Launch of Early Modern Festivals Books Database

On Friday 4 May 2012 the Deputy Director of the Bodleian, Dr Richard Ovenden, launched the Early Modern Festival Books Database in the Divinity School in Oxford. The database is a freely available online resource to enable researchers to access more than three thousand descriptions in twelve languages of early modern festivals at courts and cities throughout Europe (http://festivals.mml.ox.ac.uk).

These works are often splendidly illustrated accounts of coronations, christenings and weddings, of tournaments, ballets, and operas and are a vital source of information for art historians, musicologists and historians of the period. Dr Ovenden commented: ‘How wonderful to be standing in a 15th century building, launching a 21st century research tool that will enable scholars to use 16th, 17th and 18th printed books!’

Fortunately Marie Antoinette and Maria Amalia, Queen of Naples (Charlotte Marshall of St Catherine’s and Nicola Deboys of Pembroke, both Second Year students of German sole, were able to attend.

Professor Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly elected a Fellow of the British Academy

Professor Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly is Chair of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages and a fellow of Exeter College, specialising in German literature and culture in the period 1450-1750. She has worked extensively on the culture of the European courts, on writing by women and on the representation of women in German literature from 1500 to the present.

Sir Adam Roberts, President of the Academy said: “The new Fellows, who come from 23 institutions across the UK, have outstanding expertise across the board – from social policy and government, to sign language and music. Our Fellows play a vital role in sustaining the Academy’s activities - from identifying excellence to be supported by research awards, to contributing to policy reports and speaking at the Academy’s public events. Their presence in the Academy will help it to sustain its support for research across the humanities and social sciences, and to inspire public interest in these disciplines.”

A new bursary has been established to provide financial assistance for undergraduates to attend a course in a South Slavonic language in the relevant country before taking it as a final-year option. The bursary is in memory of Anne Pennington who made invaluable contributions to Russian and Slavonic Studies at Oxford. More information about the bursary can be found here:

http://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/pennington

The Oxford German Network launched its website on 26 September 2012, European Day of Languages.

http://www.oxford-german-network.ox.ac.uk

The network is an initiative of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford, with the support of the Founding Partners Jesus College, Oxford, Magdalen College School, Oxford, and BMW Group Plant Oxford. It is designed to encourage and promote the study and enjoyment of German-language culture in the Oxford area and beyond, and will work closely with schools of all types as well as university departments, organisations and companies at a local and national level.

Alongside the website, the network's core activities will include facilitating workshops and events for learners of German and running a national competition: the Oxford German Olympiad.

Professor Patrick McGuinness has the won the 2012 Writers Guild Award for Best Fiction for his book The Last Hundred Days.

Miss Amy Cowan (Hertford College) has won the 2012 R.H. Gapper Undergraduate Essay Prize for her essay on the topic: 'A la recherche du temps perdu has been described as an epistemological quest. Explain and exemplify what this might mean.' The essay was judged outstanding by both the initial readers in the first round, and by the second round panel of judges.

The prize is awarded by the Society for French Studies for an essay in English or French, of between 2,000 and 5,000 words, on any subject within the scope of French studies. The award is for outstanding academic merit at undergraduate level, and the judges are a subcommittee of the Trustees of the Society for French Studies.

Miss Jessica Benhamou (St Hugh's College), must also be congratulated as being among the shortlist of six considered in the second round.

Dr Thibaut Maus de Rolley, a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow, has just been awarded a ‘Prix solennel de la Chancellerie des Universités de Paris’ for his doctoral thesis, a book version of which is forthcoming from Droz in 2011 under the title Élévations: l'écriture du voyage aérien à la Renaissance.

The editors of Oxford German Studies are pleased to announce that digitisation of the entire run of OGS is now complete.

The Faculty is sad to announce the death of Margaret Malpas in a nursing home on Sunday 23 January. Margaret had been associated with the Sub-Faculty of French for a great many years and was most recently a Lecturer at Hertford College, and taught at Keble, Pembroke, St. Edmund Hall & Trinity Colleges, amongst others. Margaret’s contribution to the teaching of language and linguistics has been extensive and many of her former students will remember her with affection. Condolences are extended to Margaret’s family; information about funeral arrangements will be circulated in due course.

Tom Earle (Professor of Portuguese in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages) has obtained several paperback copies of his book Black Africans in Renaissance Europe (Ed T. F. Earle, University of Oxford and K. J. P. Lowe, Queen Mary, University of London) which he would like to donate to University Libraries in Africa. The aim is to distribute these books by means of personal contacts rather than by risking them to the vagaries of the postal system. If any colleagues have links with, or are planning trips to, any African countries over the next few months, please contact Professor Earle (Thomas.earle@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk) to obtain a copy of the book to take with you. Copies have already been distributed to the University of Ghana in Accra, and to Chancellor College in Zomba, Malawi.

Further details of the book can be found on:

http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item5735921/?site_locale=en_GB

The Faculty regrets to announce the death on 22 February 2011 of Dr Gilbert McKay, a retired member of the German Sub-Faculty, and emeritus fellow of St Peter's.

More information regarding arrangements will follow. Our condolences go to his family, friends, and former colleagues.

The 2011 Sylvia Naish Lecture will be held on Thursday, 24 March 2011 and will be given by Alexandra Lloyd (Wadham College, Oxford) on 'Zeitzeugen' and 'Sachzeugen': the Physical Legacy of Third Reich Childhood.

