Spring 2008
"Destiny's Children: L.A. Gangs in Post-war El Salvador" LECTURE THURSDAY, MAY 8, 7 P.M.
Photojournalist Donna De Cesare, Associate Professor of Photojournalism at The University of Texas at Austin, presents "Destiny's Children: L.A. Gangs in Post-war El Salvador."
Poetry on the Plaza: Lost and Found READING WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, NOON
The Harry Ransom Center presents the Poetry on the Plaza event Lost and Found on Wednesday, May 7, at noon.
Graduate students from Coleman Hutchison's "Nineteenth-Century American Poetry and the Poetics of the Page" class present a selection of American poems that they have rediscovered during their coursework with the Ransom Center's collections. Their selections will include works by poets who have been consistently excluded from the canon and those who have fallen out of favor over time.
Refreshments will be served at this free event.
Image: Letter from Frederick W. Beecher to Sarah Hale Goodwin Beecher, dated November 22 [no year].
Curator's tour of Inside El Salvador TOUR WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 7 P.M.
David Coleman, the Ransom Center's Curator of Photography, leads a gallery tour of the new exhibition Inside El Salvador on Wednesday, April 30, at 7 p.m.
Inside El Salvador chronicles the height of the civil war in El Salvador in the early 1980s and depicts those directly involved with the conflict, including the guerilla forces and the army, and the war's effects on the civilian population.
The 1979 coup d'état in El Salvador sparked a brutal 12-year civil war. Events such as the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the murder of four U.S. churchwomen drew worldwide attention to the violence that rocked this tiny country.
In 1983, 30 renowned international photojournalists on assignment for Time, Newsweek, LIFE, The New York Times, Paris-Match, and Stern contributed to a book and exhibition that chronicled the daily life of the people during the civil war.
The exhibition features 67 black and white photographs of the conflict, including the guerillas and the U.S.-aided army, as well as the impact upon the civilian population. The images are accompanied by texts written by poet Carolyn Forché. Generous donations of the prints by the photographers and by the Marlene Nathan Meyerson Family Foundation to the Ransom Center benefited the Museo de la Palabra y la Imagen (Museum of the Word and Image) in San Salvador, a museum and archive dedicated to investigating, rescuing, preserving, and presenting elements of the culture and history of El Salvador.
The exhibition continues with a selection of over 30 images by award-winning documentary photographer Donna DeCesare, currently an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism at The University of Texas at Austin. This selection, called El Salvador Inside Out, starts by covering the end of the civil war, notably the murder of six Jesuit priests and the guerilla offensive in San Salvador in 1989—events that increased international pressure for the peace accords.
The exhibition opens April 17 and runs through August 3.
"Jack Kerouac's America" LECTURE THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 7 P.M.
In conjunction with the exhibition On the Road with the Beats, Douglas Brinkley presents "Jack Kerouac's America" on Thursday, April 24, at 7 p.m. at the Harry Ransom Center.
Brinkley is a professor of history at Rice University and editor of Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac 1947–1954 and Library of America's Jack Kerouac: Road Novels 1957–1960.
On the Road with the Beats, which runs through August 3, traces the travels of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and their friends across America and the globe. Manuscripts, books, photographs, and visual art from the Ransom Center's collections tell the story of the Beat Generation and the literary and social revolution they inspired. The scroll manuscript of Kerouac's novel On the Road is on display through June 1.
Beat Film Series with Scorpio Rising, Kustom Kar Kommandos, and A Bucket of Blood FILM SERIES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 7 P.M.
Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising (1964) and Kustom Kar Kommandos (1965), and Roger Corman's A Bucket of Blood (1959). Co-sponsored by the Austin Film Society. Tickets Required.
Promotional media sponsors: Austinist and The Austin Chronicle
ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE AT THE RITZ, 320 E. 6th Street
Beat Poet Anne Waldman READING FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 7 P.M.
Ann Waldman discusses her life as a Beat poet with Harry Ransom Center Curator of British and American Literature Molly Schwartzburg on Friday, April 18, at 7 p.m.
