If I say so myself, ASNC’s event for the Festival of Ideas
was a great success. The theme of the Festival this year was ‘Dreams and
Nightmares’, so ASNC organised a series of short talks and recitations dealing
with ‘Dreams and Nightmares in Early Britain and Ireland’. The event was held
in the Judith E. Wilson Drama Studio, rather than the usual lecture room, and
this contributed to the theatricality of the presentations, as did six metre-high
panels designed and painted by current ASNC students, which illustrated scenes
of dreams, visions, and monsters from the various ASNC literatures. The
three-hour programme began with Prof. Paul Russell discussing ‘Dream narratives
in Old Welsh and Old Irish’, followed by students reading passages of these
texts in the original. The studio quickly filled to capacity in the first half
hour and stayed that way until the end. From the Celtic languages the focus
turned to the Germanic side of things with Dr Richard Dance explaining where
the words dream and nightmare come from and reading the Old
English poem The Dream of the Rood.
Richard Dance explicates Old English 'dream' and 'nightmare'
(photograph by Dr Margo Griffin-Wilson)
Three students read appropriate passages from Beowulf, and then Old Norse texts dealing with dreams and
nightmares were read by Orri Tómasson
(our teacher of Modern Icelandic) and Vicky Cribb (a postgraduate at ASNC) and
explicated by Dr Judy Quinn. Dr Rory Naismith continued the English part of the
programme by exploring the symbolism of the monsters and beasts that appear on
Anglo-Saxon coins, and Dr Quinn capped off the event by discussing the Old Norse
dreams and nightmares in compelling detail.
Adam Kirton, a current ASNC undergraduate, reads Old English
(photograph by Dr Margo Griffin-Wilson)
The audience’s level of interest
was evident not only in their attendance but also in the
spontaneous question-and-answer sessions that happened after every talk. The
audience’s attention was grabbed as well by the signs directing the public to
the event, for student volunteers outside the building had them attached to
swords, spears, and axes, and the student doorwarden keeping order in the
hallway outside the drama studio was kitted out in authentic period costume.
The audience was requested to fill out comment cards as they left, and most of
those gave the event the highest rating. ASNC once again ably communicated the
attraction and interest of our field, supported by the volunteer efforts of the
many students who helped in advance and on the day.
ASNC undergraduate Becky Shercliff reads Old Irish
(photograph by Dr Margo Griffin-Wilson)
No comments:
Post a Comment