Category: Article

Lecture: “Was Geoffrey Chaucer “every Woman’s Friend”? and Why Does It Matter?”

Date: Thursday, May 22
Time: 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Venue: TBD

Kathryn L. Lynch is the Katharine Lee Bates and Sophie Chantal Hart Professor of English at Wellesley College. From 2010-2017, she served as Dean of Faculty Affairs, with a broad portfolio of departments in the arts and humanities, and from 2018-2020, she was Director of the Wellesley College Freedom Project. She received her B.A. from Stanford University (majoring in English and Classics) and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in English Language and Literature. Her scholarly specialty is medieval English literature, especially the poetry of Geoffrey Chaucer. She is the author of two books (The High Medieval Dream Vision: Poetry, Philosophy, and Literary Form [Stanford, 1988] and Chaucer’s Philosophical Visions [D.S. Brewer, 2000]), and is the editor of two others (Chaucer’s Cultural Geography [Routledge, 2002] and Dream Visions and Other Poems [a Norton Critical Edition, 2007]. Her edition of the dream-visions is the standard version now used by The Norton Chaucer (2019). She has also written numerous articles and book reviews on medieval topics, which have appeared in journals like Speculum, The Chaucer Review, and Studies in the Age of Chaucer, as well as opinion pieces on issues of importance in higher education for publications such as The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. She is currently writing about the representation of food in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and experimenting with some new modes of writing.

Seminar: Two of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: the Wife of Bath’s and Shipman’s Tales

Date: Thursday, May 24
Time: 10:30pm – 12:30pm
Venue: TBD

Registration for the seminar with Kathryn Lynch is free and open to the public. However, because capacity is limited, advance enrollment is necessary. Enrollment will be primarily on a first come, first served basis, though preference is given to UCLA students and faculty members. Participants will be expected to read materials that will be distributed and to participate actively in the discussion. A pizza lunch will be delivered at the end of the seminar. To enroll, please e-mail Professor Daniel Lowenstein at lowenstein@law.ucla.edu.

Lecture: “Dorothea Primrose Campbell: Jane Austen’s Neglected Scottish Contemporary”

Date: Thursday, April 17
Time: 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Venue: Law School Room 2477

Constance Walker, has been an English professor at Carleton since 1982. She has written on a number of 18th and 19th century writers, including Jane Austen, Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Oscar Wilde. Her teaching interests include English Romantic poetry and British comedy. She was a CLAFI lecturer in 2019, when she gave an outstanding lecture on Jane Austen. As CLAFI aficionados are aware, only the best are invited back. We are delighted to have Professor Walker here for a second visit.

Seminar: Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

Date: Thursday, April 19
Time: 10:30pm – 12:30pm
Venue: Law School Room 2477

Registration for the seminar with Constance Walker is free and open to the public. However, because capacity is limited, advance enrollment is necessary. Enrollment will be primarily on a first come, first served basis, though preference is given to UCLA students and faculty members. Participants will be expected to read the materials that will be distributed and participate actively in the discussion. A pizza lunch will be delivered at the end of the seminar. To enroll, please e-mail Professor Daniel Lowenstein at lowenstein@law.ucla.edu.

Lecture: The Socratic Method in Ordinary Life

Date: Thursday, April 3
Time: 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Venue: Law School Room 1430

Ward Farnsworth is the W. Page Keeton Professor of Law at the University of Texas, Austin. After receiving a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago, he served as a legal advisor to the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in the Hague. He then served on the Boston University Law School faculty for 15 years. In 2012 he became the dean of the Texas Law School, and served as dean through 2022. His distinguished career has reflected remarkably eclectic interests. He has written books not only on law but on philosophy, legal rhetoric, and chess. His published articles have dealt with numerous diverse legal topics.

Seminar: The Practicing Stoic

Date: Saturday, April 5
Time: 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Venue: Law School Room 2326 (Faculty Library)

Registration for the seminar with Ward Farnsworth is free and open to the public. However, because capacity is limited, advance enrollment is necessary. Enrollment will be primarily on a first come, first served basis, though preference is given to UCLA students and faculty members.  Participants will be expected to read excerpts from Professor Farnsworth’s book, The Practicing Stoic, before the seminar and be ready to discuss it.  A pizza lunch will be delivered at the end of the seminar. To enroll, please e-mail Professor Daniel Lowenstein at lowenstein@law.ucla.edu.