Faculty of Medieval & Modern Languages
Relevant Links
Series associated with Faculty of Medieval & Modern Languages
Conversations on Kafka
In The Footsteps of Marie-Antoinette
Linguamania
Oxford Kafka24
| # | Episode Title | Description | People | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32 | Monstrosities and Metamorphosis in More-Than-Human Worlds | Metamorphosis is constantly taking place in the worlds of people and other animals. A freewheeling discussion featuring shape-shifting leopard men in Nigeria, gut microbes that shape the human condition, and circus freakshows. | David Pratten, Jamie Lorimer, Beth Greenhough, Eva Bredler | 20 Aug 2024 | |
| 31 | Extraordinary Bodies, Disability Justice, and Metamorphosis | All of our bodies are gradually undergoing metamorphosis. Yet, many people with extraordinary bodies and minds experience discrimination in everyday life. Our speakers imagine metamorphosis and transformations on a grand societal scale. | Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Anna Landre, Benedict Ipgrave, Stuart Murray | 12 Aug 2024 | |
| 30 | Keynote: Time traveling with Gregor Samsa, or what you can do with six legs | Professors Rosemarie Garland-Thomson and Eben Kirksey use Gregor's transformation in 'Metamorphosis' to muse on the everyday changes we all experience and their relations to disability, design justice and ableism. | Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Eben Kirksey | 07 Aug 2024 | |
| 29 | CRISPR, Gene Editing, and Metamorphosis | Biotechnology is transforming the human condition. A molecular tool called CRISPR-Cas9 is being used to edit human DNA. Scientists will join influential disabled thinkers to discuss ethical issues hovering around gene editing. | Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Nada Kubikova, Dagan Wells, Julia-Sophia Bellingrath | 26 Jul 2024 | |
| 28 | Hunger Artistry: Kafka and the Art of Starvation | Kafka’s provocative story “The Hunger Artist” explores starvation, art, and the nature of human existence. Experts discuss the story and its reception. | Peter Boxall, Ankhi Mukherjee, Meindert Peters, Karen Leeder | 10 Jul 2024 | |
| 27 | ‘Franz Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’: Insects and Disgust and Repulsion’ | Franz Kafka exploited people’s disgust at insects as his protagonist, Greger Samsa, was transformed into a giant insect. Is this disgust innate, widely shared or justified and what are the consequences for our treatment of insects? | Liam Crowley, Rosemary Gillespie, Clair Linzey, Geraldine Wright | 12 Jun 2024 | |
| 26 | Tuberculosis: vaccines, diagnostics and experience | Kafka died in 1924 of tuberculosis, which remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. This talk looks at the various aspects of tuberculosis from candidate vaccines, the role of genetics in TB treatments and the perspective of a patient. | Helen McShane, Philip Fowler | 12 Jun 2024 | |
| 25 | Oxford Reads Kafka | A collective public reading of 'Metamorphosis' to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Franz Kafka’s death. Bringing together literary figures, civic leaders and University academics and students, this event celebrates the power of Kafka’s voice today. | Lemn Sissay, Ben Okri, Lisa Appignanesi, Helen McShane | 12 Jun 2024 | |
| 24 | 'Kafka's Ape' and 'Words and Music' | Interview with the creatives behind two shows inspired by Kafka's story 'A Report for an Academy' which explore race, migration, ageing and "humanimal" agency. | Ed Gaughan, Karen Leeder, Tony Miyambo, Wes Williams | 07 Jun 2024 | |
| 23 | Kafka’s Metamorphosis | An in-depth exploration of the theme of transformation in Kafka's "The Metamorphosis". Why does Kafka's story still resonate today? | Carolin Duttlinger, Bary Murnane, Karen Leeder | 03 Jun 2024 | |
| 22 | Dancing "The Metamorphosis" | One of the most striking transformations of Kafka's most famous story is into an acclaimed performance for the Royal Ballet. | Meindert Peters, Karen Leeder | 03 Jun 2024 | |
| 21 | Kafka and Humour | Award-winning comedian David Baddiel discusses the kinds of humour that operate in Kafka and how laughter and nightmare are often closer than you think | David Baddiel, Karen Leeder | 03 Jun 2024 | |
| 20 | Kafka and Comics | Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" has been translated into many languages and forms. This podcast explores Peter Kuper's graphic novel. | Alexandra Lloyd, Karen Leeder | 03 Jun 2024 | |
| 19 | Kafka and Race | The transformation that takes place in "The Metamorphosis" has been referenced in any number of recent works by writers that explore issues of race, otherness and power. | Kirstin Gwyer, Karen Leeder | 03 Jun 2024 | |
| 18 | Kafka and Ecology | Although Kafka does not treat environmental issues directly, his work has much to say about time, scale, uncertainty, inside and out and ecology in a broader sense, along our own position in a fragile world. | Conor Brennan, Karen Leeder | 03 Jun 2024 | |
| 17 | Kafka and Illness | Using Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" as a starting point, this memoir of MS examines a range of lives and works to think through how illness challenges identity and how literature can help find a way through. | Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Karen Leeder | 03 Jun 2024 | |
