The Words Matter Lecture is a highlight of our academic year here on the Literature programme at York St John University. Below, Subject Director Dr Anne-Marie Evans announces full details of this year’s lecture, to be delivered by Dr Jo Waugh on Thursday 11th October.
I am delighted to be able to invite you to this year’s Words Matter lecture, which is an opportunity for everyone in our programme to meet. Please do come along and support this event! This year the lecture is entitled ‘Literature and Contagion’ and will be given by Dr Jo Waugh. Details and booking link are below:
Words Matter Lecture 2018: Literature and Contagion. Dr Jo Waugh. Thursday 11th October 2018. 6pm in Temple Hall.
The YSJU English Literature programme is proud to host the second Words Matter lecture, this year given by Dr Jo Waugh on the theme of ‘Literature and Contagion’.
The term “meme” was coined by the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976 to describe the units of cultural transmission which pass from person to person – memes can be anything from tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, to widely accepted cultural values. This was an idea with big implications: if everything is just a meme, how can we ever claim an original thought? Some thinkers applied the metaphor of contagion to meme theory: what if we don’t just pass on ideas, but infect people with them, and become infected by them? This lecture explores the idea of the meme, and the usefulness of metaphors in general and contagion metaphors in particular, to think about the ways we pass on ideas and values through the literature we read and quote.
The event is FREE and will be followed by a wine reception. You can book your place here.