Nome dell'autore: Anglistica

CALL FOR PAPERS Pseudo-Silence in Early Modern Theatre

June 16th-17th 2025, Naples In his misogynist pamphlet The Arraignment of lewd, idle, froward, and unconstant women (London: 1615), Joseph Swetnam comments, “[i]f thou marriest a still and a quiet woman, that will seem to thee that thou ridest but an ambling horse to hell” (F2r). This seemingly uncommon relation between female wickedness and silence reflects a broader shift in the perception of this linguistic attitude, which began at the turn of the century. The rising popularity of Ramus’ philosophy, which valued rhetoric as inferior to the abstract silences of thought, as well as of neo-Platonist and Puritan thought, lent new emphasis to the role of silence in the individual’s life. However, the growing presence of political dissidents in Tudor England reframed silence from a desirable linguistic practice, especially in women, to an “antisocial, multivalent and profoundly subversive–as, in short, ‘inscrutable’ and thus potentially ungovernable” attitude (Luckyj 2002, 26). As Robert Burton noticed in the revised edition of his The Anatomy of Melancholy (1651), “pauciloqui”, that is, being “of few words, and oftentimes wholly silent”, could also be a sign of repressed anger as much as aggressive speech (Aa3v). In this context, the early modern connotation of silence swings “from foolish impotence to forms of androgynous wisdom or dissent” (Montironi 2020, 40). The conference seeks to reconfigure the multifaceted role of silence in early modern English drama (16th–17th century), freeing it from its binary opposition with speech and unveiling its linguistic power as a deliberate, performative choice to express reticence, resistance, or dissimulation. The interest in this topic and its manifold declensions in the macro-areas listed below has been particularly spurred by two research projects: “Pseudos. Declinazioni del dis/valore tra testimonianza e falsificazione” [Pseudos: Degrees of dis/value between testimony and falsification] (Unior) and “SENS – Shakespeare’s Narrative Sources: Italian Novellas and Their European Dissemination” (Univr). As often happens, the study of distinct, seemingly unrelated topics led to engaging with silence from a synergic perspective that transcends its conventional interpretation by unearthing its dissimulative, subversive use in early modern drama. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: – Female Speech and Gender Studies: how does silence or reticence function as a form of resistance or empowerment for female characters or authors in early modern drama? How do playwrights encode female silence as a response to or subversion of patriarchal linguistic structures? – Political/Religious Discourse: how do political figures employ silence as a means of control, manipulation, or protest within early modern plays? Is silence employed solely as an act of devotion and spiritual contemplation, or does it also constitute a form of resistance against religious persecution or dogma? – Linguistic Perspectives: how do early modern playwrights manipulate language to create moments of verbal absence that carry significant meaning? What linguistic patterns and practices highlight the pragmatic, stylistic, rhetorical and communicative functions of silence? How do certain linguistic behaviours, such as reticence or the silencing of others, contribute to characterisation? – Digital Humanities: how do digital archives, databases, or editorial choices in digital projects repair or reveal “silences” in early modern plays? How might new digital tools or methodologies reintroduce or expose previously overlooked silences? – Censorship and Editorial Silence: how do editorial practices, both historical and contemporary, “silence” texts (through non-publication or restricted circulation in manuscript form) or, indeed, how may editorial intervention give voice to previously overlooked textual silences? How may such editorial choices reflect broader social, political, or religious concerns (e.g. avoidance of censorship)? – Adaptations and Translations: what is lost or transformed in the process of translation or adaptation of an early modern play? How are the elements of the sources and resources of a play silenced by the playwright? How does the absence of certain elements reshape the original? – Performance History: how has silence been performed or reinterpreted on stage? What role does physical silence (such as pauses, gestures, or non-verbal cues) play in performance, and how does it contribute to the meaning of the play? Plenaries: – Jon R. Snyder (Research Professor Emeritus, Comparative Literature, UC Santa Barbara, USA); – Maria Elisa Montironi (Associate Professor, English Literature, Università degli Studi di Urbino, IT). Submission Guidelines: Please submit a 300-word abstract along with a brief bio by 20/03/2025. Selected papers will be published in an edited collection in 2026. Submissions and inquiries should be sent to abeville@unior.it and beatrice.righetti@univr.it. We look forward to your contributions to this exciting conversation on the performative power of pseudo-silence in Early Modern theatre. Select References: Aebischer, Pascale. ‘Silence, Rape and Politics in “Measure for Measure”: Close Readings in Theatre History’. Shakespeare Bulletin 26, no. 4 (2008): 1–23. Beville, Aoife. ‘Strategies of Silence in All’s Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure’. In Taboo Language and (Im)Politeness in Early Modern English Drama, edited by Fabio Ciambella, 79–102. UniorPress. 2024. Bigliazzi, Silvia. ‘Linguistic Taboos and the “Unscene” of Fear in “Macbeth”’. Comparative Drama 52, no. 1/2 (2018): 55–84. Continisio, Tommaso, and Bianca Del Villano, eds. Queens on Stage: Female Sovereignty, Power and Sexuality in Early Modern English Theatre. I edition. Scritture d’Oltremanica 17. Canterano (RM): Aracne editrice, 2018. Coussement-Boillot, Laetitia, and Christine Sukič, eds. ‘Silent Rhetoric’, ‘Dumb Eloquence’: The Rhetoric of Silence in Early Modern English Literature. Paris: Université Paris Diderot, 2007. Culpeper, Jonathan. Language and Characterisation: People in Plays and Other Texts., New York: Routledge, 2001. Hadfield, Andrew. ‘Literature and the Culture of Lying Before the Enlightenment’. Studia Neophilologica 85, no. 2 (2013): 133–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/00393274.2013.850952. Jaworski, Adam. Silence: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Berlin/Boston, GERMANY: De Gruyter, Inc., 1997. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uniorit-ebooks/detail.action?docID=935552. Kalpin Smith, Kathleen. 2013. “Women’s Speech in the Age of Shakespeare”. Literature Compass 10(3):260–8. Kamaralli, Anna. 2012. Shakespeare and the Shrew, Performing the Defiant Female Voice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Luckyj, Christina. ‘A Moving Rhetoricke’: Gender and Silence in Early Modern England. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002. ———. ‘“A Moving Rhetoricke”: Women’s Silences and Renaissance Texts’. Renaissance Drama 24 (January 1993): 33–56. https://doi.org/10.1086/rd.24.41917294. McGuire, Philip C. Speechless Dialect: Shakespeare’s Open Silences. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985. Mendelson, Sara, and Patricia Crawford.

