The annual meeting was held at Emmanuel College, Cambridge on 26 and 27 March.

PROGRAMME

Friday 26 March

2.15pm          Committee Meeting

4pm                 Le nouveau roman et Nathalie Sarraute, Dr Alison Finch (Churchill College, Cambridge)

Alison Finch promised a general survey of the novel as genre, followed by a discussion of the work of Nathalie Sarraute in particular.

7pm                Conference Dinner

8.45pm          The Problem of Franglais, Professor Peter Rickard, Draper’s Professor of French (Emmanuel College, Cambridge)

The Draper’s Professorial Chair in French was founded in 1919 and once held by Oliver Prior. 

Saturday 27 March

9.30am           The Scientist in Society: A Topic for German Studies in the Sixth Form, Brian Davidson (Headmaster of The British School, The Netherlands)

Brian Davidson offered a critical review of the Sixth Form German literature syllabus before suggesting possible alternatives to prescribed texts. His lecture centred on novels by Siegfried Lenz (Die Deutschestunde) and Günter Grass (Katz und Maus) and four plays, including Brecht’s Leben des Galilei and Kipphardt’s In der Sache J. Robert Oppenheimer.

11.30am          Spain – A Fundamental Approach to Spanish Studies, Dr Geoffrey Walker (Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge)

Geoffrey Walker addressed various aspects of Spain’s history, literature and politics in the hope of appealing to those generally interested in Hispanic culture, as well as those with more specific knowledge.