Talk: An English Lady in Istanbul and the Shakespeare of India: British Perceptions of the Orient in the Eighteenth Century

Anmeldung möglich

The eighteenth century was a time of imperialism and imperialist attitudes. However, it was also a time when Oriental culture was widely regarded as fascinating and fashionable. In this talk, a selection of texts, images, objects and cultural practices related to the Orient will be discussed, and also some of their key contexts in terms of cultural history and the history of ideas. Our main focus will be the Ottoman Empire and India, with short detours to China and elsewhere. So come along, visit a Turkish bath with an intrepid English lady and walk the streets of London in the company of a Chinese philosopher. You will also get a chance to meet both imperialists and Indophiles, including Youns Uksfardi, the remarkable man who discovered the Shakespeare of India and much else besides.
Christoph Heyl is Professor of British Literature and Culture at the University of Duisburg-Essen. His research focuses on the interplay between literature and cultural history (including music, the visual arts and architecture). He has worked on topics such as the rise of the private sphere in eighteenth-century London, collections and collectors in 17th century England, Scottish literature and identity and the British perception of India. He is currently working on an English version of his Kleine Englische Literaturgeschichte (Metzler, 2020). His edition of a diary kept by a young man from Wuppertal in a labour camp is just about to be published (Es wird nicht eher hell, bis es ganz dunkel gewesen ist: Das Lagertagebuch des Isy Aronowitz, 1940-1943).
Dies ist eine Veranstaltung in Kooperation mit der Deutsch-Britischen Gesellschaft Ruhr e. V. Informationen über die Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft finden Sie auf www.dbg-ruhr.de.