Intersections Department of Comparative Literature Spring 2010
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New York University Intersections Department of Comparative Literature Spring 2010 Our China and Japan Connection by Xudong Zhang In May of 2009, a delega- UTCP, the East China Nor- tion of Comparative Litera- mal University (Shanghai), ture faculty and graduate and Peking University students (Sage Anderson, (Beijing). NYU Professors Beata Potocki, Pu Wang, Uli Baer, Thomas Looser, Uli Baer, and Xudong and Xudong Zhang pre- Zhang), along with col- sented papers along with leagues from other NYU scholars from Tokyo, departments (East Asian Shanghai, and Beijing. Studies and History), trav- Amidst conference pro- elled to Tokyo to attend an grams, there were meals, international graduate stu- drinks, receptions, campus dent conference on “The tours, trips to Tokyo and Plural Present of Historical neighboring areas organized Life,” hosted by the Inter- by the local host and par- national Center for Philoso- ticipating institutions. A phy at University of Tokyo final reception dinner Sage Anderson, Beata Potocki, Xudong Zhang, and Pu Wang (UTCP). Our NYU stu- hosted by the NYU delega- These summer 2009 events of 2005. That summer, a dents and faculty had the tion was held at the terrace were the continuation of Comp Lit faculty and stu- privilege of sharing the fo- garden of the University of the ongoing development dent delegation (including rum of intellectual exchange Tokyo-Komaba Faculty of international exchange (China/Japan, Continued on with representatives of the Club. that began in the summer Page 4) Speaking of Arachnids... …our chair Jacques Lezra and Mediterranean Studies; how we act, and how we Inside this Issue has a theory. A theory that NYU‟s Humanities Initia- imagine. You‟ll see the William Kentridge‟s 2 Comp Lit is like a spider— tive; Steinhardt‟s Media theme of imagination Nose a spider sensitive to the rich /Culture /Communication; throughout our Newsletter. Notes from the Com- 2 and varied vibrations of the Program in Poetics and These few words serve only its interdisciplinary web. Theory; FAS, Tisch and to introduce the Comp Lit paratorium Alert on filaments of Gallatin Deans‟ offices; and Spider and the “Good Vi- Horizons of Translation 3 language and literature, Cooper Union School of brations” of our interdisci- Translators and Trans- 3 philosophy and theory, art Architecture—we spun an plinary web. lated and politics, the Comp intricate web of thought & Do you feel it? Music, Language, 4 Lit Spider feels and inte- design. Thought grates, analyzes and crafts. The words “interdis- UGs in Action! 5 Proof of Comp Lit‟s web- ciplinary,” “collaborative,” Middle Eastern Lit 6 crafting is the extraordinary “intellectual exchange,” and series of events we spon- (as the title of this issue Grad Student Awards 7 sored and co-sponsored in notes) “intersections” are Recent Dissertations 7 2009-10. Working with sometimes over-used in Alumni News 8 FAS‟s Middle Eastern and popular academic jargon, More from the Comp 9 Islamic Studies, Spanish, but to us they reflect the Lit Spider French, Music, European essence of how we think, Page 2 William Kentridge’s Nose by Mark Sanders On Tuesday, February 9, of Kentridge conveyed the tion as an interval of prom- project as well as in Jarry‟s this year, a packed audience significance for him of the ise before the consolidation original drawings for Ubu at Cooper Union‟s historic Russian Revolution, and of of Stalinist power with its Roi, Kentridge admitted Great Hall sat spellbound the immense artistic ener- purges and show trials. that he had begun by want- as South African artist Wil- gies of the years immedi- Whereas some figures in ing to draw something new, liam Kentridge spoke about ately after. He pointed out the arts were imprisoned or but the nose would always the creative process behind suprematist allusions in the shot, Shostakovich sur- come out the same: a his Metropolitan Opera etchings, and Vladimir Tat- vived, although his music Lithuanian Ashkenazi Jew- production of The Nose, lin‟s model for The Monu- was officially denounced. ish nose. At that moment Dmitri Shostakovich‟s 1930 ment to the Third Interna- Despite reminding us of the artist seemed to turn his opera based on the tale tional appeared in Russian this grim history, Kentridge profile to the audience, as if b y N i ko l ai G o g o l. period newsreel as part of a was as entertaining as he to demonstrate the inevita- As images from his series of film made by Kentridge for was thought-provoking. His ble autobiographical prove- etchings entitled Nose were the opera. The post- wry remarks on the various nance of his art. projected behind him, Revolutionary years were a techniques of etching—one The event was sponsored time of hope, Kentridge can, without humor, make a by the Department of Com- explained, and their art in- “dry point,” or inadver- parative