Events
Past Events
October 14A Dialogue on Modernist Narrative 3:30 - 5:00 in Denney 311
Stephen Kern, OSU Department of History, and Sarah Copland, Project Narrative Visiting Scholar.
October 2
Reading: Rebecca Goldstein
Philosopher and novelist Rebecca Goldstein (www.rebeccagoldstein.com) will read from her fiction, which integrates narrative, science, and philosophy. On naming her a fellow, the MacArthur Foundation described Goldstein as "a writer whose novels and short stories dramatize the concerns of philosophy without sacrificing the demands of imaginative storytelling."
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, a novelist and philosopher, was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" prize for her ability to "dramatize the concerns of philosophy without sacrificing the demands of imaginative storytelling." She graduated summa cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University and received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. She has taught philosophy at Barnard College, Columbia University, Rutgers University and Trinity College. She is currently an associate researcher at Harvard University. Her areas of specialty are philosophy of science, seventeenth-century rationalism, and mathematical logic. Her second career is as a novelist. Her first novel was the critically acclaimed bestseller The Mind-Body Problem. She has received numerous prizes for her five other works of fiction, including National Jewish Book Awards for both Strange Attractors and Mazel and the Whiting Writers' Award for The Dark Sister. In addition she has published two non-fiction books. The first Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel was chosen by Discover Magazine as among the best ten science books published in 2006. Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity, was the winner of the Koret International Prize. She has been awarded two honorary doctorates, a Guggenheim fellowship, and a Radcliffe fellowship, and is a Humanist Laureate and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her latest novel is entitled 36 Arguments for The Existence of God: A Work of Fiction. It will be published in January, 2010
October 1
SITI Company: Who Do You Think You Are 8 pm at the Wexner Center Performance Space
New York City-based contemporary theater ensemble SITI Company (www.siti.org) will perform Who Do You Think You Are, presented by Ohio State's Wexner Center for the Arts, who co-commissioned this piece that focuses on recent discoveries about brain science. SITI artistic director Anne Bogart describes the production: "When we begin to examine the chemistry of emotion, thought and action, does our own scrutiny alter the emotion, the thought or the action? When studying the mind, does the mind study you? Our task is to construct a play that simultaneously suggests the complexity of human experience while celebrating its elegance and simplicity." The performance will be followed by a panel session Friday morning with Anne Bogart and other Symposium speakers. Conference registration fee includes a ticket to the performance
October 1-3
Project Narrative and the Wexner Center for the Arts Symposium on Narrative, Science, and Performance
The Blackwell Inn, The Ohio State University.See the conference schedule
This Symposium, held during the 50th anniversary of C.P. Snow's discussion of the "two cultures," will bring scientists and humanists together to explore new possibilities for dialogue. Speakers will address such issues as the following: how practices developed in the sciences relate to assumptions and methods of humanistic study; how concepts from science re-shape forms of narrative and performance and how story and performance in turn re-frame scientific concepts; where theoretical dimensions of narrative and performance might intersect with storytelling dimensions of scientific inquiry; and what challenges and opportunities face attempts to communicate across long-standing disciplinary divides.
Project Narrative aims to promote state-of-the art research and teaching in the field of narrative studies. Drawing on ideas from multiple disciplines, the Project focuses on narrative in all of its guises. (projectnarrative.osu.edu)
Wexner Center for the Arts' performing arts and education programs are made possible with support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation and Wexner Center members, as well as from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, The Columbus Foundation, Nationwide Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council. (wexarts.org)
To register for the Symposium, send your name, contact information (including email), and registration fee (cash or check: $50 / $35 student) to:
Project Narrative
Attn: Nicholas Hetrick
164 W. 17th Ave.
Columbus, OH 43210
Rooms are available at the Blackwell Inn. Reservations can be made at The Blackwell Inn Web site or by calling 614-247-4000.
If you have questions regarding the Symposium, write to nicholas.hetrick@gmail.com.
Project Narrative aims to promote state-of-the art research and teaching in the field of narrative studies. Drawing on ideas from multiple disciplines, the Project focuses on narrative in all of its guises. (projectnarrative.osu.edu)
Wexner Center for the Arts' performing arts and education programs are made possible with support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation and Wexner Center members, as well as from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, The Columbus Foundation, Nationwide Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council. (wexarts.org)
To register for the Symposium, send your name, contact information (including email), and registration fee (cash or check: $50 / $35 student) to:
Project Narrative
Attn: Nicholas Hetrick
164 W. 17th Ave.
Columbus, OH 43210
Rooms are available at the Blackwell Inn. Reservations can be made at The Blackwell Inn Web site or by calling 614-247-4000.
If you have questions regarding the Symposium, write to nicholas.hetrick@gmail.com.
May 19
Prophets in Their Own Country: Issues in the Rhetorical Theory of Narrative
Denney 311, 3:30 pm
Anne Langendorfer, "The Narratee in Life in the Iron Mills"
Jim Phelan, "Progression, Speed, and Judgment in Kafka's 'Das Urteil'"
Anne Langendorfer, "The Narratee in Life in the Iron Mills"
Jim Phelan, "Progression, Speed, and Judgment in Kafka's 'Das Urteil'"
May 11
University Persons into Form: Character-Space in Bruegel and Dickens
Denney 311, 3:30 pm
Alex Woloch, Stanford
Alex Woloch, Stanford
April 22
Prophets in Their Own Country: Writing the Self, Writing the Other: Author and Audience in Popular Disability Narrative
Knight House, 4 pm
Nicholas Hetrick, "Words and Worlds in Disability Studies and Narrative Theory"
Melanie Yergeau, "Empathy, Rhetoric, and Bodily Displacement in Parent Narratives of Autism"
Krista Paradiso, "Gender, Authority, and Audience in Bipolar Life Writing"
Nicholas Hetrick, "Words and Worlds in Disability Studies and Narrative Theory"
Melanie Yergeau, "Empathy, Rhetoric, and Bodily Displacement in Parent Narratives of Autism"
Krista Paradiso, "Gender, Authority, and Audience in Bipolar Life Writing"
April 15
Prophets in Their Own Country: Cognition and Emotion.
