Events & Programming

Each year, the Early Modern Center dedicates itself to in-depth exploration of a particular theme. In addition to other programming and events throughout the year, several of our speakers and our annual conference center around our theme. This section of the EMC’s website details current events and our current theme, and it also features archives of our past themes (which includes courses associated with the Early Modern Center) and our past events.

Click on the current theme below to see a list of this year’s events, programming, and theme-related courses.


2023-2023 Theme – Coming Soon!


Click on the links below to see a lists of past themes and events.

Past Themes

Past Events


Bliss-Zimmerman Memorial Lectures

The Bliss-Zimmerman Memorial Lecture, usually held biennially, honors the memories and legacies of two eminent Early Modern Center faculty members, Lee Bliss (1943-2006) and Everett Zimmerman (1936-2003).

 

Past Bliss-Zimmerman Memorial Lectures

2005 John Barrell, “Cottage Politics”
2007 Roger Chartier, “Is There a Reading Revolution in the 18th Century? Diderot, Reader of Richardson”
2009 Angus Fletcher, “Poetry, Environment, and the Protected Circle of Wonder”
2013 David Scott Kastan, “The Body of the Text”
2014 Deidre Lynch, “Pride and Prejudice by Numbers”
2016 Gail Kern Paster, “‘After his sour fashion’: The Cognitive Ecology of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
2018 Jerome McGann, “Colonial Exceptionalism and the Roots of the American Condition”