These monthly presentations feature one fellow's research in an engaging lecture with lively follow-up conversation. This year's lineup highlights the interdisciplinary range of humanities research at UB.
Talks are on Friday afternoons at 4 pm and are free and open to the public. Complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres are served.
"Ex machina: The Tragedy in the Machine"
Amy Graves Monroe (Associate Professor, Romance Languages & Literatures)
Professor Monroe's talk argues for a deep connection between the rise of Pascalian probability, the interest in automata, the use of theater machines, and Aristotelian ideas of dramatic verisimilitude (i.e., likelihood) and catastrophe. As an interpretation of Aristotle, the Classical unities of time, place and action seek to formalize the circumstances of a happening on the stage. Drama becomes a forum for performing cause and effect, probing probability, exploring plausible outcomes, and wondering about the nature fate, chance, and necessity. The early modern play is a meditation on what constitutes an event.
