WashU English Professor Anca Parvulescu, who also holds a joint appointment with the Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities (IPH), will use Hermann Hesse’s novel, “Der Steppenwolf,” as well as a contemporary video installation, to consider the role of laughter in modernity. In her talk she will raise the question of whether Hesse’s faith in the promise of laughter is a relic of the past or whether it is still available to us as a potential resource.”
Parvulescu’s talk is the final of three lectures that comprise this year’s Humanities Lecture Series: Questioning Comedy: Politics, Theater, Laughter. The series opens on Oct. 7 with Timothy Moore discussing “The Paradox of Politics in Ancient Comedy, followed by Joseph Loewenstein addressing “Shakespeare’s Dream of Politics.”
All three programs will be held at noon in the Womens Building Formal Lounge. For details on the IPH series, visit:. http://iph.wustl.edu/events/154
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