The Penn Libraries is proud to announce that Dr. Mary J. Carruthers will deliver the 2017 A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures, Cognitive Geometries on March 20, 21 and 23 in the Class of 1978 Pavilion in the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.

Dr. Carruthers, Remarque Professor of Literature Emeritus at NYU, describes the lectures as explorations of the close relationships in medieval creative practice among geometric shapes, meditation, and the human ability to create original works. Dr. Carruthers has written extensively on medieval literature, memory, and the history of spirituality. 

Focusing on material objects crafted in the 12th century and then disseminated widely during the 13th century, each lecture investigates the fundamental cognitive insight of medieval diagram makers: that shape and pattern not only envision what we already know but also invite us to discover surprising logical relationships that can provoke our thinking in new ways.

On Monday, March 20, she will discuss “Geometry and the Topics of Invention.”

On Tuesday, March 21 she will address “The Shapes of Creativity 1: Trees, Towers, Buildings.”

On Thursday, March 23, she will continue with “The Shapes of Creativity 2: Hands, Spheres, Cubits.”

The Rosenbach Lectures are the longest continuing series of bibliographic lectureships in the United States. The series began in 1931, with Christopher Morley as the first fellow. Over the years, lecture topics have included 15th-century printing, the relationships between print and manuscript, papermaking, book illustration, American reading and publishing, and medical and scientific texts. Recent lecturers have included Robert Darnton, Anthony Grafton, Peter Stallybrass, David D. Hall, Michael Warner, Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, Alberto Manguel, Paul Needham, William Zachs and, most recently, Matthew Kirschenbaum.

All of the 2017 A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures will begin at 5:30 p.m. and are free and open to the public. RSVP requested at: www.alumni.upenn.edu/rosenbach17