Daily Archives: 16 June 2015

Ruth Lightbourne, ARANZ/LIANZA Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui Lecture

Joint ARANZ/LIANZA Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui Event
12th C. MS From the Collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library, Ruth Lightbourne (Alexander Turnbull Library)

Date: Wednesday 24 June, 2015
Time: 5.30pm-
Venue: National Library building – ground floor
RSVP: By Friday 19 June to Rachel.esson@dia.govt.nz

Light refreshments will be provided.

Rare chance to hear about a 12th century manuscript from the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library. Ruth Lightbourne has been Curator of the Rare Book Collection for 10 years. Being in charge of this fascinating collection of over 20,000 physical items has proved a delight, and one of the best aspects of the job is being able to share some of these treasures, through talks such as this, or in exhibitions, blogs and the like.

Among the many wonders in the Rare Book Collection of the Alexander Turnbull Library is a small group of medieval manuscripts, each one with a fascinating story to tell, whether it be in the content, the illuminations, or the provenance. Choosing one was difficult, but for this talk Ruth Lightbourne will explore perhaps the most special and one of her favourites.

Questions which immediately arise are: What does it look like? What is it about? How did it arrive in New Zealand? Accompanied by images, Ruth will show you some of the physical characteristics of this manuscript, look at its content and its two authors, Boethius and Guido of Arezzo, and trace the manuscript’s previous owners and how it arrived in New Zealand. Following the talk, she will give you a taste of what the music of the 12th century sounded like.

Understanding Emotions in Early Europe – Available to Order

Understanding Emotions in Early Europe, M. Champion, A. Lynch (eds.)

Drawing on the latest scholarship from international resarchers, this dedicated collection investigates how medieval and early modern articulated emotions. This book investigates how medieval and early modern Europeans constructed, understood, and articulated emotions. The essays trace concurrent lines of influence that shaped post-Classical understandings of emotions through overlapping philosophical, rhetorical, and theological discourses. They show the effects of developments in genre and literary, aesthetic, and cognitive theories on depictions of psychological and embodied emotion in literature. They map the deeply embedded emotive content inherent in rituals, formal documents, daily conversation, communal practice, and cultural memory. The contributors focus on the mediation and interpretation of pre-modern emotional experience in cultural structures and institutions — customs, laws, courts, religious foundations — as well as in philosophical, literary, and aesthetic traditions.

This volume thus represents a conspectus of contemporary interpretative strategies, displaying close connections between disciplinary and interdisciplinary critical practices drawn from historical studies, literature, anthropology and archaeology, philosophy and theology, cognitive science, psychology, religious studies, and gender studies. The essays stretch from classical and indigenous cultures to the contemporary West, embracing numerous national and linguistic groups. They illuminate the complex potential of medieval and early modern emotions in situ, analysing their involvement in subjects as diverse as philosophical individual and communal identity, social and political practices, and the manifold business of everyday life.

To order this collection, and for more information on contributors, please see the flyer below:

[gview file=”http://anzamems.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/EER_8-with-order-form.pdf”]