Denney 311. 3:30 pm
Elizabeth Nixon, "'No Shark Supervised the Tragedy': Humor and the Horrific in The God of Small Things"
Frederick Aldama, "A Multilevel Approach to Narrative and Emotions across Media"
Elizabeth Nixon, "'No Shark Supervised the Tragedy': Humor and the Horrific in The God of Small Things"
Frederick Aldama, "A Multilevel Approach to Narrative and Emotions across Media"
April 6
TheoRhetoric as Narrative: Political Theology, St. Paul, and the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Steven Mailloux, University of California-Irvine.
Denney 311, 3:30 pm
Denney 311, 3:30 pm
March 31
The Prophetic Power of The Birds
John Hellmann. Knight House, 4 pm
Response by Linda Mizejewski
Discussion moderated by Ron Green
February 26
Digital Storytelling - Giving Purpose to Pixels
Joe Lambert, Center for the Study of Digital Storytelling, Berkeley, CA
Knight House
Feb 26, 4:00 PM
Digital Storytelling has come to represent a method, a style and a value system that has informed the practice of thousands of educators, social workers and communications professionals. Supporting people to explore their lives in short films, created with the minimum elements of photography, the voice, soundtrack and a few effects, has helped to lift creative writing from the page to the screen. The approach of the Center for Digital Storytelling seeks to use personal story sharing as a transformative process in constructing identity and re-framing the experience of loss and trauma. CDS Founder Joe Lambert will discuss the necessity for a revolution in our thinking about emotional courage, reflective practice and the learning process.
Joe Lambert is the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Digital Storytelling.
Since 1993, he and his colleagues have developed a unique computer training and arts program known as the Digital Storytelling Workshop. Joe has been the lead in offering the process in 45 U.S. states and 21 countries, assisting in the completion of more than 10,000 video works. Joe has helped to adapt Digital Storytelling in many forms, including web sites, CD-ROMs, DVD, short films and videos, google maps and cell phone based tours. He has worked in countless contests including with youth, elders, the disabled, educators, community-based organizations, broadcast organizations, and social issue campaigns.
Joe has authored and produced curricula in many contexts, including the Digital Storytelling Cookbook, the principle manual for the workshop process, and the text entitled Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community (Digital Diner Press 2002, 2006).
Prior to his career in New Media, Joe was the successful producer, director and writer in theater, having been Executive Director of the People's Theater Coalition (1984-86) and founder and Executive Director of Life On The Water (1986-1993).
Knight House
Feb 26, 4:00 PM
Digital Storytelling has come to represent a method, a style and a value system that has informed the practice of thousands of educators, social workers and communications professionals. Supporting people to explore their lives in short films, created with the minimum elements of photography, the voice, soundtrack and a few effects, has helped to lift creative writing from the page to the screen. The approach of the Center for Digital Storytelling seeks to use personal story sharing as a transformative process in constructing identity and re-framing the experience of loss and trauma. CDS Founder Joe Lambert will discuss the necessity for a revolution in our thinking about emotional courage, reflective practice and the learning process.
Joe Lambert is the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Digital Storytelling.
Since 1993, he and his colleagues have developed a unique computer training and arts program known as the Digital Storytelling Workshop. Joe has been the lead in offering the process in 45 U.S. states and 21 countries, assisting in the completion of more than 10,000 video works. Joe has helped to adapt Digital Storytelling in many forms, including web sites, CD-ROMs, DVD, short films and videos, google maps and cell phone based tours. He has worked in countless contests including with youth, elders, the disabled, educators, community-based organizations, broadcast organizations, and social issue campaigns.
Joe has authored and produced curricula in many contexts, including the Digital Storytelling Cookbook, the principle manual for the workshop process, and the text entitled Digital Storytelling: Capturing Lives, Creating Community (Digital Diner Press 2002, 2006).
Prior to his career in New Media, Joe was the successful producer, director and writer in theater, having been Executive Director of the People's Theater Coalition (1984-86) and founder and Executive Director of Life On The Water (1986-1993).
February 9
Reading from her work
Danielle Ofri
Ross Heart Hospital Auditorium, 451 W. 10th Avenue Feb 9, 7:00 PM
This event is co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and the Medical School.
Ross Heart Hospital Auditorium, 451 W. 10th Avenue Feb 9, 7:00 PM
This event is co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and the Medical School.
February 2
The Beginning and End of Postmodernism
Brian McHale and Aaron McKain
Denney 311
Feb 2, 3:30 PM
This session will inaugurate our series, Prophets in Their Own Country, in which Project Narrative affiliates present at OSU papers that they have delivered or will soon deliver in venues around the country and around the world.
Brian McHale, "1966 Nervous Breakdown, or, When did Postmodernism Begin?" Aaron McKain, "2008: The Year We Re-Made Contact (or, Why Did Postmodernism End)"
Each speaker will talk for about 30 minutes, and then we'll open the floor for general discussion and debate.
Denney 311
Feb 2, 3:30 PM
This session will inaugurate our series, Prophets in Their Own Country, in which Project Narrative affiliates present at OSU papers that they have delivered or will soon deliver in venues around the country and around the world.
Brian McHale, "1966 Nervous Breakdown, or, When did Postmodernism Begin?" Aaron McKain, "2008: The Year We Re-Made Contact (or, Why Did Postmodernism End)"
Each speaker will talk for about 30 minutes, and then we'll open the floor for general discussion and debate.
January 9
Roundtable on the Fiction/Nonfiction Distinction
Michelle Herman, Lee Martin, James Phelan, and Julia Watson
Denney 311
Jan 9, 1:30-3:00 PM
This roundtable will bring together two creative writers, a rhetorical theorist, and a scholar of autobiography to compare and contrast their perspectives on the advantages of retaining or dismantling the distinction between fiction and non-fiction. Do the writers find it an enabling distinction in their work? Is the distinction itself a kind of fiction, even if a necessary one? Why is it important to readers? How does it influence our judgments about the ethics of narrative? The speakers will offer short takes on questions such as these, and then we will open the floor for general discussion and debate.
