Reading and Pleasure in Istanbul
Blog post about the May 2016 Summer School on Reading Pleasure/Pleasure Reading, Istanbul.
The Summer school “Reading Pleasure – Pleasure Reading: Medieval Approaches to Reading” took place at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, 23-28 May, and was organized by Christian Høgel and Ingela Nilsson. This was a professionally rewarding experience for all those who took part in it, contributing to launch a new interdisciplinary debate on the concepts of reading and of pleasure and their possible interactions.
In an environment which mixed a friendly atmosphere with academic rigor, the participants – PhD students from various disciplines and various places – attended four plenary lectures in the auditorium of the Swedish Institute and had the opportunity to explore several topics: the world of the Persian novels (Bo Utas), the use of therapeutic and preventive reading in English physiologic works (Virginia Langum), the classic Arabic erotic literature (Pernilla Myrne) and the different reading practices in Byzantium (Stratis Papaioannou). Moreover, plenty of time was given for asking questions and different points of view were offered by the audience.
Read more from Lorenzo Ciolfi at the Nordic Byzantine Network, here!