlines: the Surrey Diggers as viewed by contemporary newsbooks (1649)' * Lena Liapi (University of York), 'Hectors and highwaymen: crime pamphlets and royalist propaganda in the 1650s' Session 1b: Sensational news Location: Fulton 107 * Josephine Billingham (UCL), 'Strumpet or simple wench? Reporting infanticide in early modern England' * Emma Whipday (UCL), '"A True Reporte": News and the neighbourhood in early modern marital murder narratives' * Simon Davies (University of Sussex), 'Witchcraft in the news: representing sensation?' 13:00-13:45 Lunch Location: Fulton 114 13:45-15:15 Session 2a: News and the public persona Location: Fulton 101 * Raymond Carlson (Clare College, Cambridge), 'Humanist as publicist: Benedetto Varchi, the Accademia Fiorentina, and Michelangelo's poetic persona' * Maria Kirk (University of Sussex), 'Broadside ballads and the performance of wealth: The "triumphant show" of Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland' * Catherine Tremain, 'And death shall have no dominion: the rise and significance of obituaries in eighteenth-century provincial journals' Session 2b: International news networks 1 Location: Fulton 107 * Michael Gordian (Warburg Institute), 'News from Spain – A sixteenth-century account of an Inquisitional trial of Alumbrados in Germany' * Michiel van Groesen (University of Amsterdam), 'Reading the Papers in the Dutch Republic – Hugo Grotius, P. C. Hooft, and the consumption of foreign news in the 1630s' * Joop W. Koopmans (University of Groningen), 'The 1755 Lisbon earthquake in Dutch news sources' 15:15-15:45 Tea & coffee Location: Fulton 114 15:45-17:15 Session 3: Producing news: reporting, rumour and rights Location: Fulton 107 * Viviana Comensoli (Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario), '"To be a man in print": Plague writing, news, and the popular press in Thomas Dekker's The Wonderful Year (1603)' * John Hunt (University of North Florida), 'Rumors, newsletters and the Pope’s death in early modern Rome' * Will Slauter (Université Paris), 'Owning the news, before and after copyright' 20:00 Conference dinner Location: TBC Please ensure you have informed the conference organisers if you wish to attend. Thursday 7th June 09:30-11:00 Plenary 2: Joad Raymond (University of East Anglia), title TBC Location: Fulton lecture theatre A 11:00-11:30 Tea & coffee Location: Fulton 114 11:30-13:00 Session 4a: News on the stage Location: Fulton 101 * Lana Harper (University of Sussex), 'Theatre as news' * Barbara Wooding, 'Performing the news' * Lena Steveker (Universitaet des Saarlandes), 'Staging news, politics and censorship in Middleton's A Game at Chess' Session 4b: International news networks 2 Location: Fulton 103 * Stefania Gargioni (Erasmus Mundus European Doctorate), 'The circulation and the reception of the French Wars of Religion's propaganda in England and the Holy Empire' * Anna Kalinowska (Polish Academy of Sciences), 'The avisos from divers other places of Christendome… News from East-Central Europe in English corantos, 1620-1642' * Suzanne Forbes (University College Dublin/IRCHSS), 'The impact of reprinted news in Ireland, 1690-1715' 13:00-13:45 Lunch Location: Fulton 114 13:45-15:15 Session 5a: News and visual culture Location: Fulton 101 * Katrina Marchant (University of Sussex), '"Spinning Virginia": The works of John White, Theodore de Bry and Thomas Harriot' * Elena Kiryanova, 'The image of Charles Stuart in the Civil War news' * Adam Morton (University of York), 'Laughter & collusion: the visual culture of 'news' in Restoration England' Session 5b: International news networks 3 Location: Fulton 103 * Barbara Kennedy (University of Sussex), ''I prefer my letters to be answered by mind, rather than by hand': The letters and correspondence network of Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499)' * Virginia Dillon (Somerville College, Oxford), 'Transylvania, Poland and the Ottoman Turks: The adventures of György II Rákóczi in the German Newspapers, 1657-58' * David Martín Marcos (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid), 'The founding of Colonia del Sacramento: news and conflicts at the Iberian peninsula' 15:15-15:45 Tea & coffee Location: Fulton 114 15:45-17:15 Session 6a: Theorising around news: genre and politics Location: Fulton 101 * Andrew Kau (Yale), 'News and the New Poet in 1579: Sidney, Spenser, and Hake' * Alexandra Zobel (UCLA), 'Ben Jonson meets the press: strategic politics and the new(s) economy' * Elliott Karstadt, 'Marchamont Nedham and the influence of the news on the theory of "interest"' Session 6b: News and truth Location: Fulton 103 * Paul Quinn (University of Sussex / University of Chichester), '"News from Sussex": Sensation, aberration and doubt in Sussex news sheets' * Andrew Hadfield (University of Sussex), title TBC * Nick Moon (University of York), '"Newes newes newes newes": The rhetoric of truthfulness in early modern broadside ballads' 17:15 Conference closes *** The conference fee is £20, payable in cash or cheque (made out to the University of Sussex) on arrival. This includes lunch on both days, and refreshments throughout the conference. A single-day rate of £10 is available for those unable to attend both days. To register for the conference, please S.F.Davies@sussex.ac.uk with your name, institution (if relevant) and any dietary requirements.

