"The Power of Words: Literature, Society and the University": York U. Hosts Conference Featuring One of Europe's Leading Intellectual Writers Umberto Eco

TORONTO, October 6, 1998 -- Thursday, Oct. 8 to Saturday, Oct. 10, York University will host a conference entitled: The Power of Words: Literature, Society and the University featuring one of Europe's most prolific intellectual writers, Umberto Eco.

A professor of semiotics, Eco has published more than 25 books including The Name of the Rose, Foucault's Pendulum and The Island of the Day Before. He has also written numerous scholarly works, including: Interpretation and Overinterpretation, The Search for Perfect Language, Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language, and Apocalypse Postponed. He a professor at the University of Bologna and is Visiting Professor, Emilio Goggio Chair, Department of Italian Studies, at the University of Toronto. Eco will deliver the keynote address which is entitled: Literature, Its Function and Fate.

"The Power of Words" is organized by York's Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics and will examine the role of language and literature in universities against the backdrop of government cutbacks to education and an emphasis on utilitarian curriculum.

The conference will attempt to answer several key questions, among them: Will society benefit by downplaying literature as a field of higher education in favour of more directly utilitarian subjects? Is literature necessary in the modern human community, and are its functions so self-evident they need little additional attention in public education?

"This conference aims to heighten awareness of the threat to literature in higher education settings ," says conference co-organizer Prof. Elio Costa. "This is not a uniquely Canadian issue. However Canada, and indeed York University, may be in a unique position to develop exemplary solutions."

The conference which brings together scholars and writers from Canada, Italy and the United States will offer a wealth of discussion from respected scholars:

Literature and the Changing Mission of the University (David McNally, York University)

Building Belonging in the True North: Land and Narrative in (English) Canada (Mora Campbell and Cate Sandilands, York University)

Crossing Borders: Black Literature of the North (Rinaldo Walcott, York University)

Ethnicity, Specificity and Uniqueness of a Minority Literature: Les Lettres de la Belle Province (Sergio M. Gilardino, McGill University)

Navigating the Italian American Archipelago: On the Situations of Meaning in Cultural History (Peter Carravetta, Queen's College, New York)

Spanish American Literature and the Trend to Globalization (Keith Ellis, University of Toronto)

Narration in Psychotherapy: Its Use in the Treatment of Elective Mute Children (Matilde Gentile, Psychiatrist)

Literary Contents/Historical Contexts: Reading the Films of Rossellini, Pasolini and Visconti (Elio Costa, York University)

Conference registration is $30.00. Student admission is free.

WHEN/WHERE:
Thursday, Oct. 8, 7:30 p.m - 8:30 p.m.
York University, Ross Building, Curtis Lecture Hall L
Umberto Eco: Keynote Address: Literature, Its Function and Fate

Friday, Oct. 9, 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
York University, Founders College, Senior Common Room
Session 1 and 2: Literature: Its Structure, Function and Fate

Saturday, Oct 10, 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
York University, Founders College, Senior Common Room
Session 1 and 2: Literature, Society, University

-30-

For more information or a detailed schedule of events, please contact:

Silvana Stifani
Dept. of Languages, Literature, and Linguistics
York University
(416) 736-5016
email: sstifani@yorku.ca

Sine MacKinnon
Senior Advisor for Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22087
email: sinem@yorku.ca

Ken Turriff
Media Relations Officer
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22086
email: kturriff@yorku.ca
YU/067/98