Transformance

Join us for an Event with a guest- Eugenio Refini (Professor and Chair of Italian Studies at New York University) "Transformance" Monday, April 28th, 4:30 pm Brodhead Center Multi-Purpose Room 068 The talk is part of the "Dialogue: An Early Modern Series" "Transformance" By reframing "tradition" in terms of "reception," scholars have emphasized the dynamic ways in which cultural objects traverse temporal and spatial boundaries. While "reception" foregrounds the agency of the receiving subject(s), the intellectual value of "tradition"-particularly its etymological prefix trans-remains significant. This paper proposes a way to move beyond the tradition/reception dichotomy without discarding the merits of either term: by exploring reception as inherently performative. Performance, with its ephemeral present-ness, provides a compelling lens for understanding reception as always unfolding in the "here and now." Through examples of reception involving trans narratives in performative contexts-such as the many lives of Orlando, from the chivalric tradition to Virginia Woolf's provocative reimagining-I introduce "transformance" as a concept that illuminates the mechanics of reception, particularly the permanence of early modern tropes in modern culture. Event co- sponsored by: Dean's support, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Franklin Humanities Institute