We’ve been hard at work here at SASiety this past week, preparing lots of exciting things for the holiday season. While the festive season is swiftly approaching, we are not quite there yet. This week we have made sure to balance some history with some literature, some contemporary with some ancient. If we have learnt anything, it’s that choosing what events to include is a lot like wondering what sort of cookie one is to have with their tea. No matter whether you like your Earl Grey with a chocolate chip cookie and your British Breakfast Tea with shortbread, we hope you enjoy the variety and see you there!

Don’t see anything you like? Here’s a list of all the events across the institutes for this week.

P.S. Would you like to write a review for us? We have now opened submissions alongside London in Literature! For more information, read here.

Urban History and Histories of Migration - IHR

Monday 30th November 2020, 17.00 - 18.30, Book Here

Join Prof Anna-Louise Milne (ULIP) and Dr Inès Hassen (Leicester) in this fascinating discussion on urban history and histories of migration. Prof Milne will explore “A long(er) history of an ‘abcès de fixation’: Networks, food distributions and migration in North-East Paris”. Dr Hassen, meanwhile, will talk about “Cultural diversity and Republicanism in urban France”. This talk is bound to satisfy the cravings of our francophiles, while also better our understanding of the complicated and intricate history of France, migration, and urbanism.

Homer, Aristotle and the Nature of Compassion - ICS

30th November 2020, 17.00 - 18.30, Book Here

Join Prof Douglas Cairns (University of Edinburgh) in this worthwhile and significant conversation on Homer, Aristotle and the Nature of Compassion. Prof Cairns has worked on Greek society and ethics, the emotions, and especially as these are reflected in Greek epic, tragedy, and lyric poetry. For those that are interested in Ancient Greek tragedies but even for those that are interested in emotion and its development, this conversation is not to be missed.

ILAS LAGLOBAL Seminar Series: Talking about Objects of Knowledge - ILAS

2nd December 2020, 17.30 - 19.30, Book Here

Have you ever wondered what an “object of knowledge” is? While we were not familiar with the term, a quick Google search showed that this idea goes all the way back to Plato. Join Prof Juan Pimentel (CSIC, Madrid), author of Fantasmas de la Ciencia Española and The Rhinoceros and the Megatherium in a conversation about all things real, imaginary, and otherwise.

PLV I Love You: Albertine Sarrazin’s Letters to Julien from Prison - IMLR

3rd December 2020, 16.00 - 17.30, Book Here

We could not not include this compelling conversation on author Albertine Sarrazin (1937- 1967) who “produced numerous novels, journals, poems and letters during her brief lifetime, written largely from prison during the 1950s and 1960s”. Dr Polly Galis will explore her love letters to husband and fellow convict Julien, “invariably signed off with such loving flourishes as PLV -- Pour la vie”. Dr Galis will be evaluating “the representation of a radical change represented in these letters, in the way Albertine approaches imprisonment, writing, time and life itself after meeting Julien.”

Book and Print Initiative: Julia Walworth (Merton College, Oxford): 'Writing the Life of the oldest academic library' - Warburg/IES

3rd December 2020, 13.00 - 14.00, Book Here

“The Book and Print Initiative was founded in 2017 to bring scholars of books, printed material, and printing, at all career stages, across the School of Advanced Study (SAS). [...] It provides a national focal point for the interdisciplinary, global study of word, image and other written content from before the print era (manuscripts, paleography, codicology) through its future (digital humanities)”. We think this is a captivating endeavour which strives to relate the different objectives of studying an aggregate, unifying many different mediums in the process. We cannot wait to hear Dr Julia Walworth’s (Merton College, Oxford) paper: “Writing the Life of the oldest academic library.”