The twenty-seventh annual John Donne Society Conference: for all recent developments concerning ongoing editorial projects of Donne's poetry, sermons and letters. 26-29 June 2012, Scaliger Institute, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands For details, visit the John Donne Society Conference webpage, at http://johndonnesociety.tamu.edu/conference.html For more information, contact jdconference2012@gmail.com

Libraries: New Research Directions

An Early Modern Research Centre colloquium at the University of Reading Friday, 8 June 2012 This colloquium aims to bring together people researching the history of libraries over a wide chronological period and from diverse disciplinary perspectives. Papers and discussion will focus not only on particular cases but also on broader methodological questions about the current practice and possible future directions of library history. Lunch and refreshments will be provided. Fee: £15 (£10 students and unwaged) Programme 10.30am Coffee and registration 11am Welcome 11.15-12.45pm Matthew Nicholls (University of Reading): ‘Libraries in the ancient world: points of communication.’ David Rundle (Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford): ‘How libraries die, or what the fate of manuscripts in early modern England can teach us.’ 12.45-1.45pm Lunch 1.45-3.15pm Anne Overell (University of Durham): ‘The libraries of Cardinal Reginald Pole and his friends, ca.1520-1558.’ Daniel Starza Smith (University of Reading): ‘“Well versed in all parts of learning”: the Conway family libraries, 1610-1645.’ 3.15-3.45pm Tea 3.45-5.15pm Paddy Bullard (University of Kent): ‘What did Jonathan Swift do in libraries?’ Rose Dixon (King’s College London): ‘Virtual “magazines of learning”: The Dissenting Academy Libraries Project, 1720-1860.’ 5.15pm Warren Boutcher (Queen Mary, University of London): Closing comments followed by discussion. 6pm Drinks For a booking form, please visit the EMRC website (http://www.reading.ac.uk/emrc/events/emrc-events.aspx) or contact the EMRC secretary, Jan Cox: j.f.cox@reading.ac.uk Organiser: Rebecca Bullard: r.bullard@reading.ac.uk.

Marlowe

The Marlowe Society of America calls for papers for its Seventh Marlowe International Conference from 24 June to 28 June 2013 at the American Shakespeare Center's Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton, VA. The conference will feature keynote presentations by Susan P. Cerasano (Colgate University), Laurie Maguire (Magdalen College, University of Oxford), Leah Marcus (Vanderbilt University) and Garrett Sullivan (Pennsylvania State University). Professional productions by the American Shakespeare Center will complement special events, workshops, screenings, and productions designed specially for conference attendees. Abstracts, due 31 August 2012, should be submitted to Program Chair Jeremy Lopez (jeremy.lopez@utoronot.ca). Abstract length: 500 words MAX. Check the Marlowe Society of America website for updates (www.marlowesmightyline.org).

