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Duke professor to deliver Ibsen lecture at St. Olaf

By Tom Vogel
February 7, 2006

Toril Moi, the James B. Duke Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University, will deliver her lecture "Henrik Ibsen's Remarkable Modernity" on Tuesday, Feb. 14, at 3:30 p.m. in Buntrock Commons, Viking Theater. Moi will address such questions as what made Ibsen such an "exceptional Norwegian" and why his works remain relevant today.

"His plays are still performed on stages all over the world," Moi says. "He is undoubtedly the most famous Norwegian writer in history." This year marks the centenary of Ibsen's death, an occasion Moi says is best commemorated by celebrating his life and works. In addition to discussing Ibsen's life and career, Moi will highlight some the ways his most important plays explore the conditions of love in the modern world.

Moi writes primarily on feminist theory and women's writing, although she also addresses the intersections of literature, philosophy and aesthetics. She is particularly interested in reading literature with philosophy and philosophy with literature without reducing the one to the other. Moi also focuses on the special theoretical areas of psychoanalytic theory, French phenomenology and ordinary language philosophy. Moi's new book, Henri Ibsen and the Birth of Modernism: Art, Theater, Philosophy, will be published in September by Oxford University Press.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.