About the 2001-2002 Lectures
The University of California, Berkeley will host the prestigious Tanner
Lectures on Human Values, a three-day event to be held from November
6 to November 8, 2001. This fall, the lectures will focus on "Shakespeare
and Canonicity."
Leading literary critic and Shakespeare scholar Sir Frank Kermode will
deliver the 2001-2002 Tanner Lectures. Kermode will speak on "Pleasure"
on Tuesday, November 6, and "Change" on Wednesday, November
7. Both lectures will take place from 4:10 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the
Toll Room of the Alumni House, located on the Berkeley campus.
Following his lectures, Kermode will participate in a discussion seminar
on Thursday, November 8. The seminar will take place from 4:10 p.m.
to 6:30 p.m. in the Geballe Room of the Townsend Center for the Humanities
in 220 Stephens Hall, located on the Berkeley campus.
Commentators for the series will be renowned scholars John Guillory,
Professor of English at New York University, Geoffrey Hartman, Sterling
Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at Yale University,
and Carey Perloff, Artistic Director of the American Conservatory Theater
in San Francisco.
The lectures and the seminar are free and open to the public.
Lecture Schedule
Lecture One: Pleasure
Tuesday, November 6, 2001 4:10-6:30 p.m.
Toll Room, Alumni House
With commentary by Geoffrey Hartman
Lecture Two: Change
Wednesday, November 7, 2001 4:10-6:30 p.m.
Toll Room, Alumni House
With commentary by John Guillory and Carey Perloff
Seminar and Discussion
Thursday, November 8, 2001 4:10-6:30 p.m.
Geballe Room, Townsend Center for the Humanities, 220 Stephens Hall
With commentary by John Guillory, Geoffrey Hartman, and Carey Perloff
About Sir Frank Kermode
A leading Shakespeare scholar, Sir Frank Kermode is one of the most
important authorities in the field of literary history. Recognized for
having devoted his life to bridging the gap between literary criticism
and a broader audience, Kermode aims for a non-patronizing critique
understood by anyone with a genuine love for literature.
Born in 1919 on the Isle of Man, Kermode served as a lieutenant in
the Royal Navy during World War II. He was educated at Liverpool University.
Kermode is the former Lord Northcliffe Professor and King Edward VII
Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge and has
taught at numerous universities throughout the world, including Harvard
and Columbia. He holds honorary doctorates from several universities
and is a Fellow of numerous learned societies, including the British
Academy and the Royal Society of Literature. An Honorary Member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Arts
and Letters, Kermode was knighted in 1991 by HM the Queen.
Kermode's most popular works are on Shakespeare (1963-65) and D.H.
Lawrence (1973). He is also known for his editorship of "The Oxford
Anthology of English Literature" (2 volumes, 1973), and his provocative
studies "The Sense of an Ending" (1967), "The Genesis
of Secrecy" (1979), and "The Art of Telling" (1983).
His autobiography "Not Entitled: a Memoir" was published in
1995. In his most recent book "Shakespeare's Language" (2000),
which "is addressed to a non-professional audience with an interest
in Shakespeare," Kermode argues that Shakespeare became a different
writer after 1600, inventing a different and more audacious style for
each new play.
About the Commentators
John Guillory
Professor of English at New York University
John Guillory, a Professor of English at New York University, is a leading
thinker about the evolving position of literary studies and the academic
profession, in general, within societies both past and present. His
research interests include Renaissance literature, philosophy, political
theory, the history of criticism, the sociology of literary study, and
the canon debate.
Guillory's wide range of publications include "Poetic Authority:
Spencer, Milton, and Literary History" (1983), "Cultural Capital:
The Problem of Literary Canon Formation" (1993), and "What
is Left of Theory?: New Work on the Politics of Literary Theory"
(with J. Butler and K. Thomas, 2000). He is currently preparing monographs
on the sociology of literary study and on the emergence of philosophical
prose in England.
After earning his Ph.D. from Yale in 1979, Guillory taught at Yale,
Johns Hopkins, and Harvard Universities. He joined the New York University
faculty in 1999. He has held several professional positions, including
the Modern Language Association Committee on Professional Employment
(1996-97). He has been a recipient of the René Wellek Award of
the American Comparative Literature Association (1994) and several other
prizes and honors.
Geoffrey Hartman
Sterling Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at
Yale University
Geoffrey H. Hartman is the Sterling Professor Emeritus of English and
Comparative Literature at Yale University. Hartman has gained a reputation
as an outstanding scholar in the literature of the Romantic period and
is widely acclaimed for his contributions to Holocaust studies. He directed
the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale and was
one of the first to bring survivor testimonies to the general public
through documentary films for public television.
Hartman's numerous publications include "André Malraux"
(1960), "Romanticism: Vistas, Instances, Continuities" (1973),
"The Fate of Reading and Other Essays" (1975), "Shakespeare
and the Question of Theory" (1985), "The State of the Art
of Criticism" (1987), "Holocaust Remembrance: The Shapes of
Memory" (1994), "The Longest Shadow: In the Aftermath of the
Holocaust"
(1996), and "A Critic's Journey: Literary Reflections, 1958-1998"
(1999).
Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Hartman was a child of the Frankfurt "Kindertransport"
to England in 1938. He was educated at Queens College in New York and
at Yale University, where he earned a Ph.D. Hartman is the recipient
of numerous awards, including the 1997 Contemporary Jewish Thought Award,
and has been active in the creation of Jewish Studies programs in American
colleges.
Carey Perloff
Artistic Director of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco
Carey Perloff has guided the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.)
in San Francisco to unprecedented success since assuming its leadership
in 1992. She is known both for her innovative productions of classic
works and for acquiring new writing for the theater. During her tenure,
A.C.T. has won the prestigious Jujamcyn Theaters Award in 1996, and
reopened the Geary Theater damaged in the Loma Prieta Earthquake.
Perloff's work at A.C.T. includes the Geary Theater inaugural production
of Shakespeare's "Tempest", featuring David Strathairn and
the Kronos Quartet, the American premieres of Tom Stoppard's "Invention
of Love" and "Indian Ink," and a highly acclaimed production
of Timberlake Wertenbaker's new version of Euripides' "Hecuba"
with Olympia Dukakis. Perloff also teaches in the A.C.T. Advanced Training
Program.
Before joining A.C.T., Perloff was the Artistic Director of the Classic
Stage Company (C.S.C.) in New York. Under her leadership, the C.S.C.
won the Obie Award for artistic excellence in 1988, as well as several
Obies for acting, design, and direction.
Perloff received her B.A. in Classics and Comparative Literature from
Stanford University and was a Fulbright Fellow at Oxford University.
Perloff also was a faculty member of the Tisch School of Arts at New
York University for seven years.