Lectureship in Shakespeare Studies

Closing Date for Applications: 06 June 2012 School: School of English Contract Type: Permanent Whole-Time Job Type: Academic Salary: EUR31,821 -- EUR51,270 The School of English wishes to appoint a Lecturer in Shakespeare Studies, from 1 September 2012. The School seeks a scholar and critic with a primary research focus on Shakespeare studies. The successful applicant will have a doctorate, an established research profile in the field, and the capacity to bring dynamic development to the School's teaching and research on Shakespeare at all levels. S/he will have strong and varied experience in university teaching, and will be able to teach and supervise more broadly in early modern literature and culture. The School does not seek at this time to appoint a drama-in-performance specialist. The appointee will contribute to the School's undergraduate and postgraduate work by convening and sharing lecture-modules, teaching seminar groups, and supervising MA and PhD students on Shakespeare and related topics. A strong contribution to the research culture of the School will be expected. A record of applications for external research funding, commensurate with the experience of the applicant, will be an advantage, as will the capacity and willingness to network and co-develop collaborative research projects. Candidates with a serious interest in one or more of the following may gain an advantage: The reception of Shakespeare in later literature and culture, including film and other mediaShakespeare and theory (e.g. psychoanalysis, new historicism, post-structuralism, feminism)Ethnicities and/or sexualities in Shakespeare studiesDigital-humanities approaches in Shakespeare and early-modern studiesShakespeare and the printed book For information about the School of English, please see www.ucc.ie/en/english For informal discussion about the post, contact Professor Patricia Coughlan at pat.coughlan@ucc.ie . For a full list of duties and selection criteria please see the document below. Salary Scale: EUR31,821 -- EUR51,270, Lectureship Below the Bar Salary Scale To Apply: Application forms must be completed and submitted to Department of Human Resources, University College, Cork, Ireland. Email: recruitment@per.ucc.ie / Tel: +353 21 4903603 / Fax: +353 21 4271568 *Closing date: 5pm, Wednesday 6th June 2012* Please note that an appointment to posts advertised will be dependent upon University approval, together with the terms of the employment control framework for the higher education sector Download Application Form Download Particulars of Post Additional Documentation: Memorandum re Lectureship Posts /University College Cork is an Equal Opportunities Employer/

Three Teaching Fellowships in English

University of Bristol, School of Humanities

The Department of English invites applications from suitably qualified candidates for three temporary teaching fellowships from 1 September 2012. Two fellowships, one of ten months' and the other of twelve months' duration, will be awarded to a specialist in medieval literature. The third, of twenty-four months' duration, will be awarded to a specialist in early modern literature. Candidates should normally have received their PhD by the date of appointment. An active research record will be an advantage. The successful candidates will be expected to contribute to and develop the department's provision of teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the medieval and early modern periods (from 1200-1700), including a course on Shakespeare. The candidates should also be prepared to teach an introductory first year level course on poetry from medieval to the present and/or an introductory first year level course on critical theory. For further details about English at Bristol, see our website at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/english/ Starting salary will be £30,122 - £33,884 per annum, pro-rata. Closing date for completed applications is Monday, 28th May 2012. It is anticipated that interviews will be held on Tuesday, 3rd July 2012. Informal enquiries may be made to the Head of Education, Dr. Stephen Cheeke, S.H.Cheeke@bristol.ac.uk or Rosanne Jacks, r.jacks@bristol.ac.uk.

