The Bi-Weekly MFLL E-Newsletter
MONDAY, March 31, 2008
The Newsletter for Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures
web.utk.edu/~mfll
Doug Canfield (Coordinator of the Language Resource Center) has been appointed co-editor of the IALLT Journal. The International Association for Language Learning Technology is a professional organization made up of language teachers, technologists, and researchers from around the world. The IALLT Journal is a peer reviewed professional publication that recently went from print format to a totally digital format. Doug Canfield’s leadership was essential in effecting this transition.
Bryant Creel (Spanish) announces that the latest book of the monographic series on Spanish literature he edits, Albatros-Hispanófila Siglo XXI, is now in print. The author is Dana Bultman of the University of Georgia at Athens: "Heretical Mixtures: Feminine and Poetic Opposition to Matter-Spirit Dualism in Spain, 1531-1631." Albatros-Hispanófila Siglo XXI 64. Valencia: Albatros Ediciones, 2007. 229 pp.
Nuria Cruz-Cámara's (Spanish) book "El laberinto intertextual de Carmen Martín Gaite: Un estudio de sus novelas de los noventa" has been published in "Juan de la Cuesta."
Dawn Duke (Spanish & Portuguese) has been invited by Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, to participate in their Spring Program "Tracing the Unexplored: A Journey Through the Latino Heritage." Her presentation titled "Africa Imagined: Cuban Literary and Cultural Evocations of Yemayá and Ochún" will take place on April 2.
Michael Handelsman (Spanish) has been awarded the 2008-09 Jefferson Prize. This prize recognizes excellence in research and creative activity or other significant achievements. This is certainly well deserved recognition of Michael’s many important accomplishments as a scholar, a teacher, and a member of the MFLL academic community.
Maria Stehle (German) presented a paper March 29 at the Nexus Conference "Collected and Collective Identities" at UTK. The title was: "'Ghetto Films, Ghetto Stories': Cityscapes and Identifications in 21st Century Germany."
The play is based on Jean Giraudoux's "La Guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu" (English translation: Tiger at the Gates). The play was written in the 1930s, when France was facing the prospect of a second war with Germany. Set in Ancient Troy (Greece), it tells the very relevant and timely story of imminent armed conflict and desires and strategies for its justification and for its prevention. Pâris and his Trojan soldiers have abducted Helen (the consummate "beauty of mass destruction") from the Greeks, a pretext for war. But Trojan war hero Hector has adopted a pacifist approach to survival. He and the Trojan women struggle against glory-hungry old men, hawkish poets, and DESTINY itself to maintain peace with the Greeks and prevent a catastrophic war that will in fact exterminate the Trojan civilization.
The re-created version of this play will be presented primarily in French, with a "twist" of English commentary. The goal is to find the best combination of imagery, action, narration, dialogue, lighting, sound, and audience participation to render our story comprehensible, engaging, and relevant for aficionados of theatre and French language and culture. As in the past, high school and UTK teachers should consider including this event as a curricular or extra-curricular activity. I would be happy to suggest instructional questions and exercises.
Though there will be no ticket sales or required admission price this year, LES GUERRIERS DE LA BEAUTÉ will (humbly, gently) request an optional donation of $3.00 at the door, to help defray costs of the production.
INFORMATION: Les Essif, tel: (865) 974-6375; e-mail: essif@utk.edu
The next MFLL e-newsletter will be published April 28, 2008. Deadline for submission of announcements and news items -- 6 p.m., Sunday, April 27, 2008. Please send to jromeise@utk.edu