Daily Archives: 2 November 2015

Frances Muecke, University of Sydney Public Lecture

“Montaigne goes to Rome: a sixteenth-century traveller extraordinaire,” Frances Muecke (Australian Academy of the Humanities; University of Sydney)

Date: 7 November, 2015
When: 2:00pm-3:00pm
Where: Nicholson Museum, The Quadrangle, The University of Sydney
Cost: Free
RSVP: Register online here: http://whatson.sydney.edu.au/events/published/montaigne-goes-to-rome-a-sixteenth-century-traveller-extraordinaire

On 22 June 1580 Montaigne, then aged 47, set off from his home, the Chateau de Montaigne, thirty miles east of Bordeaux, on a trip to Rome.

Being Montaigne, the most significant French writer of the 16th century, he kept a compellingly interesting journal of his travels. Never intended for publication, the manuscript lay unnoticed in the Chateau until it was discovered in a chest in 1770.

Despite what he calls the feebleness of his age and health, Montaigne was an indefatigable traveller. He ‘lives as the Romans’ do, always ready to comment on regional differences, inns, beds, food and service. He goes out of his way to see sites, and tries to find interesting locals for conversation.

What then does he make of 16th century Rome? There are too many French people there. The appearance of the streets, and their crowds remind him of Paris. It is not safe to go about the streets by night and one should not keep valuables even in the houses – deposit them in a bank. There is nothing special about the beauty of the women, even though Rome has a reputation for this. The churches in Rome are less beautiful than in most of the good towns of Italy, and in general it may be said that the churches, both in Italy and Germany are less beautiful than in France.

And what of his reaction to the ruins of Rome? Montaigne came to some challenging conclusions: the site contains many Romes destroyed and rebuilt. What could be seen in his day was not the great Rome of antiquity – that was buried far below the surface. He said that, ‘one saw nothing of ancient Rome but the sky under which it had stood and the plan of its site.’

Frances Muecke is an Elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and an Honorary Associate in the Department of Classics and Ancient History. She is also a long-standing Friend of the Nicholson Museum.

John Carter Brown Library: Fellowship Opportunities, 2016-2017

The John Carter Brown Library (JCB), an independently funded institution for advanced research on the campus of Brown University, will award approximately forty residential fellowships for the year July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. The Library contains one of the world’s premier collections of primary materials related to the discovery, exploration, and settlement of the New World to 1825, including books, maps, newspapers, and other printed objects. JCB Fellowships are open to scholars and writers working on all aspects of the Americas in the early modern period.

Short-term Fellowships are for two to four months with a monthly stipend of $2,100. Open to US and foreign citizens who are engaged in pre- or post-doctoral or independent research. Graduate students must have passed their preliminary or general examinations at the time of application.

Long-Term Fellowships are for five to ten months with a monthly stipend of $4,200. These include two to four NEH Fellowships, for which an applicant must be a US citizen or have lived in the US for the three years preceding the application deadline, and other long-term JCB awards for which all nationalities are eligible. Graduate students are not eligible for long-term JCB Fellowships.

Recipients of all fellowships must relocate to Providence and be in continuous residence at the JCB for the full term of the award. Rooms are available for rent at Fiering House, the JCB’s Fellows’ residence, a beautifully restored 1869 house just four blocks from the Library.

The deadline for short- and long-term fellowships is December 1, 2015.

For more information – including information about Thematic and Cluster Fellowships – and application instructions, visit www.jcbl.org or e-mail jcb-fellowships@brown.edu.