Robert Darnton
Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and Director of the Harvard University Library
NOVEMBER 17, 2010 (WEDNESDAY)
Columbia University Faculty House, Seminar Room, 2nd floor, 6:30PM
“Blogging, Now and Then (250 years ago)”
Long before the Internet, Europeans exchanged information in ways that
anticipated blogging. The key element of their information system was the
“anecdote,” a term that meant nearly the opposite then from what it means
today. Anecdotes, dispensed by “libellistes” and “paragraph men,” became a
staple in the daily diet of news consumed by readers in eighteenth-century
France and England. They were also pilfered, reworked, and served up in
books. By tracking anecdotes through texts, we can reassess a rich strain
of history and literature.
Please note special time & location:
Columbia University Faculty House, Seminar Room, 2nd floor, 6:30PM
Map: http://www.columbia.edu/about_columbia/map/faculty_house.html
This event is free and open to the public.