Denney 311
Jan 9, 1:30-3:00 PM
This roundtable will bring together two creative writers, a rhetorical theorist, and a scholar of autobiography to compare and contrast their perspectives on the advantages of retaining or dismantling the distinction between fiction and non-fiction. Do the writers find it an enabling distinction in their work? Is the distinction itself a kind of fiction, even if a necessary one? Why is it important to readers? How does it influence our judgments about the ethics of narrative? The speakers will offer short takes on questions such as these, and then we will open the floor for general discussion and debate.
November 18, 2008
"Not Quite Not-There: Dickens's Narrative Refusals"
Robyn Warhol-Down, University of Vermont.
311 Denney Hall, 164 W. 17th Ave.
Tuesday, Nov 18, 3:30 PM
Looking at what I call "narrative refusals" gives us a glimpse at a previously unrecognized facet of the complexities that form Dickens's style, allowing us to see differently what is there by turning our attention to what is marked as explicitly not-there. The paper outlines the pervasive uses of unnarration (when a narrator says he or she will not tell something) and disnarration (when a narrator tells something that did not happen in place of telling what did) in such Dickens novels as Great Expectations, Our Mutual Friend, and Dombey and Son, then turns to an earlier work, Nicholas Nickleby, where narrative refusals are already incipient, though more rare than in middle and later Dickens. When narrative refusal is present in Dickens, the figure takes one of at least three different forms: negation of action or situation ("it was not. . . not. . . not"), misattribution of characters' feelings and agency to a fictitious "Nobody" (as in Little Dorrit) and subjunctive narration detailing what might have happened, but does not. I will concentrate in this paper on negated and subjunctive disnarration of "what might have been" but "is not what is," to quote what R. Wilfer says about the counterfactual in Our Mutual Friend.
Negative and subjunctive narrative refusals work in Dickens to create a shadow world repressed, as it were, from the main narrative, as well as to enhance the effect of character depth. At their most interesting, they outline a narrative unconscious for each of Dickens's texts, more painstakingly worked out than the representation of the psychology of any of the characters. It is not a collective unconscious, but rather a collection of specific possibilities and details the text presents in order to leave out, while not altogether forgetting, what I call the "shadow narrative." When the shadow narrative emerges through narrative refusals, the "repressed" of the text returns, not quite not-there.
311 Denney Hall, 164 W. 17th Ave.
Tuesday, Nov 18, 3:30 PM
Looking at what I call "narrative refusals" gives us a glimpse at a previously unrecognized facet of the complexities that form Dickens's style, allowing us to see differently what is there by turning our attention to what is marked as explicitly not-there. The paper outlines the pervasive uses of unnarration (when a narrator says he or she will not tell something) and disnarration (when a narrator tells something that did not happen in place of telling what did) in such Dickens novels as Great Expectations, Our Mutual Friend, and Dombey and Son, then turns to an earlier work, Nicholas Nickleby, where narrative refusals are already incipient, though more rare than in middle and later Dickens. When narrative refusal is present in Dickens, the figure takes one of at least three different forms: negation of action or situation ("it was not. . . not. . . not"), misattribution of characters' feelings and agency to a fictitious "Nobody" (as in Little Dorrit) and subjunctive narration detailing what might have happened, but does not. I will concentrate in this paper on negated and subjunctive disnarration of "what might have been" but "is not what is," to quote what R. Wilfer says about the counterfactual in Our Mutual Friend.
Negative and subjunctive narrative refusals work in Dickens to create a shadow world repressed, as it were, from the main narrative, as well as to enhance the effect of character depth. At their most interesting, they outline a narrative unconscious for each of Dickens's texts, more painstakingly worked out than the representation of the psychology of any of the characters. It is not a collective unconscious, but rather a collection of specific possibilities and details the text presents in order to leave out, while not altogether forgetting, what I call the "shadow narrative." When the shadow narrative emerges through narrative refusals, the "repressed" of the text returns, not quite not-there.
November 13-14, 2008
Nicholas Dames, Columbia University. Grad workshop for 18th-19th C. group. PN to co-sponsor.
November 10, 2008"The Rhetoric of Comics."
Talk by Karin Kukkonen (Ph.D candidate at U of Mainz and U of Tampere [joint arrangement]) Co-sponsored with the Cartoon Research Library
Room 021L Wexner Center (next to the Cartoon Research Library)
Monday, Nov. 10, 4:00 PM
Being a medium of visual narration, the images of comics are not limited to merely showing events. On the contrary, much of their storytelling relies on what the image sequences tell readers. Yet are images even capable of telling like language? Can they reproduce the stylistic effects of metaphor and metonymy? And will Superman escape the clutches of anaphora or is he doomed to live through the same story time and again?
Addressing these and other questions, Karin Kukkonen's talk explores the visual rhetoric of comics narration on the levels of individual images, image sequences and larger narrative structure. If the rhetoric of comics emerges from the same thought patterns as classical rhetoric, she argues, this longstanding critical tradition can help us to understand how comics tell their story.
Room 021L Wexner Center (next to the Cartoon Research Library)
Monday, Nov. 10, 4:00 PM
Being a medium of visual narration, the images of comics are not limited to merely showing events. On the contrary, much of their storytelling relies on what the image sequences tell readers. Yet are images even capable of telling like language? Can they reproduce the stylistic effects of metaphor and metonymy? And will Superman escape the clutches of anaphora or is he doomed to live through the same story time and again?
Addressing these and other questions, Karin Kukkonen's talk explores the visual rhetoric of comics narration on the levels of individual images, image sequences and larger narrative structure. If the rhetoric of comics emerges from the same thought patterns as classical rhetoric, she argues, this longstanding critical tradition can help us to understand how comics tell their story.
