ESPRit online seminar 13 May 2022

The third ESPRit online seminar series takes as its general theme ‘sources beyond the periodical text’. It launched on 8 April 2022 with an opening lecture by Filippos Tsiboglou, Director General of the National Library of Greece. The second session, held on 13 May 2022 at 3 PM CET, featured two research presentations: 

Zsuzsa Török, Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute for Literary Studies, Budapest, ‘Sources for Anonymous Contributors to Periodicals: The Case of the Hungarian Stephanie Wohl and The Scotsman’

Stephanie Wohl, a Hungarian writer and journalist from Budapest, contributed a series of thirty-two letters between 1875 and 1881 to The Scotsman, Scotland’s iconic Edinburgh-based national newspaper. Wohl reported on Hungarian life and manners and covered a range of topical events usually associated with special correspondents. Her articles followed the tradition of journalistic anonymity and carried the by-line ‛From an Occasional Correspondent’, ‛By an Occasional Correspondent’, ‛From a Hungarian Correspondent’, or ‛From our own Correspondent’. Relying on digital resources and archival research, this paper proposes a transnational approach to periodicals and periodical contributors. It provides a methodological case study using the example of Stephanie Wohl’s contribution to The Scotsman, focusing on the challenge of establishing her authorship. In doing so, it will introduce a research procedure that consists of identifying a corpus of articles supposedly authored by Wohl. This corpus has been delineated relying on Hungarian short news items testifying for Wohl’s engagement with foreign media. Benefitting of the ProQuest’s British Periodicals multidisciplinary database, it was possible to identify this body of texts as publications that came out in The Scotsman. Finally, making use of The Scotsman’s business records preserved in the National Library of Scotland, there is a strong possibility to certify that Wohl had indeed authored these texts. Though the articles have not been signed by Wohl, yet, the archival material contains information pointing to her undeniable authorship. The paper concludes that sources beyond the periodical text are crucial in determining the identity of anonymous periodical contributors. These sources, moreover, may open up new, unexpected avenues for the study of international communication networks, and, in Wohl’s case, of strategic collaboration between émigrés and their homeland contacts.

Levente T. SZABÓ (Ph.D. habil.), Babeș-Bolyai University, ‘Reconstructing the Entangled History of the First International Journal of Comparative Literary Studies’

The multilingual Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum (1877-1888) is one of early comparative literature's most fascinating and puzzling phenomena. Founded by two Eastern European polyglots, edited in Kolozsvár/Cluj/Klausenburg and London, the first review specialized in the emerging comparative literary discipline succeeded in attracting around 120 collaborators worldwide. This broad linguistic and cultural appeal made the journal the perfect frame for the most diverse and radical methodological questions, experiments, and opinions.

Despite the high interest for the pioneering journal, its extreme multilingualism and the diversity of its collaborators made it almost impossible to track the wide-ranging history of this crucial little periodical. Based on continued efforts of archival research of more than a decade, my paper attempts to survey the role archival materials could play in reconstructing the entangled visions of comparative literature standing behind this important early institution of comparative literary studies.

ESPRit online seminar 8 April 2022

tsimboglouWe are very pleased to announce that Dr Filippos Tsimpoglou, General Director of the National Library of Greece will launch the Third ESPRit Online Seminar Series, on the general theme ‘Sources Beyond the Periodical Text’. The opening lecture will be held on 8 April, 2022 at 3PM CET via Zoom.

‘Expanding the services of the National Library of Greece to researchers, public, libraries, society and next generations’

In 2014 the National Library of Greece started a transformation process with an annual budget of 240.000€, 47 employees as permanent staff, absolutely the smallest among 38 European National Libraries and a total area of about 9.000 sq.m. in three buildings full of printed material. After a period of three years of preparation, the NBE completed the relocation of most of its services to the new premises of the SNFCC, a building donated to the Hellenic Republic by the SNF and home to three different organisations: NLG, NGO and SNFCC.

In eight years, despite the tight and difficult environment of austerity and cost-cutting measures under the Memorandum, the EBE has managed to secure some of the conditions and develop several of the basic infrastructures that characterize a National Library. Thanks to a donation from the SNF and the steady support of the Greek state, its budget reached the average of the national libraries of the "small" European countries (6.700.000€) and its staff was half the average (80 permanent and 75 seconded teachers) located in four buildings of totally 31.000 sq.m..

The NLG, taking advantage of the new modern legislative framework (Law 4452/2017), has submitted the new Management and Operating Organization and drafted the Strategic Plan 2022-2026 that develops three axes of actions of the NLG: a) the completion of all services that are considered crucial for the fulfillment of the mission of a modern national library at levels corresponding to the high position and value recognized over time in Greek civilisation. b) consolidation of the Hellenic Library as the leading library of the country, through actions and support projects for the development of the Hellenic Library Ecosystem at levels corresponding to the development of contemporary Greek culture. c) promotion of the Hellenic Library as an unrivalled centre of support for Hellenic Studies internationally.

