Yale Bulletin and Calendar

January 17, 2003|Volume 31, Number 15|Two-Week Issue

Peter Brooks

DeVane Lectures to explore literary, artistic realism

The tradition of realism in literature and painting will be explored during a spring semester series of DeVane Lectures, which will be presented by Peter Brooks, Sterling Professor of Comparative Literature and French and the William Clyde DeVane Professor this year.

In the lecture series, titled "Visions of the Real," Brooks -- a literary scholar whose interdisciplinary work cuts across fields as diverse as law and psychiatry -- will examine the concept of realism in major 19th-century novels and paintings.

The lectures, which are free and open to the public, also serve as a for-credit course for undergraduate students. Lectures will take place weekly on Tuesdays, 4-5:15 p.m., in Rm. 101 of Rosenfeld Hall, 109-111 Grove St. The first lecture, an introduction titled "Realism and Representation," was held on Jan. 14; the series ends on April 22. (See the "Calendar" section of this newspaper for weekly lecture topics.)

In his description of the course, Brooks notes that the concept of realism has "been out of favor in recent decades, dismissed by much criticism and theory which saw realist notions of representation, and the relation of signs to things, as naïve." However, he says, "with a renewed attention to the poetics of cultural systems, the concept seems not only pertinent but crucial."

First coined in the 1850s to categorize painting and later literature, "realism" describes works that "claim to represent the world as it is," notes Brooks. "Visions of the Real" will address such questions as "'What does it mean to represent the world?'" "'How is it done?'" and "'How do fictions go about attempting an imitation of life?'" he says in the course description.

The series of DeVane Lectures will pay particular attention "to the roles played by money and by things (furniture, clothing, accessories) in the lives of fictional characters, and to the importance of the city as the new defining context of life," as well as to "description, as the rhetorical means toward creating an 'effect of the real,'" adds Brooks.

Among the novels to be studied are major works by Balzac, Flaubert, Zola, Dickens, Eliot, James and Woolf. Paintings by Courbet, Caillebotte, Manet and some lesser-known artists will also be considered, as will manifestos and polemics of the period. In addition, some of the forms in which realism manifests itself today, such as "reality TV," will be explored.

"[T]here is much to be gained from studying a selection of those works that explicitly take representation of the contexts of everyday life as central to their enterprise," asserts Brooks.

French novels may be read in English translation for the course, but students with competence in French are encouraged to read the originals. Weekly discussion sections will be offered on Thursdays, 4-5:15 p.m., for students taking the course for credit.

The DeVane Professorship was established in 1969 with a grant from the Old Dominion Foundation. It is named after a former dean of Yale College and honors his memory by addressing his concern that undergraduate education not become excessively narrow and departmentalized. An invitation to deliver the DeVane Lectures is considered a major honor for Yale faculty.

Brooks, a member of the faculty since 1965, is a specialist on the French 19th-century novel, European romanticism and the theory of narrative. His books include "Troubling Confessions: Speaking Guilt in Law and Literature," "Psychoanalysis and Storytelling," "Reading for the Plot," "The Melodramatic Imagination" and "The Novel of Worldliness." With Yale law professor Paul Gewirtz, he edited "Law's Stories," and he has been editor or coeditor of numerous other books, including "Henry James, 'The Wings of the Dove'" and "Whose Freud? The Place of Psychoanalysis in Contemporary Culture." He also wrote a novel, "World Elsewhere," that is based on a real-life prince's expedition to Tahiti.

As director of the Whitney Humanities Center from 1980 to 1991 and again from 1997 to 2001, Brooks fostered interdisciplinary collaborations among Yale faculty members and outside scholars in the humanities and a wide range of other fields. He earned his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University and studied at University College in London as a Marshall Scholar. During his career at Yale he has also served as director of undergraduate studies in French, director of The Literature Major, director of graduate studies in comparative literature, director of the Division of the Humanities, and chair of the Departments of French and Comparative Literature. He has also been the associate editor of Yale French Studies and was an acting master of Pierson College.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Psychologist Peter Salovey named new dean of the Graduate School

Science Watch ranks University's researchers . . .

Peabody exhibition sheds light on mysteries of Machu Picchu

Talks, services to mark Yale's tribute to King

DeVane Lectures to explore literary, artistic realism

'Father of fractals' wins Japan Prize

Law School events focus on controversial Roe v. Wade opinion

Former Basic Books publisher takes the helm at Yale Press

Exhibits recall era of 'Romantics and Revolutionaries'

Exhibit features 'modernist' works by Edgar Degas

Show explores children's interest in the law and law-breakers

Artist's reinventions of Vermeer masterpieces are showcased

Ward Davenny, noted pianist and long-time Yale teacher, dies

Study shows benefits of exercise in reducing intra-abdominal fat

Drama school stages Shakespearean tale about a hero . . .

Playreading festival in New York City will feature new works . . .

Peabody celebrating MLK Day with family activities, music . . .

Talk and screening by alumnus to highlight Asian American film festival

Campus Notes