November 5, 2008
"Why the Humanities Matter," A Mini Symposium
Project Narrative and The Narrative and Cognition Working Group of the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities are pleased to present:
"Why the Humanities Matter," A Mini Symposium
311 Denney Hall, 164 W. 17th Avenue
Wednesday, November 5, 3:30 pm
Participants include: Jonathan Gottaschall, Frank Donoghue, Sebastian Knowles, Nina Berman, Paul Reitter, and Frederick Aldama Keynote: "Literature, Science, and a New Humanities"
by Jonathan Gottaschall, Washington and Jefferson College
4:00 pm
Co-sponsored by the Narrative and Cognition Working Group.
"Why the Humanities Matter," A Mini Symposium
311 Denney Hall, 164 W. 17th Avenue
Wednesday, November 5, 3:30 pm
Participants include: Jonathan Gottaschall, Frank Donoghue, Sebastian Knowles, Nina Berman, Paul Reitter, and Frederick Aldama Keynote: "Literature, Science, and a New Humanities"
by Jonathan Gottaschall, Washington and Jefferson College
4:00 pm
Co-sponsored by the Narrative and Cognition Working Group.
JONATHAN GOTTSCHALL has a PhD in English and teaches the same at Washington & Jefferson College. He is the author of Literature, Science, and a New Humanities (Palgrave 2008) and The Rape of Troy: Evolution, Violence, and the World of Homer (Cambridge 2008); he is the coeditor of The Literary Animal: Evolution and the Nature of Narrative (Northwesthern 2005) and Evolutionary Approaches to Literature and Film: A Reader in Science and Art (forthcoming, Columbia University Press). He has published articles in the journals of several disciplines, and he has also written for mainstream periodicals like New Scientist and The Boston Globe.
His studies at the intersection of the sciences and humanities have been featured in articles for The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Nature, Science, The Boston Globe, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Seed Magazine, Scientific American Mind, New Scientist, The Times of London, Der Spiegel, and a couple of dozen other national and international magazines, newspapers, and radio programs.
His studies at the intersection of the sciences and humanities have been featured in articles for The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Nature, Science, The Boston Globe, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Seed Magazine, Scientific American Mind, New Scientist, The Times of London, Der Spiegel, and a couple of dozen other national and international magazines, newspapers, and radio programs.
October 21, 2008
Nicole Hollander, student workshop.
Co-sponsored by Cartoon Research Library.
October 2, 2008
James Peterson, Bucknell University. "Mortal Lyricism: Preconstruction and Ethnopoetics in Rap Narratives" 4:00 pm Hale Center, Martin Luther King Room
Co-sponsored by AAAS, Hale Center School of Music
May 27, 2008
Project Narrative mixer! at Wendell's (Alumni Grille), 300 W. Lane Avenue.
May 20, 2008Presentation by Philip Weinstein of Swarthmore College on "Unknowing:
Freud, Proust, Kafka, Faulkner, and the Subversion of Enlightenment Protocols." 3:30 - 5:00 in Scott Lab, Room 40. Co-sponsored by the English Department, the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, and the History Department.
May 16, 2008
A Cross-Campus View of Story in Teaching, Research, and Outreach. 1:00 – 2:30 in the Wexner Center Film/Video Theater
Co-sponsored by Project Narrative, The Digital Union, The Office of Faculty and TA Development, The Office of Technology-Enhanced Learning and Research, and Ohio State University Libraries
Join us for a lively conversation about how colleagues from across the campus use the notion of "story" to define and enhance their teaching, research, and outreach activities. Panelists will include Adeleke Adeeko (English), Susan Fisher (Biology), Joe Ponce (English), Joy Reilly (Theatre), and Sabra Webber (Near Eastern Languages and Culture/Comp Studies). Audience participation is encouraged! This is the third and final event in OSU's daylong celebration of the International Day for Sharing Life Stories. For more information about additional events at OSU, see: http://telr.osu.edu/storytelling/dayofstories.html For information about the international celebration, see: http://internationaldayblog.storycenter.org/
Join us for a lively conversation about how colleagues from across the campus use the notion of "story" to define and enhance their teaching, research, and outreach activities. Panelists will include Adeleke Adeeko (English), Susan Fisher (Biology), Joe Ponce (English), Joy Reilly (Theatre), and Sabra Webber (Near Eastern Languages and Culture/Comp Studies). Audience participation is encouraged! This is the third and final event in OSU's daylong celebration of the International Day for Sharing Life Stories. For more information about additional events at OSU, see: http://telr.osu.edu/storytelling/dayofstories.html For information about the international celebration, see: http://internationaldayblog.storycenter.org/
May 14, 2008
The Sopranos vs. Lost: Debating the "Highs" and "Lows" of the Serial Narrative Arts
For the second in the new series of Project Narrative debates, Sean O'Sullivan and Jared Gardner will be tackling their shared interest in serial narrative from two very different perspectives. In the corner of The Sopranos, Sean will be arguing for formal innovation, the art of the everyday, and the vital role of serial fiction in literary history. In the corner of Lost, Jared will be arguing for intertextuality, the interactive pleasures of seriality, and the high art of low culture. The debate will aim to use these two series as touchstones for broader questions about serial television and cinema.
May 6, 2008
Talk by Joseph Slaughter, from the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University
Talk on "Making Human Rights Legible: Narrative Forms, Legal Norms, and the Universal Declaration." 4:00 - 6:00 p.m., Denney Hall 311.
Co-sponsored by Project Narrative; Rhetoric, Composition and Literacy (Rhetorical Visions); and the Department of English
Joseph Slaughter argues that the twentieth-century rise of the "world novel" and of international human rights law are related phenomena: they share a conceptual vocabulary and a deep narrative grammar for imagining what sociologists, early theorists of the novel, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) have each called "the free and full development of the human personality." International law projects an image of the human being whose normative life story corresponds to the narrative conventions and humanist social vision of the classical European Bildungsroman, which gives literary form to and normalizes the moral and ideological claims of human rights.