Waldman co-founded with Allen Ginsberg the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University, where she is the Artistic Director of the Summer Writing Program. She has published dozens of books of poetry, and her work has been translated into several languages.
This program is presented in conjunction with the Ransom Center's current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, curated by Schwartzburg. The exhibition, which traces the travels of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and their friends across America and the globe, runs through August 3.
Beat Film Series with The Last Clean Shirt, Wholly Communion, Towers Open Fire, The End, and Beat FILM SERIES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 7 P.M.
Alfred Leslie's The Last Clean Shirt (1964), Peter Whitehead's Wholly Communion (1965), Anthony Balch and William S. Burroughs's Towers Open Fire (1962), and Christopher MacLaine's The End (1953) and Beat (1958). Co-sponsored by the Austin Film Society. Tickets Required.
Promotional media sponsors: Austinist and The Austin Chronicle
ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE AT THE RITZ, 320 E. 6th Street
Poetry on the Plaza: Nobel PoetsREADING WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, NOON
The Harry Ransom Center presents the Poetry on the Plaza event Nobel Poets on Wednesday, April 16, at noon.
Naminata Diabate, Molly Hardy, Olga Herrera, and Crystal Kurzen, who are members of the English Department's Ethnic and Third World Literature concentration, read poems by Nobel-prize winning writers Wole Soyinka, Seamus Heaney, Pablo Neruda, and Octavio Paz. This event continues the Ransom Center's celebration of National Poetry Month.
Refreshments will be served at this free event.
"Some Things We Can Learn from Images of War" LECTURE TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 6:30 P.M.
In conjunction with the exhibition Inside El Salvador, the Harry Ransom Center presents photographer Harry Mattison for "Some Things We Can Learn from Images of War" on Tuesday, April 15, at 6:30 p.m. in the CMA Auditorium at The University of Texas at Austin.
Mattison will address some of the fundamental questions regarding the relationship between photography and the suffering of violence and armed conflict: What purposes do the images of violence serve, and what roles can the photographer, the subjects, and the viewer be assigned in the interpretation of such documents? What does it mean to be an "eye-witness"? If a photograph conveys meaning, whom does it address and why?
This free lecture takes place in CMA A2.320, located in the Jesse H. Jones Communication Center-A on the corner of 23rd and Whitis streets.
Inside El Salvador, opening April 17, chronicles the height of the civil war in El Salvador in the early 1980s and depicts those directly involved with the conflict and the war's effects on the civilian population.
CMA AUDITORIUM (CMA A2.320)
Beat Film Series with Desistfilm, Skyscraper FILM SERIES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 7 P.M.
John Cassavetes's Shadows (1959), Stan Brakhage's Desistfilm (1954), and Shirley Clarke's Skyscraper (1959). Co-sponsored by the Austin Film Society. Tickets Required.
Promotional media sponsors: Austinist and The Austin Chronicle
ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE AT THE RITZ, 320 E. 6th Street
"California Beat: West Coast Art from the Beat Era" LECTURE THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 7 P.M.
David S. Rubin, the Brown Foundation Curator of Contemporary Art at the San Antonio Museum of Art, presents "California Beat: West Coast Art from the Beat Era," on Thursday, April 3, at 7 p.m. at the Harry Ransom Center.
Rubin discusses the work of eight artists who shaped the California Beat Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Together, these artists transformed everyday objects and common imagery into visual art marked by a profound sense of spirituality. The artists under consideration are Wallace Berman, George Herms, Edward Kienholz, Wally Hedrick, Jay DeFeo, Bruce Conner, Jess, and Joan Brown.
This event is in conjunction with the Ransom Center's current exhibitions, On the Road with the Beats, on display through August 3, and Jess: To and From the Printed Page, on display through April 6.
Beat Film Series with Motion Picture, Pull My Daisy, City of Jazz, Bridges-Go-Round, Anticipation of NightFILM SERIES WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 7 P.M.
This series features selected works from filmmakers involved in the Beat movement, including: Frank Paine's Motion Picture (1956), Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie's Pull My Daisy (1959), Ed Bland's Cry of Jazz (1958), Shirley Clarke's Bridges-Go-Round (1958), and Stan Brakhage's Anticipation of the Night (1958). Co-sponsored by the Austin Film Society. Tickets Required.