Literature; the spired politically committed tently perform a “foul Department of Media, Cul- artists in apartheid South bite”—drew laughter from ture, and Communication Africa. the audience. All along, he in NYU‟s Steinhardt School Born in 1955, the son of emphasized that, for him, of Culture, Education, and Sydney Kentridge, a famous the act of making an image Human Development; anti-apartheid lawyer, Wil- comes before any idea or NYU‟s Tisch School of the liam Kentridge grew up in meaning that may ultimately Arts; and the Irwin S. unusual proximity to deci- emerge from it. The artist is Chanin School of Architec- sive political events, and has led by the creative process. ture of The Cooper Union. gained worldwide recogni- When a member of the au- tion for his stop-motion dience noted a resemblance Mark Sanders is Professor of animated films based between the nose in the Comparative Literature. on charcoal drawings. Gogol - Shostakovich etch- ―Nose 22‖ in a series of Kentridge’s History views the years just ings, and the shape of Ubu 30 Nose Etchings (2007-2010) after the October Revolu- in a previous Kentridge Notes from the Comparatorium by Sage Anderson Now in its third year, the wide range of intellectual tled “The Abstract Naked- In October, Comp Lit monthly Comparative Lit- focal points that makes us a ness of Being Human,” graduate students Robyn erature Colloquium is run- vibrant department of com- addressing the inscription Creswell and Ellen Xiang ning smoothly and with parative literature, the collo- of human rights and the He came together under the remarkable vitality. Oper- quium has come to repre- ambiguity of citizenship in title “Heroes of Modern ated by graduate students sent a welcome opportunity an early Haitian context. Life,” with complementary with departmental support, for communal attention and Professor Lezra turned our presentations from their the colloquium was created shared interest.. The 2009- attention to “The Public dissertation projects; Robyn as a forum for the discus- 2010 series got off to a Option,” arguing that the spoke on the formal strate- sion of current projects and promising start in Septem- concept of the public is not gies of the Arabic poet works in progress. The ber with a session devoted optional, and that political Adonis, and Ellen on the floor is open to both pro- to political philosophy and engagement may demand cultural practice of the new fessors and students, with literature, featuring Jacques engagement with unintelli- with respect to Chinese particular space reserved for Lezra, and Sibylle Fischer gibility, the productive pres- novelist Liu Qing's The new faculty and students (Department of Spanish & ervation of which is exem- Builders. well into the dissertation- Portuguese). Professor plified by some literary lan- writing process. Given the Fischer gave a paper enti- guage. (Comparatorium, Contin- ued on Page 7) Page 3 Horizons of Translation by Hala Halim “Horizons of Translation,” World, Europe, Latin respondent. Next, Richard a lecture series organized by America, and the United Sieburth gave a talk about the Department of Com- States) and to draw on the the issues at stake in tran- parative Literature and co- expertise of comparatists, slating the music of Maurice sponsored by NYU‟s Hu- Translation Studies special- Scève‟s “Délie” in his 2007 manities Initiative (HI), ists and scholars of Middle book Emblems of Desire. The comprised six sessions that Eastern Studies and French. following talk, by Rosemary took place in fall 2009. The Another aim was to fore- Arrojo of Binghamton Uni- series was designed to ad- ground the strengths in versity, took us to Latin dress the growing impor- Translation Studies of America and the represen- tance of Translation Stud- NYU‟s Dept. of Comp Lit tations of translation in fic- ies, a field of inquiry central by engaging our department tion from that region and to the discipline, and spe- in dialogue with scholars “the subverted space of the cifically the Department of from other universities. The translator‟s footnotes.” Comparative Literature at genres of the talks were Both the representation NYU, but one that com- quite varied and comple- of translation and mands an interdisciplinary mentary, ranging from “translational” language translating Arabic fiction resonance as well. Hence, work-in-progress (whether politics, in this case of with a survey of shifting NYU‟s “Horizons of translational or critical), Ahdaf Soueif‟s fiction writ- trends in the field. Translation” series took commentary on translations ten in English, were the In addition to a number of place during an academic completed, to theoretically- subject of the next talk by dedicated attendees, the year when the presidential informed surveys of the Waïl Hassan, from the Uni- lectures drew a keen audi- forum of the 2009 Modern field and translators‟ testi- versity of Illinois-Urbana ence that tended to vary Language Association con- monies.