Mixed Media

Nabakov lecture at Cornell on November 19th

Two days after Vladimir Nabokov’s posthumous novel The Original of Laura lands in the bookstores,   Brian Boyd, a world-class expert on the legendary author, presents his lecture, “Nabokov’s Literary Legacy,” on Nov. 19 at Cornell University.

Nabokov taught at Cornell from 1948 to 1959. During those years he wrote Lolita and Pnin and conceived Pale Fire; conducted research on Lepidoptera (an order of insects comprising butterflies and moths); wrote the English and Russian versions of his autobiography, Conclusive Evidence and Drugie Berega; and prepared annotated translations of two pieces of Russian literature: The Song of Igor's Campaign and Eugene Onegin.

With the publishing of The Original of Laura, readers will have a fresh view of Nabokov’s unparalleled brilliance. After Nabokov died in 1977, his heirs were instructed to the burn the incomplete manuscript of The Original of Laura – all written on index cards. The cards were never burned. Now the manuscript – arguably an oncoming, literary tidal wave – will be published and distributed to bookstores on Nov. 17.

Boyd is a noted expert on Nabokov. His major works include Nabokov's Ada: The Place of Consciousness; Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years; Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years; Nabokov’s Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Discovery; and Nabokov's Butterflies: Unpublished and Uncollected Writings.

Boyd will give his lecture, "Nabokov's Literary Legacy," on Thursday, November 19th at 4:30 p.m. in the Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall, Cornell University.

Lecture discusses controversial photos of the Spanish Civil War

Sally Stein, a specialist in 1930s American photography and media, will examine the continuing debate  over Robert Capa’s “Falling Soldier” (1936) in her talk “Close-ups from Afar: The Still-Contested Framings of the Spanish Civil War, 1936” at 5 p.m., April 6, in Lewis Auditorium in Goldwin Smith Hall on the Cornell University campus.  The event is free and open to the public.

Her lecture will offer a new explanation for what is seen and missed in the historic shot, which is considered the most famous photograph from the Spanish Civil War.  She also will show how media coverage strategies of the 1930s were prototypes for coverage of global conflict today.  While the U.S. government took a public position of neutrality during the Spanish Civil War, emerging forms of U.S. photojournalism quickly devised graphic strategies to defend the causes of the rebels.

This event is part of the Findley Lecture Series offered by the Department of the History of Art in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Listen Again: YouTube Monks Storm European Pop Charts

The monks of Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Austria sing ancient Gregorian chants in their 12th-century church — and then post them to YouTube. Their technological savvy landed them a record deal, and now their album is storming the European charts and arriving in America. Father Karl Wallner talks to host Andrea Seabrook about balancing pop stardom with the religious life.

Listen to the piece.

And here's one of the many YouTube videos of the monks performing.