Lectures in Criticism
Please join us on November 1st at 5 pm for a lecture by Maurice Lee. His lecture is entitled,
“A History of Literature in the Information Age; or, How the 19th Century Invented the Digital Humanities, STEM Dominance, GRE Scores, and Memos from the Dean about Measurable Outcomes.”
The lecture will be in CAS Room 132, 725 Commonwealth Ave.
Please see the lecture description below.
“What is the role of literature and the humanities in an information age? What kinds of claims can aesthetics maintain in a time of science and data? What is gained and lost—epistemologically and socially—by treating literature as information? Such questions are animated by recent developments, but they have roots in the nineteenth century as the proliferation of texts and information shaped the content and uses of literary study. This talk will provide a broad background on the relationship between information and literature before focusing on the history of standardized literature tests that sought to render humanistic learning in objective, measureable forms. Nineteenth-century conflicts over literary testing condition concerns today about the viability of standardized testing and status of the humanities under liberal meritocracy. You will also have the chance to take some nineteenth-century literature tests.”