June, 27, 2013 16:16 Age: 48 days
Humanities Seminar series
Category:
The last humanities seminar of semester 1 will take place on Thursday 4 July, 1-2 pm. Please note that this is a change from the original date, which was 27 June.
HUMANITIES SEMINAR SERIES
Semester 1, 2013
Thursday 4 July
Dr Matthew Hayward, SLAM
The Text and the Commodity
Literary studies has conventionally involved distinctions between different types of texts. For many influential writers and critics in the twentieth century, ‘serious’ literature was above concerning itself with commodities, the crude material of everyday life. Instead, great literature was expected to deal with great spiritual truths and values. In this paper, I trace changes in the literary representation of commodities, in texts ranging from ancient Greece to the modern metropolis. I argue that attention to these neglected details brings into relief some of the biases and blind-spots of traditional approaches to literature.