Reading the Ancient Near East in Early Modern Europe

22-23 November 2012 University College Dublin and Marsh's Library

Call for papers The significance of classical writing in early modern European culture hardly needs stating, and although the classical inheritance signalled by the periodising term ‘Renaissance’ has partially been obscured by the more proleptic terms of the ‘early modern’, scholars rightly continue to emphasise the contribution of particular classical authors, texts and models to European Renaissance writing and thought. The vast majority of the authors, texts and models currently studied, however, are those which take ancient Greece and/or Rome (or territories under their sometime control) as their primary focus or purview. Concurrently, assumptions of the fixity or autochthony of ‘Europe’ and the ‘European Renaissance’ have come under pressure from work that emphasises the cross-cultural exchanges, encounters and traffic between ‘Europe’ and ‘the East’ during the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. But in neglecting sixteenth and seventeenth-century European interests in classical writings on regions and states such as Persia, Assyria and Scythia, we are missing a vital piece of the puzzle. Misrepresenting the range and modulations of early modern classical interests, we allow the putative orientalising dichotomy of a ‘barbarian’ Eastern Other to ‘Europe’ to remain a silent, toxic presence in scholarship of the early modern period. Settings such as Lydia, Persia, Scythia, Assyria or Cimmeria were as much a part of the early modern imagination as Rome, Troy, Carthage, Delphi or Latium. In his Defence of Ryme, Samuel Daniel reminded English readers that ‘We must not thinke, but that there were Scipioes, Cæsars, Catoes and Pompeies, born elsewhere then at Rome, the rest of the world hath euer had them in the same degree of nature, though not of state. And it is our weakenesse that makes vs mistake, or misconceiue in these delineations of men the true figure of their worth.’ This conference aims to restore the visibility and significance of classical writings on the ancient Near East in early modern European literary culture, to complicate our understanding of the ‘Renaissance’ values that emerged out of the engagement with the classical legacy, and to bridge the gap between the theoretical models of the contemporary and classical engagements between Europe and the East in the early modern period. Plenary speakers include Neil Rhodes (University of St Andrew’s), Edith Hall (King’s College, London) and Noreen Humble (University of Calgary). The conference will also see the launch of ‘Reading East: Irish Sources and Resources’, a website introducing and cataloguing a selection of the early printed book holdings of Dublin’s extraordinarily rich research libraries, including Marsh’s Library, the Chester Beatty Library, the Edward Worth Library, and the UCD and Trinity College Libraries. We welcome papers on any aspect of the early modern response to the Near Eastern interests of classical antiquity, and particularly papers that examine texts held at Dublin research libraries. Topics may include, but are not confined to, to the following: • The literary and political reception of authors such as Xenophon, Herodotus, Ctesias • Antiquarian interest in the ancient Near East • Classical writings in travel itineraries/writings • Sources, analogues and exemplars • Editions, translations and adaptations • The ancient Near East and the ‘republic of letters’ • Ethnography and historiography of the ancient Near East • Theories of the ‘barbarian’ • Representations of the ancient Near East and the New World Please send abstracts of 300-400 words, together with a brief bio, to the organisers, Dr Jane Grogan (jane.grogan@ucd.ie) and Dr Marina Ansaldo (marina.ansaldo@ucd.ie) by 15 July 2012.

Shakespeare

Global Shakespeares at the Barbican With Dr Sonia Massai, Deborah Shaw, Ivo van Hove and Thelma Holt 28 May 2012 / 19:00 Fountain Room Tickets: £5 - price includes a complimentary glass of wine. Limited availability. To book, please call the Box Office on 020 7638 8891 subject to availability share this ________________________________________ This event draws together a panel of leading international theatre experts, directors and producers to discuss the notion of Shakespeare as a 'global' author, 'the prophetic soul of the wide world dreaming on things to come'. On the week of opening the Ninagawa Company's production of Cymbeline at the Barbican, Dr Sonia Massai (Reader in Shakespeare Studies, King's College London) chairs a panel discussion on Global Shakespeares, joined by Deborah Shaw (Associate Director, RSC & Director of the World Shakespeare Festival) Ivo van Hove (Artistic Director, Toneelgroep Amsterdam) and Thelma Holt (Producer & Managing Director, Thelma Holt Ltd). What does Shakespeare mean to each of these theatre artists? What is the global state of Shakespeare today? What are the comparisons and differences in approach in twenty-first century performance around the globe? And what can we learn about the role of Shakespeare and the audience within local and global contexts? The speakers, whose careers have been shaped by a sustained engagement with a range of different theatrical traditions and cultures, will lend fresh insight into these questions and into the reception of recent touring productions of Shakespeare in London and overseas. The discussion will focus primarily, but