Promotional media sponsors: Austinist and The Austin Chronicle
ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE AT THE RITZ, 320 E. 6th Street
Poetry on the Plaza: Deans' Choice READING WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, NOON
The Harry Ransom Center presents Poetry on the Plaza event Deans' Choice on Wednesday, April 2, at noon.
In celebration of National Poetry Month, University deans bring their favorite poetry to life in this event. College of Fine Arts Dean Doug Dempster, College of Liberal Arts Dean Randy Diehl, College of Communication Dean Roderick P. Hart, and Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Victoria Rodriguez are the featured readers.
Refreshments will be served at this free event.
Marathon Reading of On the Road READING SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 10 A.M.-10 P.M.
The Harry Ransom Center presents a marathon reading of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road, on Saturday, March 29, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Spider House Café.
This event is presented in conjunction with the Ransom Center's current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, on display through August 3. The exhibition traces the travels of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and their friends across America and the globe. Manuscripts, books, photographs, and visual art from the Ransom Center's collections tell the story of the Beat Generation and the literary and social revolution they inspired. The scroll manuscript of Jack Kerouac's On the Road will be on display March 7 through June 1.
Spider House is located at 2908 Fruth Street.
Promotional media sponsors: Austinist and The Austin Chronicle
SPIDER HOUSE, 2908 Fruth Street
"Celebrating On the Road" LECTURE THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 7 P.M.
Ann Charters, biographer and bibliographer of Jack Kerouac, talks about her association with the novelist in "Celebrating On The Road" on Thursday, March 20, at 7 p.m. at the Harry Ransom Center.
Charters, a professor of English at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, discusses the changing reputation of Kerouac's On the Road since its publication in 1957—from its beginning as a best-selling novel that aroused controversy coast-to-coast in the United States to its present status honored as an American classic throughout the world.
This event is presented in conjunction with the Ransom Center's current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, on display through August 3. The scroll manuscript of Jack Kerouac's On the Road will be on display March 7-June 1.
Charters began collecting books by Beat writers in the early 1960s, and she worked with Jack Kerouac in the compilation of his bibliography in 1966. She published Kerouac: A Biography in 1973, and she's edited The Beat Reader, The Sixties Reader, two volumes of Selected Letters of Jack Kerouac, and the textbook The Story and Its Writer.
"Shakespeare in Our Time" LECTURE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 7 P.M.
The Harry Ransom Center presents British scholar and director John Russell Brown, whose archive is at the Ransom Center, in the program "Shakespeare in Our Time" on Wednesday, March 19, at 7 p.m.
The discussion examines contemporary staging and performance of Shakespeare. James Loehlin, professor in the Department of English at The University of Texas at Austin and director of the Shakespeare at Winedale program, will moderate the event.
Performance of Shakespeare worldwide has increased greatly over the past 50 years and has helped transform the academic study of his plays. Brown has played a critical role in creating this new discipline of Shakespeare performance studies. As Associate Director of Britain's National Theatre, he has also directly participated in many important developments in theatrical production. Brown and Loehlin will discuss the differences between academic and theatrical approaches to Shakespeare, the challenges of bridging the gap between them, and the mutual benefits such interdisciplinary work can generate.
Co-sponsored by the Department of English and Shakespeare at Winedale.
Kerouac scroll available for viewing EXHIBITION FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 10 A.M.-5 P.M.
First day to see the scroll manuscript of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road in the exhibition On the Road with the Beats.
Gallery Tour of Jess: To and From the Printed Page TOUR FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 7 P.M.
Michael Auping, Chief Curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, leads a gallery tour of Jess: To and From the Printed Page and discusses the relationship between Jess and the Beats on Friday, March 7, at 7 p.m. at the Harry Ransom Center.
Jess is an exhibition focusing on the influential San Francisco artist known as "Jess" (Burgess Collins) that explores his ongoing dialog between visual images and printed text. Imaginative collage works and paintings derived from poetry, literary classics, and even the Sunday comics are featured.
