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SUMMARY:'&quot\;All that is solid melts into air&quot\;: Burne-Jones and t
 he Matter of History' - Dr Alison Syme\, Associate Professor of Modern Art
  History\, University of Toronto
DTSTART:20170222T130000Z
DTEND:20170222T140000Z
UID:TALK69547@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Graham Allen
DESCRIPTION:One of Burne-Jones's illustrations for the Kelmscott Chaucer d
 epicts the icy foundations of the House of Fame\, described by the medieva
 l poet as a high rock whose glass-like\, congealed matter is ambiguous. In
  Burne-Jones's rendering\, stacked\, stony blocks inscribed with half-melt
 ed names of the once famous evoke both natural and human-made forms (menhi
 rs\, tombstones)\, and are juxtaposed against what appears to be a landsca
 pe of metamorphic rock. Blurring the line between nature and culture\, the
  illustration suggests the erosions and reshapings to which human history
 —as exemplified\, made\, and marked by its famous men—is subject. In t
 his paper I will contextualize Burne-Jones's evocative conflation of the g
 eological and historical records in terms of contemporary writing on and i
 maging of glaciers by Ruskin and others\, to explore the subtext and subst
 rate of this image. If its vision of the past stresses that our recollecti
 on is always partial and prone to error and fantasy\, it nevertheless offe
 rs a glimpse of the very material forces that have shaped our natural and 
 cultural histories—and perhaps evaporating futures.
LOCATION:Combination Room\, Wolfson College
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