CMS Convivium: Ninth Annual Alumni Lecture - Gur Zak: Humanist Compassions: A Literary History of An Emotion

When and Where

Friday, April 14, 2023 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Online and the Great Hall
Lillian Massey
125 Queen's Park, 3rd floor

Speakers

Gur Zak

Description

 

Lecture: 4:00-6:00 pm Great Hall, Lillian Massey and online via Zoom

Presenter: Gur Zak, CMS Alumnus, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Romance Studies, Head of the Institute of Literatures, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Title: "Humanist Compassions: A Literary History of An Emotion" 
Moderated by: Brian Stock  

Abstract: Recent scholarship has given much attention to the passions, or the emotions. In fields such as the history of emotions, cognitive psychology, and philosophy, considerations of the understanding and role of the passions in different societies have been at the forefront. The study of the emotions has been particularly strong within medieval and early modern studies; yet there is much that remains to be considered, especially in terms of the ways the study of literature may illuminate broader cultural outlooks and the construction of specific emotions in past societies. This lecture will examine the way Italian humanist culture understood and applied a particular emotion - compassion. It will do so by closely analyzing the reception of one ancient story - Valerius Maximus's tale of Seleucus, Antiochus, and Stratonice - in the writings of four humanists: Boccaccio, Petrarch, Bruni, and Manetti. The various versions of the tale, this lecture will show, revolve largely around compassion and bring to light the debates that dominated the humanist community regarding the nature of this emotion, its ethical and political value, and those to whom it should be most directed

**RSVP Required

Read CMS Chronica's interview with Gur Zak

Map

125 Queen's Park, 3rd floor

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