Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           SLU 10880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           985/549-2341/fax 985-549-2061
    Date: 4/3/02
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple 46

SOUTHEASTERN TO HOST BRITISH SCHOLARS' TALKS ON JOHN RUSKIN
     HAMMOND -- Two British scholars will visit Southeastern Louisiana University in
April as part of a new co-operative agreement between the university's English Department and
the Ruskin Programme at England's Lancaster University.
  Dinah Birch and Lawrence Woof will speak on the 19th-century art and social critic John
Ruskin, whose works are being re-edited for the Internet by the Ruskin Programme. Southeastern
will participate in this project by building a hypertext edition of "The Early Ruskin Manuscripts,"
an edition of Ruskin's early writing prepared by Southeastern English professor David Hanson. 
  Hanson said Birch, Stirling Boyd Fellow in English Language and Literature at Trinity
College, Oxford University, will speak on "Reading Ruskin Today" at 2 p.m., Wednesday, April
10, in the Music Recital Hall. Woof, who is editor-in-chief of the first installment in the
Lancaster electronic editing project, an edition of Ruskin's "Modern Painters," will make
presentations to students and faculty in the departments of English, Computer Science, and
Music and Dramatic Arts from April 9 to April 18.
  "Lancaster University is the international center for Ruskin studies," Hanson said. "Its
new Ruskin Library houses a major collection of Ruskin's manuscripts, drawings, and books. In
addition to being the most influential art critic of the 19th century, Ruskin was also important as
a critic of society, economics, and the environment, who influenced thinkers ranging from
Ghandi, to Tolstoy, to George Bernard Shaw. His influence may be detected today in
environmental and preservationist movements, and arts and crafts movements; and he is widely
admired for the beauty and skill of his prose."
  Birch's expertise in 19th- and 20th-century literature includes not only Ruskin but also 
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the Victorian novelists, and the landscape artist Turner. Her current book project concerns 19th-
century women's education. She also writes regularly for the "London Review of Books" and the
"Times Literary Supplement."
  Woof, who earned degrees from Lancaster and Oxford, is equally adept in music and
literature. His doctoral dissertation explored the presence of Italian opera and English oratorio in
the 18th-century British novel. His present musical interests involve jazz improvisation and
composition. He has employed his expertise in web design not only for the Ruskin project but
also for distance learning in music.
  Birch's lecture is open to the public. Those interested in auditing various classes led by
Woof may contact Hanson at 985-549-2113 or dhanson@selu.edu.
                             -SLU-
Press release available online at www.selu.edu/news/spring02.html