Slaughter's book Human Rights, Inc. The World Novel, Narrative Form, and International Law just received the Rene Wellek Prize (2008), awarded by the American Comparative Literature Association for an outstanding work in the field of literary and cultural theory.
Co-sponsored by Project Narrative; Rhetoric, Composition and Literacy (Rhetorical Visions); and the Department of English
Joseph Slaughter argues that the twentieth-century rise of the "world novel" and of international human rights law are related phenomena: they share a conceptual vocabulary and a deep narrative grammar for imagining what sociologists, early theorists of the novel, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) have each called "the free and full development of the human personality." International law projects an image of the human being whose normative life story corresponds to the narrative conventions and humanist social vision of the classical European Bildungsroman, which gives literary form to and normalizes the moral and ideological claims of human rights.
Slaughter's book Human Rights, Inc. The World Novel, Narrative Form, and International Law just received the Rene Wellek Prize (2008), awarded by the American Comparative Literature Association for an outstanding work in the field of literary and cultural theory.
April 29, 2008
Workshop on "Current Trends in Narrative Theory: International Perspectives"
A workshop featuring a panel of scholars from Denmark, England, Israel, and Norway. 4:00 - 6:00, The Knight House (104 E. 15th Avenue).
More information about the workshop.
April 9, 2008
Panel discussion on the work of novelist Brian Evenson and issues in the study of experimental writing
April 10, 2008Talk by artist Christopher Sperandio
April 14 & 15, 2008Visit by Brian Evenson, who will conduct a for-credit graduate workshop and also give a reading from his fiction
Drawing on work by a range of narrative theorists (Gerard Genette, Mieke Bal, Manfred Jahn, and Ruth Ronen), and putting this scholarship into dialogue with several short stories, this workshop will discuss productive interactions between contemporary writing and narrative theory. We'll look at fiction (by William Trevor, Bruno Schulz, and Kelly Link) that poses narrative problems, thinking both about how narrative theory can help us see the problems in a different light and about how, in turn, these works help us see potential blindspots in the theory itself. What do we, as writers and students of literature, have to learn from one another?
March 27, 2008
"Two Kinds of Recognition Respect: Narrative and Truth in Human Relations", presentation by Steve Darwall, Department of Philosophy, University of Michigan.
In The Second-Person Standpoint, I argue that holding ourselves accountable to each other mediates a fundamental form of respect, or recognition, of one another as having a common basic dignity as persons. But this is not the only form that something called "respect for persons" has historically taken. In honor cultures, respect is a response to personae, that is, to individuals as occupying different roles or statuses in a social performance or narrative. I explore this fundamental difference between honor cultures and accountability cultures and their different relations to narrative and truth-seeking, respectively.
April 3, 2008
Colloquium featuring the research of Jan Alber and Marina Grishakova, international visiting scholars working under the auspices of Project Narrative.
For more information, please visit the Colloquium Home Page.
February 29, 2008
Norman Jones, "The Erotics of Narrative: Sexuality Studies, Narrative Theory, and Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!," with a response by Joe Ponce
Focusing on Absalom, Absalom! as a case study, this talk explores narrative as a form of ethical argumentation particularly well-suited to articulating sexually marginalized subject positions in powerful ways. Analyzing this link between modes of narration and strategies for ethical positioning, I argue that ideas from narrative theory can help us productively reconceptualize sexual identities. I also suggest ways in which narrative theory and sexuality studies can benefit from being conceived of as interconnected domains within a broader field of inquiry.
February 21, 2008
"Shipwreck Narratives and the Reinvention of Self," a Presentation by James Morrison, co-sponsored with Greek and Latin
This talk on the literary treatment of shipwrecks explores the opportunity for personal transformation and the reinvention of self with respect to romantic possibilities or a change in political or social status. I examine the classical models of Homer's Odyssey, Shakespeare's Tempest, and Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, with regard to the circumstances and consequences of the shipwreck itself; developments regarding identity and self-transformation; and the historical circumstances lying behind the fiction. Modern adaptations by Walcott, Cesaire, Coetzee-and "Cast Away" and "Lost"--demonstrate the vitality of this archetypal scene: a shipwrecked survivor confronting the elements. After a quick survey of the larger project, I will focus on the narrative techniques used to establish that someone has taken on a new role after surviving the wreck.
February 14, 2008
Debate between Aman Garcha and James Phelan on historical versus rhetorical approaches to narrative
Click here for streaming audio of the debate
"What's at Stake: Rhetorical vs. Historical Approaches to Studying Narrative"
To help elucidate the critical consequences of studying narrative using rhetorical as opposed to historical techniques (or historical as opposed to rhetorical techniques), this event will seek to explain the main points of difference, dissension, and possible incompatibility between these two important modes of literary analysis. The event will take the form of a debate between Professors Jim Phelan and Amanpal Garcha, in which they will discuss these approaches' different answers to some of literary criticism's largest questions: How can criticism best capture readers' engagements with literary texts? If that engagement has an ethical dimension, can that dimension be understood as transhistorical? What kinds of knowledge about narrative do historical and rhetorical approaches seek? How well do the current methods of each approach enable each to produce that knowledge? How might we evaluate such knowledge from within a larger understanding of the aims of literary study?
To help elucidate the critical consequences of studying narrative using rhetorical as opposed to historical techniques (or historical as opposed to rhetorical techniques), this event will seek to explain the main points of difference, dissension, and possible incompatibility between these two important modes of literary analysis. The event will take the form of a debate between Professors Jim Phelan and Amanpal Garcha, in which they will discuss these approaches' different answers to some of literary criticism's largest questions: How can criticism best capture readers' engagements with literary texts? If that engagement has an ethical dimension, can that dimension be understood as transhistorical? What kinds of knowledge about narrative do historical and rhetorical approaches seek? How well do the current methods of each approach enable each to produce that knowledge? How might we evaluate such knowledge from within a larger understanding of the aims of literary study?
