William Caroll

Friday, December 4, 3:00-5:00PM in CEAS 319 (1155 E 60th St)
William Caroll, “Suzuki Seijun and the Redemption of Cinephilia”

On Friday, December 4, please join us in welcoming William Caroll, who will present a work-in-progress version of his dissertation proposal. As William explains, “The goal of my dissertation is to look at the relationship between the late Nikkatsu films of Suzuki Seijun and the writings of this group of cinephiles who emerged in the late 1960s and would later to go on to dominate both critical and academic discussions of film in Japan in the 1970s and 1980s.  I will be arguing that Seijun’s films are foundational to understanding the cinephiles’ theory of cinema, and that their writings have in turn shaped our understanding of Seijun as a filmmaker.”

A draft of William’s paper is available at this link. If you have not received the password for the post, or if you have concerns about accessibility, please feel free to contact David Krolikoski at davidkroli at uchicago.edu or Brian White at bmwhite at uchicago.edu.

Paul Vierthaler

paul

Friday, November 20, 12 – 2 PM in JRL 122
Paul Vierthaler, “Quantitative Historical Imagination: Late Ming and Early Qing Chinese Unofficial Histories, Novels, and Dramas”

Please join us for a joint session with the Digital Humanities Forum on Friday, November 20 at 12 PM in JRL 122. We will be welcoming. Paul Vierthaler Digital Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow at Boston College.

In this talk, Paul Vierthaler will discuss his research in using digital techniques to analyze the differences among texts that transmitted unofficial historical narratives in the late Ming and early Qing periods in China. This talk centers on novels on current events, dramas on current events, and yeshi (unofficial, or wild, histories). These texts, which Paul calls “quasi-histories”, purport to move information about recent events, but their historical validity and generic nature have been debated by contemporary and modern scholars. In the past, their sheer numbers made systematic analysis difficult. Paul will begin with a meta-analysis of extensive secondary bibliographic information to analyze the claim that late Ming and early Qing quasi-histories were unprecedentedly focused on the recent past. He will finish with a discussion on using stylometric analysis to explore the complex stylistic relationships among texts of these genres, and their relationship with official dynastic histories.

Ramona Curry

Friday, November 6, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM in Cobb 311
Ramona Curry, “Pioneering Figures in Chinese Film in Los Angeles, 1918-1934”

Please join us for a joint session with the Mass Culture Workshop on Friday, November 6 at 10:30 AM in Cobb 311. We will be welcoming Ramona Curry, Associate Professor of English, Media and Cinema Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, and Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She will discuss a section of “Pioneering Figures in Chinese Film in Los Angeles, 1918-1934,” a chapter from her book in progress, Trading in Cultural Spaces: How Chinese Film Came to America.

This workshop is being held in conjunction with a Film Studies Center event. A Trip Through China will be screened in Logan 201 on Thursday, Nov. 5 at 7:00 PM. This screening has been curated by Pao-Chen Tang, Ph.D. student in Cinema and Media Studies; Yuqian Yan, Ph.D. candidate in Cinema and Media Studies; and Zhang Ling, Ph.D. candidate in Cinema and Media Studies as part of the Film Studies Center’s Graduate Student Curatorial Program. This event is co-sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies. This screening will include live piano accompaniment by Anthony Cheung and Lu Wang, and will conclude with a round table discussion featuring Prof. Curry. Please find full details for this event on the Film Studies Center’s website.

Refreshments will be provided at the workshop.

Prof. Curry’s paper is available for download at this link, along with supplementary readings from her book in progress. If you have not received the password for the post, or if you have concerns about accessibility, please feel free to contact David Krolikoski at davidkroli at uchicago.edu or Brian White at bmwhite at uchicago.edu.