As chief curator of the the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y. (1993) Michael Auping organized a major retrospective exhibition on Jess and authored a 245-page catalog that includes an artist interview and multiple scholarly essays documenting Jess's career from 1951-1993.
Jess complements the Ransom Center's other current exhibition, On the Road with the Beats, which traces the travels of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and their friends across America and the globe.
Manuscripts, books, photographs, and visual art from the Ransom Center's collections tell the story of the Beat Generation and the literary and social revolution they inspired.
Media sponsor: Art Lies Magazine
"Hearing Private History: The Home Recordings of John Clellon Holmes, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg, 1949-1951" LECTURE THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 7 P.M.
Phil Ford, Assistant Professor of Musicology at Indiana University, presents "Hearing Private History: The Home Recordings of John Clellon Holmes, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg, 1949-1951," on Thursday, March 6, at 7 p.m. at the Harry Ransom Center.
The talk focuses on an unpublished cache of home recordings that capture Clellon Holmes, Kerouac, and Ginsberg reciting poetry, listening to jazz, and trying their hand at vocal jazz improvisation. Ford will discuss how these recordings help us think about the unstable relationship between recorded sound and its decay, and the place of nostalgia in our reconstruction of the past through such ephemeral archival materials.
This event is held in conjunction with the Ransom Center's exhibition On the Road with the Beats, on display through August 3.
Poetry on the Plaza: On the Road READING WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, NOON
The Harry Ransom Center hosts Poetry on the Plaza: On the Road on Wednesday, March 5, at noon.
Professor Jeffrey Meikle and two students from his class "The Beats and American Culture," Meg Halpin and Tom Bevilacqua, read poetry from the Beat Generation. They will be joined by Dr. Molly Schwartzburg, Curator of British and American Literature, who will read selections featured in the Ransom Center's current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, which runs through August 3.
The exhibition traces the travels of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and their friends across America and the globe. Manuscripts, books, photographs, and visual art from the Ransom Center's collections tell the story of the Beat Generation and the literary and social revolution they inspired. The scroll manuscript of Jack Kerouac's On the Road will be on display March 7-June 1, 2008.
Refreshments will be served at this free event.
Explore UT Family SATURDAY, MARCH 1, NOON-5 P.M.
Family fun inspired by the current exhibitions.
"Considering Jess Today" PANEL THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 7 P.M.
In conjunction with the current exhibition Jess: To and From the Printed Page, the Harry Ransom Center presents the panel discussion "Considering Jess Today" on Thursday, February 28, at 7 p.m.
Exhibition curator Ingrid Schaffner, writer and independent curator Michael Duncan, and Austin artist Lance Letscher discuss Jess's literary collaborations and his mastery of the collage medium.
Schaffner, senior curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, argues that visitors can come to understand Jess's art better "by focusing on its bookish aspects." Duncan discusses Jess and his circle of writers and poets. Letscher, an Austin artist who works primarily in collage, discusses Jess's work in this medium.
The exhibition Jess: To and From the Printed Page explores the ongoing dialog between visual images and printed text in the work of this influential San Francisco artist. The exhibition runs through April 6. Imaginative collage works and paintings derived from poetry, literary classics, and even the Sunday comics are featured.
Beat Voices PERFORMANCE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 7 P.M.
The Harry Ransom Center presents the premiere performance of Beat Voices on Thursday, February 21, at 7 p.m.
The series of brief plays, produced in conjunction with the current exhibition On the Road with the Beats, are written, directed, and performed by students in the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin. The pieces illuminate objects and people featured in the exhibition, including Beat figures Peter Orlovsky and Diane DiPrima, specific letters exchanged by Beat authors, and a painting by artist Alfred Leslie.
The performances allow audience members to engage with artifacts and historical figures in the exhibition through live performance.
After the premiere, the plays will be performed every Saturday and Sunday at 1 and 3 p.m. until the exhibition closes.
This program is presented with support from the Harry W. Bass Jr. Foundation of Dallas and the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin.
"Beat Love Poems" PERFORMANCE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 7 P.M.
