HUMANITIES INSTITUTE OFFERS INTRODUCTION TO KRISTEVA

Julia Kristeva, world renowned psychoanalyst and author, will be the topic of the fourth annual Old Dominion University Humanities Forum on Tuesday, Sept. 25 from 12:30-3:30 p.m. in the Burgess Room of the Batten Arts and Letters Building. Kristeva will be on campus Oct. 11 for the inauguration festivities for President Roseann Runte.

Author of acclaimed books such as "Time and Sense," "Strangers to Ourselves," and "Hannah Arendt," Kristeva is a faculty member in the Department of Science and Texts and Documents at the University of Paris VII, where she teaches in the Department of Literature and Humanities.

In the symposium there will be four speakers discussing different aspects of Kristeva's work. Dana Heller, associate professor of English and director of the Humanities Institute, will provide an introduction to Kristeva and her works. Peter Schulman, assistant professor of French, will discuss what it was like to be a student of Kristeva's. Grant Jenkins, lecturer in English and interim director of composition, will compare ethics and sexual differences in Kristeva's language. David Metzger, associate professor of rhetoric and composition, will review Kristeva's use of Hannah Arendt from phenomenology to politics.

The forum, sponsored by the Humanities Institute, is intended to provide students and faculty with an overview of Kristeva's distinguished career as one of Europe's leading intellectuals. It will be an introduction to the major themes that have enlightened her thought in literary, linguistic, psychoanalytic, semiotic and feminist theory. Presentations will last for 10 to 15 minutes, with an open forum for discussion, questions and responses following the presentations.

For more information contact Dana Heller at 683-3719 or dheller@odu.edu.