Wrapping Up MLA

Today was the last day of the annual convention of the Modern Language Association. I was only able to attend virtually, but I enjoyed many of the thoughtful discussions online.

Thursday, I attended a session on Automation, AI, and the Future of Contingent Teaching. Predictably, there were numerous technical problems, and the chair was never able to get onto Zoom to lead the session.

Friday, I caught a session called Early Modern Women’s Violence. They didn't have any technical problems. (Perhaps the Zoom gremlins were afraid of all those violent early modern women.) I particularly enjoyed learning about Jeanne d'Albret, the mother of France's Henry IV, and a broad you didn't mess with... unless you wanted to find yourself on the wrong end of a broadsword.

There was also an interesting session on Saturday about Approaches to Teaching Arthurian Literature, but the real reason I was attending MLA this year was because I was chairing a session this morning on Shavian Family Resemblances. Unfortunately, Dibasi Roy couldn't join us, but Alice Clapié from Columbia University shared some interesting information on Bernard Shaw's review of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Dan Stuart of Texas Tech also delivered an excellent paper on the censorship of Mrs. Warren's Profession, including the tidbit that Shaw considered changing Mrs. Warren's titular profession from prostitution to pickpocketing in order to get around the censors.

In the afternoon, I attended a session on Global Encounters, Translations, and Transformations in the Comedia. The speakers shared a lot of information on relationships with the New World during the Spanish Golden Age of literature. Medardo Rosario from Florida International University spoke on Lope de Vega's play about Christopher Columbus (which I have read) and a Tirso de Molina play on the conquistador Francisco Pizarro (which I have not read, but now want to). In Todo es dar en una cosa, Tirso apparently focuses on Pizarro's rise from poverty to glory, but mostly ignores the indigenous people of Peru he conquered.

The other speakers on that panel were interesting as well. Jose Estrada of Carnegie Mellon University talked about a Nahuatl translation of Lope's La madre de la mejor, which tells the story of the parents of the Virgin Mary. Rebecca Smith from UCLA then discussed another religious play, Sacrificio de Isaac, which was adapted into Nahuatl and then translated back into Spanish.

If you missed these talks but are an MLA member registered for the conference, they were all recorded and should be available to view for a limited time.