The Harry Ransom Center hosts the program "Beat Love Poems" at Austin's Scoot Inn on Friday, February 15, at 7 p.m.
Local authors and musicians Spike Gillespie and Jesse Sublett perform poems about love and other subjects by poets such as Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and others, while DJ BeBop Kid spins jazz in this tribute to the Beats.
Scoot Inn is located at 1308 E. 4th Street.
This free event is held in conjunction with the Ransom Center's exhibition On the Road with the Beats, which traces the travels of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and their friends across America and the globe. The exhibition runs through August 3.
Promotional media sponsors: Austinist and The Austin Chronicle
SCOOT INN, 1308 E. 4th Street
"Slander: The Art and Politics of Libel in Eighteenth-Century France" LECTURE THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 7 P.M.
For the 2008 Carl H. and Lily Pforzheimer Lecture, Robert W. Darnton, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and Director of the Harvard University Libraries, presents "Slander: The Art and Politics of Libel in Eighteenth-Century France" on Thursday, February 7, at 7 p.m. at the Harry Ransom Center.
Darnton's lecture investigates the vast but largely unstudied literature of libel that flooded the French book market in the eighteenth century. By concentrating on four interconnected libelles from 1771 to 1793, his talk combines an analysis of the genre and an account of a colony of French refugees in London who churned out slanderous attacks on public figures in Versailles and grafted a blackmail operation onto their literary speculations. Their adventures and misadventures, along with attempts of secret agents from the Paris police to eliminate them, provide a lively tale that leads directly into the French Revolution.
Seating is free, but limited. A reception immediately follows the talk.
If you can't make it to this program, you can view a live webcast of the lecture. Please note the lecture will start streaming at this link beginning at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
The Carl H. and Lily Pforzheimer Lecture at the Ransom Center is an annual lecture series featuring a prominent authority on bibliography, book arts, libraries, and related topics. It is presented this year in honor of the late Professor Robert L. Dawson of The University of Texas at Austin Department of French and Italian.
One of the world's foremost historians of the book, Robert Darnton is the author of The Great Cat Massacre, George Washington's False Teeth, and numerous other studies of eighteenth-century culture. In 2007, he assumed the directorship of the Harvard University Libraries.
Poetry on the Plaza: Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath READING WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, NOON
The Harry Ransom Center presents the first Poetry on the Plaza of the spring semester, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, on Wednesday, February 6 at noon.
Readers share poems from Plath and Sexton and poets who inspired and were inspired by them, including John Berryman, Robert Lowell, and Elizabeth Bishop.
The archives of Anne Sexton and Robert Lowell reside at the Harry Ransom Center.
Refreshments will be served at this free event.
Curator's Tour: On the Road with the Beats TOUR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 7 P.M.
Molly Schwartzburg, the Harry Ransom Center's Curator of British and American Literature, leads a free gallery tour of the exhibition On the Road with the Beats on Tuesday, February 5, at 7 p.m.
On the Road with the Beats traces the travels of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and their friends across America and the globe. Manuscripts, books, photographs, and visual art from the Ransom Center's collections tell the story of the Beat Generation and the literary and social revolution they inspired.
The exhibition will be on display through August 3. The scroll manuscript of Jack Kerouac's On the Road will be on display March 7-June 1.
David Mamet to Speak on Campus LECTURE MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 6:30 P.M.
The Harry Ransom Center, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation, and the LBJ Library and Museum present playwright, writer, and film director David Mamet for the 2008 Harry Middleton Lecture on Monday, February 4, at 6:30 p.m. at Hogg Auditorium.
Mamet, whose papers reside at the Ransom Center, discusses his career and work with Austin Chronicle Arts Editor Robert Faires.
Seating at the lecture is limited, and tickets are required for entry. All tickets have been distributed for this event. However, there will be a stand-by line starting at 5:30 p.m. at Hogg Auditorium the day of the event to fill unclaimed seats. Guests in the stand-by line aren't guaranteed seating.
For more information, visit www.lbjfoundation.org/middleton.
View Gallery of Mamet's Papers
HOGG AUDITORIUM
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