January 23, 28 & February 4, 2008
Job talks by candidates for the Project Narrative position
Job talks by candidates for the Project Narrative position on Wednesday, 1/23/08; Monday, 1/28/08, and Monday, 2/4/08. All talks were held in Denney Hall, Room 311
November 8, 2007
Carol Tyler, "Sepia Tome: Telling Dad's World War II Story,"
A presentation by graphic novelist Carol Tyler about her forthcoming book, "Sepia Tome." (For more details about Carol Tyler, visit http://www.bloomerland.com/index.htm). Co-sponsored by the OSU Cartoon Research Library, Project Narrative, the Department of Women's Studies, and the Harvey Goldberg Program for Excellence in Teaching in the Department of History
November 5, 2007
Workshop on Cognitive Narratology with Alan Palmer and H. Porter Abbott
URL for page with links to pdf versions of the papers for the workshop: http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/herman145/CNworkshop.html
Anyone planning to attend the workshop is encouraged to download these two papers and read them in advance, since the panelists will not be presenting the papers in their entirety during the session itself. Rather, this will be a true workshop, in which the two panelists each take 15 minutes to synopsize their arguments and put them into dialogue with one another. The rest of the time be left open for a broader discussion among the panelists and others in attendance.
Anyone planning to attend the workshop is encouraged to download these two papers and read them in advance, since the panelists will not be presenting the papers in their entirety during the session itself. Rather, this will be a true workshop, in which the two panelists each take 15 minutes to synopsize their arguments and put them into dialogue with one another. The rest of the time be left open for a broader discussion among the panelists and others in attendance.
- Alan Palmer (Independent Scholar, London, UK), "Social Minds"
- H. Porter Abbott (Research Professor, UC-Santa Barbara), "Unreadable Minds"
November 2, 2007
Joann Bromberg (Independent Scholar), "Building a Social World through Conversational Narrative,"
By telling personal stories we build our social identity; by exchanging or withholding our stories we manage our social relationships; and through story exchanges we construe, and even change, society.
Co-sponsored by Project Narrative and the Narrative and Cognitive Theory Working Group
Co-sponsored by Project Narrative and the Narrative and Cognitive Theory Working Group
October 25-27, 2007
"Multicultural Narratives and Narrative Theory," Ohio State University
This symposium will bring together scholars working in narrative theory with those working in U.S. ethnic and postcolonial literary studies. The aim: to explore how scholarship that has up to now followed two separate critical paths might enrich our understanding of both once put into formal dialogue. In order to enhance this dialogue, we are deliberately limiting the number of speakers to approximately fifteen, and there will be no concurrent sessions. We also plan to build on this dialogue by publishing a collection of essays that will be revisions of the papers delivered at the symposium.
More information about the Symposium.
More information about the Symposium.
October 19, 2007
Eugene Holland (Department of Comparative Studies, OSU), "Narrative and Ideology after Althusser"; respondent: Rick Livingston (Comparative Studies and the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities)
Schizoanalysis realizes unsuspected potential in Althusser's ground-breaking redefinition of ideology, which connected Freudian and Marxist analyses of the determination of subjectivity through interpellation as the cornerstone of ideology. But it turns out that interpellation is a narrative act, not merely a linguistic one, and for schizoanalysis, ideological narratives must answer simultaneously to psychological and socio-historical demands - as case studies of Charles Baudelaire and Carl Schmitt will show.
Co-sponsored by Project Narrative, the Narrative and Cognition Working Group, the Cultural Difference and Democracy Working Group, and the Political Theory Workshop.
Co-sponsored by Project Narrative, the Narrative and Cognition Working Group, the Cultural Difference and Democracy Working Group, and the Political Theory Workshop.
October 9, 2007
Herbert Lindenberger (Avalon Foundation Professor Humanities, Emeritus, Stanford University), "Arts in the Brain,"
This talk explores some recent studies in neuroscience and cognitive psychology to see what they might tell us about the diverse ways that we experience literature, painting, and music.
Sponsored by the Working Group on Narrative and Cognitive Theory
Sponsored by the Working Group on Narrative and Cognitive Theory
September 26, 2007
"Mark Z. Danielewski Workshop and Reading,"
Mark Z. Danielewski will give a reading from his latest book, Only Revolutions, on Wednesday, September 26, 2007, at 7:00 pm, in 311 Denney Hall. The reading is jointly sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and Project Narrative, and is free and open to the public.
In preparation for Danielewski's visit, all those interested in his work are invited to participate in a workshop on his novel, House of Leaves, on Thursday, September 20, 2007, at 4:00 pm, in 311 Denney Hall. Four panelists will each speak briefly on Danielewski's novel, followed by an open discussion. The panelists are Richard Fletcher (assistant professor, Greek and Latin), Brian Hauser (Ph.D. candidate, English), Chris Higgs (MFA candidate, English), and Paul McCormick (Ph.D. candidate, English); Brian McHale, of Project Narrative, will moderate the session.
Panelists will respond to an essay on House of Leaves by N. Katherine Hayles, entitled "Inhabiting House of Leaves," from her book Writing Machines (2002). Anyone interested in obtaining a copy of Hayles's essays should consult the English Department receptionist, Raeanne Woodman, in 421 Denney Hall.
Jointly sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and Project Narrative, the workshop is also free and open to the public.
In preparation for Danielewski's visit, all those interested in his work are invited to participate in a workshop on his novel, House of Leaves, on Thursday, September 20, 2007, at 4:00 pm, in 311 Denney Hall. Four panelists will each speak briefly on Danielewski's novel, followed by an open discussion. The panelists are Richard Fletcher (assistant professor, Greek and Latin), Brian Hauser (Ph.D. candidate, English), Chris Higgs (MFA candidate, English), and Paul McCormick (Ph.D. candidate, English); Brian McHale, of Project Narrative, will moderate the session.