The Sylvia Naish Lectures were launched in memory of Sylvia Naish, an accomplished linguist, translator, Friend of Germanic Studies and benefactor of the former Institute of Germanic Studies.

Each year, research students registered for higher degrees in the field of Germanic studies at Universities in the United Kingdom are invited to submit proposals for the next lecture. The event forms part of the Institute’s programme of activities, open to the public. The theme of the lecture should be related to the student’s topic of research. Modest travel and/or accommodation expenses as appropriate will be covered by the Sylvia Naish Bequest. The lecture is published in abridged form in the next issue of the Newsletter, annual magazine of the Friends of Germanic Studies.

More information can be found at:

The Sub-Faculty of Italian is pleased to announce the Giacomo da Lentini Prize for the best translation of an Italian sonnet into English

Poster (doc)

Each candidate is allowed TWO entries, which can be selected from ANY period of Italian literature. Entries should be sent, in hard copy, to Dr. E. Tandello at Christ Church - please NO electronic entries, unless you happen to be a third-year student currently abroad.

For any information about the prize, and conditions of entry, please contact Ela Tandello at Christ Church.

The Faculty regrets to announce the death of Paul Foote on 1 March 2011 in the John Radcliffe Hospital. Mr Foote was University Lecturer in Russian from 1954 until his retirement in 1993, and Fellow and Praelector in Russian at Queen's from 1964 until his retirement (and latterly an Emeritus Fellow).

More information regarding arrangements will follow. Our condolences go to his family, friends, and former colleagues.

A memorial service for Gudrun Loftus, Senior Language Instructor in German, will take place in St John's Chapel on Friday 6 May 2011, 11am, followed by a reception in the Garden Quad Reception Room, St John's College.

All friends, colleagues, and students past and present are welcome to attend (there is no need to RSVP).

Professor McGuinness is made Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres

Patrick McGuinness, Professor of French and Comparative Literature at St Anne's College, Oxford has been made Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in recognition of his creative writing. The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, established in 1957, rewards “artists who have significantly contributed to the development of art and literature in France and in the rest of the world.”

Professor McGuinness has written two books of poems - The Canals of Mars (2004) and Jilted City (2010), both published by Carcanet – which have been translated into several languages and have appeared, translated by Gilles Ortlieb, in French poetry journals, notably Théodore Balmoral. His edition of Charles Dantzig's Collected Poems was published by Grasset last year.

His novel - The Last Hundred Days - about the downfall of the Ceausescu regime in Romania is due for publication later this month, and he is working on a book on Poetry and Radical Politics in fin de siècle France.

The first published novel by Patrick McGuinness, Professor of French and Comparative Literature at St Anne's College, Oxford has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for fiction for 2011. 'The Last Hundred Days' was inspired by his experience of the 1989 Romanian revolution.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-14307727

I am a journalist and former Oxford University student and I would like to forward you details about internship opportunities for MFL students at EU Radio Nantes. I think this could be a great opportunity for students on their year abroad. They can come to France for 4-6 months and work at a European radio station. They must be able to speak and write French well, though they do not necessarily need to be bilingual in the strict sense of the word. This is a rigorous and serious journalism opportunity for people who are interested in Europe. It's a great way for students to perfect their French and they will be trained to be a European radio journalist through hands on work.

Please find attached the details of the internship, as well as an application pack. Internships are available from March and from September 2010.

Please email year-abroad@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk to request further information.

Kind regards,

Victoria Sill
(Hertford College 2004)

The committee's citation for the honorable mention reads:

"Andrew Kahn has produced an extremely erudite study of Pushkin's lyrics, in which he explores and elucidates the intellectual context for these works. Very well read in the contemporary scholarship on English and continental Romanticism, he reveals the extent of Pushkin's profound engagement with the literary and cultural movements of his day. The volume is imaginatively organized around a set of themes that shed light on how Russia's greatest poet formed and developed his ideas about such matters as the role of inspiration in creativity, the classical and the Romantic, the question of commercial success for the artist, concepts of the hero, and the confrontation with mortality."

Andrew Kahn is university reader in Russian at the University of Oxford, fellow at Saint Edmund Hall, and lecturer at Queen's College. He is the editor of the Cambridge Companion to Pushkin and translator of Nicolai Karamzin, Letters of a Russian Traveler. His articles have appeared in journals such as Stanford Slavic Studies, Révue des Études Slaves, and EMF and books such as Remapping the Rise...

Colleagues and students will be saddened to learn of the death of Professor Elizabeth Fallaize on 6 December 2009. Please follow the links to see the obituaries that appeared in the national press.

The Times, 06/01/10, p54
Obituary: “Elizabeth Fallaize was an international authority on the work of Simone de Beauvoir as well as a leading figure in French studies, a much loved teacher and mentor, and from 2005 to 2008 a highly effective Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education at the University of Oxford.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6976887.ece

The Guardian, p.20, 04/01/2010, Judith Still
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/jan/03/simonedebeauvoir-oxforduniversity

The Society for French Studies has announced the results of the 2009 Postgraduate Gapper Essay Prize. The winner is:

‘Skinner in Tandem: Against Methodological “Servitude Volontaire”’ by Tanya Raie Filer (University of Oxford)

The award includes a cash prize of £750 and expenses-paid travel to the next annual conference.