Loyola University Chicago Professor of English Allen Frantzen will discuss how chivalry emerged in "the war to end all wars" during a talk titled "Voices of History: Chivalry, Violence, and World War I." Part of the Verne Moore Lecture series, his talk will take place at 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 17, in the Welles-Brown Room of Rush Rhees Library on the University of Rochester's River Campus. It is free and open to the public.
Frantzen is the author and editor of numerous books and articles on such topics as Old and Middle English literature, literary history, and the history of sexuality. His lecture is based on his most recent book, Bloody Good: Chivalry, Sacrifice, and World War I, and will explore how chivalry was used in the conflict and how it was reflected in posters and correspondence. His current project, "Circles of Grief," is a song-cycle inspired by three letters from Word War I, with music by French composer Pierre Thilloy. The work will premiere in a performance in Metz, France, in April.
In addition to his research and academic commitments, Frantzen is the director of the Loyola Community Literacy Center. Among numerous awards, he has received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for Humanities, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
The Verne Moore Lectures are sponsored by the Department of History and have been funded by a gift from University alumnus Verne Moore, Class of 1950, since 1996. For more information, call (585) 275-2052.