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AIA PhD Seminar: Exploring Intersections in Language and Literature – YouTube

Hosted by the University of Parma, this installment of the AIA PhD Seminar Series, titled “Exploring Intersections: Border-crossings, Interactions and Overlaps in Language and Literature”, brings together two distinguished scholars discussing innovative approaches in translation studies and literary research.

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Programma STARS Grants per la ricerca individuale 2025

Il bando STARS @UNIPD 2025 è attivo dal 20 dicembre 2024 al 21 marzo 2025, ore 13.00 (ora italiana). Il bando STARS @UNIPD 2025 finanzia progetti di ricerca, della durata di 30 mesi, in una delle 28 aree scientifiche comprese nei raggruppamenti disciplinari stabiliti dalle Macroaree di Ateneo, che corrispondono ai tre domini dello European Research Council (ERC):– PE: Scienze fisiche ed ingegneria– LS: Scienze della vita– SH: Scienze sociali e umane. Il bando offre tre tipologie di finanziamento con un approccio “bottom-up”, senza aree tematiche predefinite. È aperto a Principal Investigator (PI) di qualsiasi età e nazionalità che desiderano condurre la propria attività di ricerca presso un Dipartimento dell’Università di Padova. I candidati devono dimostrare il carattere innovativo, l’ambizione e la fattibilità della proposta scientifica presentata. STARS Starting Grant (STARS-StG): per PI, anche esterni all’Università di Padova, nella fase di avvio del proprio team e/o della propria attività di ricerca indipendente, i quali abbiano sostenuto la discussione finale della prima tesi di dottorato da non oltre 5 anni alla data del 1 gennaio 2025 (finestra di ammissibilità: 01/01/2020 – 31/12/2024 incluso); STARS Consolidator Grant (STARS-CoG): per PI, che già svolgono attività di ricerca presso Unipd, nella fase di consolidamento del proprio team e/o della propria attività di ricerca indipendente, i quali abbiano sostenuto la discussione finale della prima tesi di dottorato da un minimo di 5 a un massimo di 10 anni alla data del 1 gennaio 2025 (finestra di ammissibilità: 01/01/2015 – 31/12/2019 incluso); STARS Wild Card Grant (STARS-WiC): per PI che già svolgono attività di ricerca presso Unipd e che hanno presentato una proposta progettuale ERC nei bandi 2023 e 2024, indicando Unipd quale Host Institution, ma che, pur avendo ottenuto il punteggio finale “A” nel secondo step di valutazione, non sono stati finanziati per limiti di budget.

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“Débats sur le débat” – Friday, February 14, 2025, at 3:00 p.m. (CET)

We are pleased to invite you to the next session of the “Débats sur le débat” seminar series, which will focus on Linguistics and Ethnic Hate Speech. The event will take place on Friday, February 14, 2025, at 3:00 p.m. (CET) and will feature presentations by Charlotte Taylor (University of Sussex) and Federico Faloppa (University of Reading). The session will be moderated by Paola Pietrandrea (Université de Lille, STL, IUF). The seminar will be held online via Zoom (https://univ-lille-fr.zoom.us/j/97971646404…) and will also be streamed live on Facebook (https://facebook.com/olindinum). *Upcoming Sessions* – March 7 at 3:00 p.m. (CET): Linguistics and Gender Hate Speech Giuseppe Balirano (University of Naples L’Orientale), Selenia Anastasi (University of Genoa), and Simo K. Määttä (University of Helsinki). Moderated by Giuditta Caliendo. – March 20 at 3:00 p.m. (CET) | Linguistics and Polarization Claudia Coppola and Andrea Rocci (Università della Svizzera italiana), and Katarzyna Budzynska and Marcin Koszowy (Warsaw University of Technology). Moderated by Paola Pietrandrea. We look forward to your participation and encourage you to share this invitation with anyone who might be interested. Paola Pietrandrea, Giuditta Caliendo, and Caroline Bossant on behalf of the Linguistic Observatory of Digital Discourse (Observatoire LINguistique du DIscours NUMérique – OLiNDiNUM)

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Intervista a Michela Canepari: Translating Specialized Discourse Intralingually and Intersemiotically

E’ online sul canale YouTube dell’AIA il video con l’intervista di Giuseppina Pirozzi a Michela Canepari, che parla del suo libro Specialized Languages and Graphic Art. Translating Specialized Discourse Intralingually and Intersemiotically, pubblicato da Peter Lang.

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THE TASTE OF SUSTAINABILITY: A corpus-assisted comparative ESP analysis of promotional tasting notes for conventional and alternative wines

Can You Taste Sustainability? Based on the premise that the grandiloquent and frequently satirised language of wine tasting emerged from the globalising socio-economic dynamics of the 1970s, the aim of this volume is to investigate whether a recent market trend — namely, sustainable wine — has engendered an alternative wine-tasting discourse that aligns with the demands of environmentally conscious consumers.

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