Τhe communication presents the panorama of services and actions that the EBE has carried out.

Chair: Professor Aled Jones, historian and former National Librarian of Wales

The event is free and open to anyone interested to attend. Please register here to receive the Zoom link .

ESPRit online seminars: Sources beyond the periodical text

We are pleased to announce that the ESPRit online seminar series, initially launched in March 2020, will shortly enter its third series. The first two focused on ‘Crossover influences and local identities in the popular illustrated periodicals of the 19th and twentieth centuries’, and consisted of a combination of stimulating keynote addresses and fascinating 20 minute papers across a range of subjects.

The third series takes as its general theme ‘sources beyond the periodical text’. It will consist of the following contributions:

Friday 8 April, 3PM CET:

Opening lecture by Filippos Tsimpoglou (Director General of the National Library of Greece), ‘Expanding the services of the National Library of Greece to researchers, public, libraries, society and next generations’ More information

13 May, 3PM CET:

  • Zsuzsa Török (Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute for Literary Studies, Budapest), ‘Sources for Anonymous Contributors to Periodicals: The Case of the Hungarian Stephanie Wohl and The Scotsman’
  • Levente T. Szabó (Babeș-Bolyai University), ‘Reconstructing the Entangled History of the First International Journal of Comparative Literary Studies’

17 June, 3PM CET:

  • Nora Ramtke (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), ‘Europa (1835-1844) and its Supplements: Archiving the Abundance’
  • Hannah Connell (King’s College London and British Library), ‘Uncovering the relationships between periodicals through editorial correspondence: Networks of Russian-language emigre periodicals in interwar Paris’

Please click here to register for the online seminar series. We will send you the Zoom link via e-mail. 

 

Half-Day Workshop on Multilingualism and Periodical Studies

The European Society for Periodical Research in conjunction with the  Research Society for Victorian Periodicals is excited to announce 

Multilingualism and Periodical Studies. A Half-day Virtual Workshop

31 March 2022, 3pm-6pm CET

 

This two-part online workshop brings together scholars and researchers on the topic of multilingualism in periodicals scholarship. It seeks to spotlight ongoing projects in academic research across languages, as well as to ask questions about the challenges and possibilities that pertain to multilingual approaches.

Because of their generic hybridity and varying circulations, periodicals have always invited interdisciplinary methods, which our participants expand into the study of periodicals’ linguistic richness. Periodicals define far more intricate political imaginaries and publics than just the nation. Their linguistic complexity and language circulation work within as well as across political formations at various scales. And the geographic and generic reach of periodicals calls for scholars to research them with just as capacious an approach.

“Multilingualism and Periodicals Studies” brings together representatives from multiple disciplines and international arenas. The half-day workshop includes two 90-minute virtual sessions. It begins with a session of research presentations about active projects in the field, followed by a roundtable discussion among participating scholars and our audience. The workshop is jointly hosted by the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP) and the European Society for Periodical Research (ESPRit).

The event is free and open to anyone interested in attending either one or both sessions. Membership in RSVP and ESPRit is not required, though advance registration is needed. Register for the event here.

 

Confirmed Speakers

Research Presentations

Roundtable

ESPRit Postgraduate Workshop, Budapest 2022

Call for Papers

In conjunction with the 10th International Conference of the European Society for Periodical Research (ESPRit), entitled Periodicals beyond Hierarchies: Challenging Geopolitical and Social “Centres” and “Peripheries” through the Press (Budapest, 8–9 September 2022, see the corresponding CfP), a hybrid postgraduate workshop will be held on 7 September 2022. We seek applications from graduate students working on any topic with regard to periodicals from any historical period, geographical origin, and cultural context. The workshop is open to postgraduate students working in any discipline in the humanities and social sciences and using any methodology or approach. Priority will be given to advanced doctoral students, but applications by graduate students at any stage of preparation of their dissertation will also be considered. Personalised feedback will be offered by a committee comprising ESPRit members and members of the Museum of Fine Arts – Central European Research Institute for Art History (KEMKI) – Artpool Art Research Center and the Kassák Museum. Participants of the workshop will have their conference fee waived. Further funding for travel expenses and accommodation will be taken into consideration, under request.

To apply, please send:

  • a 500-word abstract of the thesis to be presented. Workshop presentations last generally 10 minutes. In order for the Workshop to be useful to all participants what should be stressed is specific methodological points pertaining to periodical studies, rather than just case studies. These can of course be an outcome of the PhD candidate’s research area or PhD subject.
  • a short CV (150 words) including name, institutional affiliation, and year of PhD. The academic CV should include the candidate’s studies, interests, and possible distinctions and publications.

Proposals should be received by the organisers no later than 28 February 2022.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Central European Research Institute for Art History, Budapest!  

Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

  1. 10th International ESPRit Conference (Budapest, 2022)
  2. ESPRit online seminars Autumn 2021