Professor R. L. Trask Lecture

Professor Robert Lawrence Trask (1944-2004)

 
“Waking the Hedgehog, Waking the Nation: By Way of Introduction to Basque Literature”

Prof. Mari Jose Olaziregi 
University of the Basque Country Etxepare Basque Institute

“Hedgehogs, Seagulls, Roses, Elephants and the Moon: hand in hand with some contemporary Basque poems”

Amaia Gabantxo

University of East Anglia

The University of Birmingham, in collaboration with the Etxepare Basque Institute, is organising the first "Professor Robert Lawrence Trask Lecture". The lecture on behalf of Professor Lawrence Trask, full-member of the Basque Language Academy and well-known scholar who made a sterling work in Basque linguistics, will take the 30th March 2011. The guest lecturers will be Professor Maria Jose Olaziregi from the University of The Basque Country and Amaia Gabantxo from the University of East Anglia.


The lecturers will present an introduction to Basque Literature:“This presentation attempts to give an overview of the history of Basque literature and make a diagnosis of our current literary scene. To that end, we have borrowed a few lines by the author Bernardo Atxaga in which he makes a comparison between our literature and a hedgehog that has been lethargic for too long, but has fortunately managed to wake up in the twentieth century. The second talk is a reading that is a journey through the best poetic voices in contemporary Basque literature” 

The lecture will take place in the Arts Building of the University of Birmingham, Lecture Room 8, at 4.30pm. This is the leaflet prepared for the lecture:

                           

Highly recommended for those interested in languages and literature!