Abstract

The Master of Fitzwilliam College invites you to a Conversation with

Dr John Leigh (University Lecturer in French, Cambridge) and bladesmith Magnus Sigurdsson Hardradi, who will discuss the use of weapons in history, literature and the movies.

John Leigh is a specialist in eighteenth-century French thought and literature. His most recent book, TOUCH é: THE DUEL IN LITERATURE (Harvard University Press, 2015), explores the duel in literature from the 17th to the 20th century, and shows how it illuminates the tensions that attended the birth of the modern world. More information here: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/to-the-death. He is also the author of The Search for Enlightenment (Duckworth, 1999) and Voltaire’s Sense of History (Voltaire Foundation, 2004).

Magnus Sigurdsson is a historian, armourer and bladesmith who makes weapons and armour for big and small screen productions. He will discuss the history and lore of the duel with the swords that he makes using traditional methods. He will talk through the development of weapons from the Viking holmgang, via Shakespeare’s ‘deadly dance’ as seen in Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, to the pistol. Magnus will add a little on ‘silver screen’ interpretations for good measure. For more information, see: http://www.magnus-sigurdsson-hardradi.org.uk/

The event is free and open to the public. For more information about this event, see: https://www.fitz.cam.ac.uk/events/conversation-master-touch%C3%A9-illustrated-guide-duel-history-and-literature