Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, a globally renowned literary theorist, feminist critic, and activist, will deliver the Humanities Council’s Spring 2023 Gauss Seminars in Criticism. Spivak’s two-day visit to Princeton University will include a public lecture and a lunch seminar under the general title, “The Practice of Learning Du Bois.”
Her opening lecture, entitled “My Brother Burghardt,” will be held on Tuesday, April 4 at 5 p.m. in Betts Auditorium. The talk will explore W.E.B. Du Bois and the relationship between his final, posthumously published autobiography and “The Black Flame” trilogy, his final fiction. The lecture is free and open to the public.
On Wednesday, April 5 at 12 p.m., Spivak will conduct a seminar titled “The Long Shadow of Du Bois,” which will explore the transactional nature of reading and the influence of Du Bois on Spivak’s own work. RSVP is required for this lunch discussion, which is open only to members of the University community. Masks will be required for both events.
“This has to be our most widely anticipated event yet. People have been asking about it for over a year,” said Andrew Cole (English), director of the Gauss Seminars. Cole has served as director of the Gauss Seminars since 2015, and this event will mark the end of his tenure. “It’s a lovely way to conclude my directorship, too.”
The Gauss, as it’s come to be known, was instituted in 1949 in honor of Dean Christian Gauss, to provide a forum for discussion, study, and the exchange of ideas in the humanities. Visit the Humanities Council website for more information about the lecture series and upcoming events.