| 16 | The Brazilian Kafka: Clarice Lispector | Dubbed "the Brazilian Kafka", the writer Clarice Lispector wrote an experimental text that seems to echo the "Metamorphosis" in a number of ways. | Claire Williams, Karen Leeder | 03 Jun 2024 | |
| 15 | J. M. Coetzee and Kafka | Nobel-prize winning author J. M. Coetzee has continued to reflect on and respond to Kafka in different ways throughout his life and work. | Elleke Boehmer, Karen Leeder | 03 Jun 2024 | |
| 14 | Two Czech Reflections on Greta Samsa | The figure of the sister, Greta Samsa, in Kafka's story "The Metamorphosis" has fascinated writers and thinkers since the story was written. | Rajendra Chitnis, Karen Leeder | 03 Jun 2024 | |
| 13 | Writing Back: Spanish Literature | Two important works of modern Spanish literature both take their cue from Kafka's letters to his companion, the Czech writer, journalist and translator Milena Jesenska. | Daniela Omlor, Karen Leeder | 03 Jun 2024 | |
| 12 | Writing Back: Russian Literature | Although Kafka and his work was frowned on behind the iron curtain, his works had a remarkable subterranean currency. This podcast takes its cue from Kafka's story "The Judgement" to discuss the "letters" written back to Kafka from today's Russia. | Sophia Buck, Karen Leeder | 03 Jun 2024 | |
| 11 | In The Footsteps Of Marie-Antoinette - Episode 3 | Catriona Seth, Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at the University Of Oxford, heads for Paris in her pursuit of Marie-Antoinette. | Cecile Rives, Catriona Seth, Chantal Thomas | 15 Jan 2021 | |
| 10 | In The Footsteps Of Marie-Antoinette - Episode 2 | Catriona Seth, visits Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, built in the 19th century by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, a great collector of 18th century decorative arts, especially objects associated with Marie-Antoinette. | Catriona Seth, Pippa Shirley, Rachel Jacobs, Mia Jackson | 15 Jan 2021 | |
| 9 | In the Footsteps of Marie-Antoinette - Episode 1 | Catriona Seth, Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford, visits the Wallace Collection in London on the trail of objects that once belonged to Marie-Antoinette. | Catriona Seth, Helen Jacobsen | 15 Jan 2021 | |
| 8 | Diversity in the arts: why languages need to be part of the conversation | Many languages and dialects spoken in British homes rarely make it onto the stage. In this episode of LinguaMania, we explore why linguistic diversity in the arts matters. | Rajinder Dudrah, Mojisola Adebayo, Philip Bullock, Ashlee Elizabeth-Lolo | 29 May 2020 | |
| 7 | The Multilingual Performance Project: celebrating languages through drama | The Multilingual Performance Project (MPP) showcases and celebrates the multilingual nature of schools and demonstrates how multilingualism can interact creatively with teaching in the classroom, promoting both taught languages and community languages. | Daniel Tyler-McTighe, Holly Bateman, Ann Poole, Eneida Garcia Villanueva | 15 May 2020 | |
| 6 | Creative Commons | Why do we need people to translate when we have machine translation? | Some people ask why they should bother learning a language when there are online apps and websites which can translate quickly and accurately. | Matthew Reynolds, Eleni Philippou, Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, Adriana X Jacobs | 01 May 2020 |
| 5 | Creative Commons | Languages are in crisis in our schools – could creativity help save the subject? | Can a creative approach to the study of languages enhance learner outcomes? | Suzanne Graham, Linda Fisher, Heike Krüsemann, Julia Hofweber | 17 Apr 2020 |
| 4 | How do metaphors shape our world? | We tend to think of metaphors as poetic language, but we actually use them all the time in our everyday speech. But how do metaphors in different languages work? And can the metaphors we use affect our thinking? | Katrin Kohl, Jeannette Littlemore, Lera Boroditsky, Zoltán Kövecses | 03 Apr 2020 | |
| 3 | Why should we read translated texts? | This episode explores what we lose or gain when we read a translated book. Are we missing something by reading the English translation and not the original language version? And what can the translation process tell us about how languages work? | Jane Hiddleston, Laura Lonsdale | 16 Mar 2020 | |
| 2 | Understanding our natural world: why languages matter | What role do languages play in helping us understand and protect our natural world? Do the words we use when talking about our local flora and fauna matter? In this episode of LinguaMania, we explore the links between language and nature. | Felice Wyndham, Karen Park, Andrew Gosler | 09 Mar 2020 | |
| 1 | How 'foreign' are 'foreign languages'? | Many people think foreign languages are alien to us, unless of course we've spent years studying them. But is this really the case? Or can we actually understand some words in a different language – even if we've never studied that language before? | Martin Maiden, Sandra Kotzor, Chiara Cappellaro, Ikuya Aizawa | 18 Feb 2020 |