Literaire Studentenvereniging Flanor

This week and next week Flanor’s annual cycle lectures will take place. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, the cycle lectures are essentially a number of lectures (usually three, this time two) that centre around a common theme. Sometimes, a special committee is set up to organise these lectures, but this year, the board was really in the flow with organising lectures, so we decided to do it ourselves. We are therefore proud to present this year’s theme: Hidden Stories.

The first of the two cycle lectures will be given by Dr Karin Olsen, a lecturer from the Faculty of Arts of whom I (Kato) have had the pleasure of following several interesting courses. She is an expert in a variety of fields. Among them are: Old English language and literature, Middle English language and literature, Old Norse language and literature, early Irish literature. She will be giving the following lecture tonight (Tuesday 26th of April, at 20.00): 

Miracles and Magic in Early England: The Old English Charms

The Old English Charms are a collection of instructions that were meant to resolve certain situations or diseases in magical ways. What makes these especially interesting is that they are originally written in Old English where most other pre-christian Anglo Saxon medical texts were translated from Latin. This causes these texts to give interesting insights into the views and beliefs of the Anglo Saxon people in terms of medicine and magic.  

This lecture will be given in English and you can still sign up for the lecture via the following link: https://www.flanor.nl/en/activities/events/cycluslezing-i-karin-olsen 

The second of the two cycle lectures will be given by Adrie van der Laan, who is the curator of the Special Collection of the university library. He will be giving the following lecture next week (Tuesday 3rd of May, at 20.00):

"Verborgen verhalen in Bijzondere Collecties: de mensheid in een notendop." ("Hidden stories in Special Collections: humanity in a nutshell.") 

The University Library Groningen has a Humanity Lab: the Special Collections Department. Here, you will find the story of three thousand years of human civilization, told in the form of a thousand and one stories in as many books. Some of these stories are well-known, but most are not. Which famous German cursed and raved in one of our books? What connection did Pieter Beyntsma from Stavoren have with the Roman poet Horace? All these stories tell us who we are.

This lecture will be given in Dutch and you can still sign up for the lecture via the following link: https://www.flanor.nl/en/activities/events/cycluslezing-adrie-van-der-laan-+-maandelijkse-borrel 

Afterwards, you can stay for Flanor’s Monthly Drinks which is always a lot of fun!