not exclusively, on the current World Shakespeare Festival, on Shakespeare and International Festivals more generally, and on how visiting productions have inflected the meaning and cultural value of Shakespeare for contemporary British audiences. Debate lasts 90 minutes. Your complimentary glass of wine will be available at the end of the debate, on presentation of your ticket. Produced by Barbican Guildhall Creative Learning. Global Shakespeares is part of the World Shakespeare Festival, which is produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company for London 2012 Festival.

‘Gender and Political Culture, 1400-1800’ A Joint Conference organised by History and the Centre for Humanities, Music and Performing Arts (HuMPA) at Plymouth University and Umeå Group for Pre-modern Studies To be held at Plymouth University, 5-7 September 2013 CALL FOR PAPERS Keynote Speakers: Professor Barbara J. Harris (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and Professor Merry Wiesner-Hanks (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) This conference investigates gender and political culture during the period 1400 to 1800, and the organizers welcome proposals for papers on topics related to the conference theme. The conference aims to create possibilities for comparative research and is therefore looking to attract a broad variety of studies across periods, disciplines and geographical regions. We also wish to attract both senior scholars and doctoral students. During the conference there will be sessions where participants present papers, and a workshop where participants may present work in progress or project ideas. Proposals are invited for papers that treat the following indicative areas: • the relationship between gender, power and political authority • gendered aspects of monarchy; representations of power and authority • gender, office-holding, policy-making and counsel • courts, patronage and political influence • elite culture and political networks • gender, the public sphere and political participation • popular politics, protest and petitioning • manuscript, print, oral, material and visual cultures • news, intelligence and the spread of information • political ideas, ideologies and language • conceptualizations of ‘public’ and ‘private’ spheres and what constituted ‘power’ and ‘politics’ • the family as a ‘political unit’ • the politicization of social activities: marriage-arranging, placing children in other households, gift-giving, hospitality and letter-writing Proposals for papers or workshops, including titles and abstracts (of no more than 300 words) and a brief author biography should be sent to Professor James Daybell (james.daybell@plymouth.ac.uk), Plymouth University or Professor Svante Norrhem (svante.norrhem@historia.umu.se), Umeå University before 1 March 2013.

'Royal Devotion: Monarchy and the Book of Common Prayer'

An

exhibition at Lambeth Palace Library, London, curated by Brian Cummings and Hugh Cahill, 1st May - 14th July, 2012. This exhibition traces the close relationship between royalty and religion from medieval to modern times. It tells the story of the Book of Common Prayer and its importance in national life. This story is illustrated with books, manuscripts and objects, many of which have royal or other important provenances. For details and tickets see: http://www.lambethpalacelibrary.org/content/royaldevotion There is also a series of public lectures to accompany the exhibition (for details see attached flier, also available on website above): 10 May - Professor Eamon Duffy, 'Latin for Lay People; Medieval Prayer Books' 31 May - Revd. Dr. Judith Maltby, 'The Prayer Book Under Duress: Public Worship in the Civil War and Interregnum' 6 June - Professor Brian Cummings, 'The Genesis of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer' 5 July - Professors Stephen Taylor and Philip Williamson, 'Coronation, Prayer Book, and People 1660-1953'