PIMSPontifical Institute
of
Mediaeval Studies

“We like to think of ourselves as the digital age. We are fast, we are mobile. When the digital age looks back at the middle ages, here are the two images we’re most likely to imagine: the monk bent over his parchment, and the book chained to the desk. Physical labor and absolute immobility: the very opposite of the hands-free mobility with which we flatter ourselves. I won’t dispute the physicality—in fact, I’m going to praise it—but immobility? That’s another story. Early medieval books did in fact move; in fact, the very idea of ideas in movement—translation broadly understood—is central to the stories many of these books tell about themselves. The early medieval bookishness is a world of intense and material mobility, a world of linguistic flux, that deepens our modern understandings of 'translation'.” 

This lecture is co-sponsored by:

• Jackman Humanities Institute
• Centre for Comparative Literature
• Centre for Medieval Studies
• Toronto Centre for the Book

This event is free and open to the public.  Registration is not required.  For further information, please contact the Department of Art at (416) 978-1491.

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