For over three decades, scholar and author Peter Haidu has probed deeply into the shared dimensions of medieval and modern literature, poetry, and fiction within their social, political and cultural contexts. Haidu, a former professor of medieval literature and critical theory at Columbia and Yale universities, now turns his probing, multi-layered approach to the religious life of French poet Chrétien de Troyes.
The lecture, which is drawn from Haidu's forthcoming monograph on the 12th century poet, is titled "Jews and Christians, Massacres, and Universalism in the Twelfth Century Renaissance: Ventriloquism in Chrétien de Troyes' Philomena." The social and political tensions that prevailed during the life of de Troyes, an age when conversions were either forced or voluntary, in some ways clearly mirror the religious and political tensions of today.
Now retired in Paris, Haidu is the author of numerous books, including his latest The Subject Medieval/Modern (2003).
Free parking will be available in the Library Lot at the rear of the Rush Rhees Library.
The lecture is one of several in the series "The Medieval West: Contemporary Views," one of nine projects funded by the Humanities Project, an initiative by the University of Rochester emphasizing the influence and contributions of the humanities to academic and civil life.
For further information about this and other events, visit the Humanities Project website at www.rochester.edu/College/humanities or email humanities@rochester.edu.