Panelists will respond to an essay on House of Leaves by N. Katherine Hayles, entitled "Inhabiting House of Leaves," from her book Writing Machines (2002). Anyone interested in obtaining a copy of Hayles's essays should consult the English Department receptionist, Raeanne Woodman, in 421 Denney Hall.
Jointly sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and Project Narrative, the workshop is also free and open to the public.
June 5, 2007
Brainstorming Session for Project Narrative Affiliates
Co-sponsored by Project Narrative, the Working Group on Narrative and Cognitive Theory, and the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities
May 21, 2007
Richard J. Gerrig, SUNY-Stonybrook, "Experiencing Narrative Worlds"
Co-sponsored by the Department of Psychology and Project Narrative
The traditional focus of text processing research has been on readers' automatic processes. This talk argues for a more experiential approach to the study of text processing that recognizes the importance of readers' strategic participation in narrative worlds. We present data that illustrate the importance of an experiential approach. One set of studies demonstrates the impact of reader's preferences for particular outcomes on their narrative representations. We show, for example, that readers' preferences affect their judgements about event durations. A second set of studies consider readers' abilities to moniter character's goals. We demonstrate that readers' assessments of the fit between characters, actions, and their goals depends, in part, on their engagement with the text.
The traditional focus of text processing research has been on readers' automatic processes. This talk argues for a more experiential approach to the study of text processing that recognizes the importance of readers' strategic participation in narrative worlds. We present data that illustrate the importance of an experiential approach. One set of studies demonstrates the impact of reader's preferences for particular outcomes on their narrative representations. We show, for example, that readers' preferences affect their judgements about event durations. A second set of studies consider readers' abilities to moniter character's goals. We demonstrate that readers' assessments of the fit between characters, actions, and their goals depends, in part, on their engagement with the text.
May 10, 2007
Lee Martin and James Phelan, "Reading John Edgar Wideman's Short Fiction: Perspectives from Creative Writing and Narrative Theory"
In preparation for John Edgar Wideman's visit during the week of May 14th, faculty and students from the MFA program and from Project Narrative (as well as other interested parties) will meet to compare perspectives on his work. The event will start with short presentations on Wideman's " Doc's Story" by Lee Martin and by Jim Phelan and then open out to general discussion of " Doc's Story" and of another Wideman story , "Everybody Knew Bubba Riff," and of the issues raised by the presentations. This event is open to all!
PDF versions of "Doc's Story" and "Everybody Knew Bubba Riff" are available from Anne Langendorfer; simply e-mail her at langendorfer.2@osu.edu to request them. Members of the English Department can also access the PDFs through the Shared folder on the N drive of the College's network. They are in the subfolder called "Wideman Short Stories." Finally, the stories are also available for copying from the shelf for course readings behind Raeanne Woodman's desk in Denney 421. They are in a folder labeled "Wideman--Project Narrative."
PDF versions of "Doc's Story" and "Everybody Knew Bubba Riff" are available from Anne Langendorfer; simply e-mail her at langendorfer.2@osu.edu to request them. Members of the English Department can also access the PDFs through the Shared folder on the N drive of the College's network. They are in the subfolder called "Wideman Short Stories." Finally, the stories are also available for copying from the shelf for course readings behind Raeanne Woodman's desk in Denney 421. They are in a folder labeled "Wideman--Project Narrative."
April 23, 2007
Nie Zhenzhao, Visiting Scholar at the University of Chicago, "Hamlet's Ethical Dilemma as Revealed through his Roles as Narrator and Narratee: Toward a New Explanation of Hamlet's Delay"
Co-sponsored by Project Narrative, the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, and the Institute for Chinese Studies
Why does Hamlet hesitate to revenge his dead father after he learns the truth of the murder? What problems lead to his delay in exacting vengeance? Influential analyses seek to explain his delay in terms of Hamlet's weak character, sexual obsession with his mother, and Christian morality's strictures against revenge. However, if we attend to Hamlet as an ethical narrator and narratee, we can attribute his hesitation and delay to the consequence of ethical taboos against matricide, patricide, and regicide.
Why does Hamlet hesitate to revenge his dead father after he learns the truth of the murder? What problems lead to his delay in exacting vengeance? Influential analyses seek to explain his delay in terms of Hamlet's weak character, sexual obsession with his mother, and Christian morality's strictures against revenge. However, if we attend to Hamlet as an ethical narrator and narratee, we can attribute his hesitation and delay to the consequence of ethical taboos against matricide, patricide, and regicide.
April 16, 2007
Rita Charon (Director of the Narrative Medicine Program, Columbia University), "Who Listens for the Self-Telling Body?"
Co-sponsored by Project Narrative, the College of Nursing, and the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities
Not only psychoanalysts and psychiatrists but all doctors of the material body find themselves bearing witness to accounts of self quite startling in their performativity, metaphoricity, and authenticity. Interweaving clinical stories and theories of narrative, this talk suggests why understanding what happens when one gives an account of oneself can be of remarkable salience and benefit to medical practitioners. Response by Steven Katz, M.D.
Not only psychoanalysts and psychiatrists but all doctors of the material body find themselves bearing witness to accounts of self quite startling in their performativity, metaphoricity, and authenticity. Interweaving clinical stories and theories of narrative, this talk suggests why understanding what happens when one gives an account of oneself can be of remarkable salience and benefit to medical practitioners. Response by Steven Katz, M.D.
April 11, 2007
Frank Espinosa, "Comics, Animation, and Visual Explorations"
Sponsored by the Narrative and Cognitive Theory Working Group
Espinosa is author of the comic book Rocketo. From noon - 1:30 in the same location, he will offer a brownbag workshop for interested students who wish to engage with Rocketo in particular and with the craft more generally.
Espinosa is author of the comic book Rocketo. From noon - 1:30 in the same location, he will offer a brownbag workshop for interested students who wish to engage with Rocketo in particular and with the craft more generally.
