Othello's Island 2014

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PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT HAS ALREADY TAKEN PLACE

 

For information on the 2015 conference click here.

 

Othello's Island: The Annual Conference of Mediterranean and Levantine Cultural History​ in the Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance Pediods and their legacies​
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2nd Annual Conference 9-12 April 2014​ at the Cornaro Institute, Larnaca

 

Convenors:

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• Emeritus Professor James Fitzmaurice, Northern Arizona University (USA)

• Dr Michael Paraskos, Cyprus College of Art

• Benedict Read FSA, University of Leeds (UK)

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Following its successful first year in 2013 the new annual conference and study trip to explore the Medieval and Renaissance history of Cyprus, Othello's Island, returns in 2014.

 

​The aim of the conference is to provide an interdisciplinary look at the medieval and renaissance periods. Speakers will be attending from all over the world, including major institutions in the UK and USA, and topics range from art and literature, to Islamic and Christian relationships and the legacy of medieval culture in the work of Shakespeare and other writers. 

 

All papers are delivered in English.

 

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Programme

 

Wednesday 9 April 2014

 

13.00 to 14.00 Registration, Coffee at the Cornaro Institute

 

14.00 Welcome from Dr Michael Paraskos, Director Cornaro Institute (Larnaca, Cyprus)

 

14.20 Sarah James (University of Kent at Canterbury, UK)

From East Anglia to the Eastern Mediterranean in John Capgrave’s Life of St Katherine

 

14.40 Susan Balderstone (Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia)

The evolution of Holy Trinity images from the medieval period to the Renaissance with particular reference to Cyprus.

 

15.00 Gaie Burnet (Independent Scholar, UK)

A Political Variant of a Vita Icon? The Medieval Memorial to the Beato Agostino Novello by Simone Martini

 

15.20 Discussion

 

15.40 Coffee Break

 

16.00 Alexander Borg (Ben Gurion University, Israel)

Religion, Language and History: The case of the Cypriot Maronites

 

16.20 Nicolas Drocourt (Université de Nantes, France)

Clothes and clothing, barrier or bridge between cultures in the Mediterranean? The role of diplomatic contacts between Byzantium and its neighbours

 

16.40 Nina ChichinadzeIlia (State University, Tbilisi, Georgia)

Mediterranean Geography of Medieval Georgian Liturgical Arts

 

17.00 Discussion

 

17.30 End of day. Dinner own arrangements.

 

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Thursday 10 April 2014

 

9.00 Morning Coffee at the Cornaro Institute

 

9.30 Keynote Speaker: Robert Appelbaum (Uppsala University, Sweden)

Desdemona's Appetite

 

10.30 Erika d’Souza (Independent Scholar, UK)

The Ties that Bind: Desdemona’s relationship with Emilia, as seen in Othello

 

10.50 Lisa Hopkins (Sheffield Hallam University, UK)

Venus's Nuns: The Women in Othello

 

11.10 Discussion

 

11.30 Coffee break

 

11.50 Steve Sohmer (UCLA, USA)

The Double-Time Crux in Othello Solved

 

12.10 Jelena Milicev (Universidad Europea de Madrid, Spain)

Words of Passion, Words of Rage - You and Thou in Shakespeare's Othello

 

12.30 Giannella Sansalvadore (University of South Africa (Unisa), Pretoria, South Africa)

Postmodern Rewriting: Giorgio Manganelli’s Othello: ovvero Cassio governa a Cipro (Othello: or Cassius Rules in Cyprus) (1977)

 

12.50 Discussion

 

13.15 Trip to Famagusta (optional) - please bring your passport

 

19:30+ Drinks reception and exhibition opening at the Cornaro Institute

 

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Friday 11 April 2014

 

9.00 Morning Coffee at the Cornaro Institute

 

9.30 Michael Lecker (The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel)

Sex in Paradise

 

09.50 Richard Maguire (University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK)

Finding Philon: Karpasia Reconsidered

 

10.10 Jonas Christensen (Syddansk Universitet, Denmark)

The Works of the Cypriot Neophytos Enkleistos

 

10.30 Discussion

 

10.50 Coffee Break

 

11.10 Marina Šimunić Buršić (University of Zagreb, Croatia)

Cultural Interchanges and Architecture in Dalmatia between Antiquity and Renaissance

 

11.30 Catarina Villamariz (Nova University of Lisbon (FCT-UNL), Portugal)

Religious Fortified Architecture in the Western Mediterranean and the Influence of the Military Orders: the Portuguese case

 

11.50 Andrej Žmegač (Institute of Art History, Zagreb, Croatia)

The War of Cyprus (1570-1573) in Dalmatia: a Struggle for the Naval Route

 

12.10 Judy Hayden (University of Tampa, Florida, USA)

Philip Massinger’s ‘Turkish Dames’

 

12.30 Discussion

 

13.00-14.30 Lunch (own arrangements)

 

14.30 Tassos Papacostas (King's College, University of London, UK)

‘For holy and very great works are also in need of great expenditure’: Monasteries, landownership and church building on Byzantine Cyprus

 

14.50 Maria Vassiliadou (Independent Scholar, Greece)

Renaissance Iconography in Cyprus

 

15.10 Kristen Streahle (Cornell University, USA)

“E quello lo traslata de sarrazinescho:” the quest for knowledge across the Mediterranean in Il Libro di Sidrach (Garrett Ms. 123)

 

15.30 Coffee Break

 

16.00 Parween Ebrahim (Princeton University, USA)

The Poetics and Politics of the Garden Scenes in Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered

 

16.20 Marija Krnic (Central European University, Budapest, Hungary )

Boundary Position, Cultural Transfer, and Hybridity in Miracle Plays on the Eastern Adriatic Coast: Presentation of Life and Martyrdom of Saints Cyprian and Justina

 

16.50 Nizar Zouidi (High Institute of Applied Studies in Humanities, Gafsa, Tunisia)

The Defender of Cyprus: Unwarlike Othello

 

17:10 Discussion.

 

20.00 Evening meal at a Larnaca landmark restaurant (additional payment required)

 

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Saturday 12 April 2014

 

9.00 Morning Coffee at the Cornaro Institute

 

9.30 Miles Lewis (University of Melbourne, Australia)

Syria and the West, AD 500-1000

 

9.50 David Rollo (University of Southern California, USA)

Muslim/Pagan Relations in the Old French Alexander Cycle

 

10.10 Discussion

 

10.30 Coffee Break

 

11.00 Roger Christofides (University of Huddersfield, UK)

Shakespeare and Aphrodite: The Cyprus Problem in Early Modern Literature

 

11.20 Ema Vyroubalová (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)

The Levant in Early Modern English Travel Narratives: Waypoint or Destination?

 

11.50 Benedict Read

Rupert Gunnis and British Colonial Interest in Medieval Cyprus (University of Leeds, UK)

 

12.10 Discussion

 

13.00 Event ends.

 

This programme is subject to change, alteration and cancellation at short notice, or in extreme cases without notice. Times given are estimates and cannot be guaranteed.