April 4, 2007
Scott McCloud, "Comics Storytelling," Wexner Center for the Arts
Comics are changing fast, both in the kinds of stories they tell, and how their creators tell them. Thanks to the "graphic novel" movement, the manga invasion and the growth of webcomics, the story of comics in America is more exciting and unpredictable than ever. Author and comics artist Scott McCloud puts all these trends into perspective in a fast-moving visual presentation.
Co-sponsored with Project Narrative, Cognitive and Narrative Theory Working Group, Literacy Studies Working Group, Cartoon Research Library, Professor Cindy Selfe, and The Wexner Center for the Arts.
Co-sponsored with Project Narrative, Cognitive and Narrative Theory Working Group, Literacy Studies Working Group, Cartoon Research Library, Professor Cindy Selfe, and The Wexner Center for the Arts.
March 2, 2007
Nancy Easterlin (University of New Orleans), "Human Wayfinding and Narrative: How Evolved Cognition Shapes Aesthetic Structure and Content"
Sponsored by the Narrative and Cognitive Theory Working Group
This talk will suggest, first, how an evolutionary perspective on the human species, when combined with the insights of cognitive psychology, clarifies the centrality of narrative thought (narrativity) in social life. Cognitive and clinical psychologists have recognized for several decades that narrativity is a primary mode of mentation, not only central to meaning-making but preliminary to language acquisition (e.g., Bruner, Schank, Matter). The wayfinding nature of our hominid ancestors suggests that narrative as a medium of thought and, ultimately, of social exchange through language was especially instrumental in survival, negotiating the relationships between individuals as well as between human groups and the nonhuman natural world (Kaplan, Mithen).
Second, I will consider how narrative cognition informs specific features of literary form and content. Narrative structure, in the most basic sense, is ubiquitous, establishing the ground of both linear narrative and anti-narrative. Likewise, stories of both travel and confinement derive their power from our wayfinding sensibility, with its impulse toward outward and forward movement.
This talk will suggest, first, how an evolutionary perspective on the human species, when combined with the insights of cognitive psychology, clarifies the centrality of narrative thought (narrativity) in social life. Cognitive and clinical psychologists have recognized for several decades that narrativity is a primary mode of mentation, not only central to meaning-making but preliminary to language acquisition (e.g., Bruner, Schank, Matter). The wayfinding nature of our hominid ancestors suggests that narrative as a medium of thought and, ultimately, of social exchange through language was especially instrumental in survival, negotiating the relationships between individuals as well as between human groups and the nonhuman natural world (Kaplan, Mithen).
Second, I will consider how narrative cognition informs specific features of literary form and content. Narrative structure, in the most basic sense, is ubiquitous, establishing the ground of both linear narrative and anti-narrative. Likewise, stories of both travel and confinement derive their power from our wayfinding sensibility, with its impulse toward outward and forward movement.
February 6, 2007
Brainstorming Session for Project Narrative Affiliates
Co-sponsored by Project Narrative and the Institute for
Collaborative Research and Public Humanities
November 13, 2006
Jesse Matz (Kenyon College), "Temporal Cognition and Narrative Engagement"
Co-sponsored by Project Narrative and the Narrative and Cognitive Theory Working Group.
In an argument fundamental to narrative theory, Paul Ricoeur has asserted that "time becomes human time to the extent that it is organized after the manner of a narrative" and that "narrative, in turn, is meaningful to the extent that it portrays the features of temporal experience" Ricoeur's argument represents a powerful, primary conception of the very reason for narrative engagement. Recent work on temporal cognition contributes to this rationale, offering new proof that human time does indeed make vital gains through engagement in narrative temporality. This work on temporal cognition ought to encourage us to develop a new pedagogical practice geared toward the enhancement of human temporality. What would such a practice entail? What objections might it raise? And how might it transform our understanding of the structure and purpose of stories?
In an argument fundamental to narrative theory, Paul Ricoeur has asserted that "time becomes human time to the extent that it is organized after the manner of a narrative" and that "narrative, in turn, is meaningful to the extent that it portrays the features of temporal experience" Ricoeur's argument represents a powerful, primary conception of the very reason for narrative engagement. Recent work on temporal cognition contributes to this rationale, offering new proof that human time does indeed make vital gains through engagement in narrative temporality. This work on temporal cognition ought to encourage us to develop a new pedagogical practice geared toward the enhancement of human temporality. What would such a practice entail? What objections might it raise? And how might it transform our understanding of the structure and purpose of stories?
October 20, 2006
Luc Herman, "Multicultural Narratives and Narrative Theory," Ohio State University
This paper investigates Pynchon's early representations of race with the help of a concept that remains hotly debated in narrative theory, unreliable narration. Pynchon's own comments (in the 1984 introduction to the collection Slow Learner) on his short story "Low-lands" provide the starting point for an analysis that will also encompass Pynchon's rewriting of the African American saxophone player in V. (1963), the later short story, "The Secret Integration" (1964), and the essay, "Journey Into the Mind of Watts" (1966).September 29, 2006
Teemu Ikonen (University of Helsinki), "Lacanian Psychoanalysis and Narrative Theory: Toward a Rapprochement"
Recent surveys of the history of narratology have left the place of psychoanalytic narrative theories curiously undetermined. My paper is a part of an effort to build a systematic account of the relation of psychoanalytic approaches to both classical and postclassical narratologies. More specifically, I draw on the framework of discourse theory developed by the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan from the late 60's onward to examine areas of intersection between psychoanalysis and narrative theory. With Lacan's discourse theory questions concerning the limits of narrative can be formulated in a way that may prove productive for a cross-disciplinary dialogue. I conclude by discussing how Lacan's ideas about discourse are relevant for the study of 18th century English and Frenchfiction.
Lisa Zunshine, "How Jane Austen Learned to be Different; Or, Cognitive Science and Literary Explanations"
Sponsored by Project Narrative, The Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, and the Department of English.This was the inaugural event of the Cognitive and Narrative Theory Working Group.
