LUCAS Explains #1: Where would you bring your Tinder date on 3 May 1646? On 14 February, it will be Valentine's Day! When choosing what to do, you might decide to bring your Tinder date to the movies. But were would people have brought their date in the 17th century? Tim Vergeer explains that this would have been a Spanish play. Tim Vergeer • February 11, 2020 • 1 comment
The Cat in Medieval Western Europe How come cats were worshipped in ancient Egypt and reviled in medieval times? It seems that the spread of Christianity is to be blamed. Fortunately for the cat, the feline folklore is still going strong. Johanna Feenstra • February 06, 2020
Curse and Comfort: Classics and the First World War Can ancient texts be relatable to those who have just gone through the traumatic experience of armed combat? Well, according to some of the poets who composed their works during the First World War they can – while others suggest that they really can’t. Renske Janssen • January 30, 2020
A Theatrical Whodunit II: Was this Sherlock mistaken? In the second instalment in the hunt for the source of the Dutch translation of Calderón’s ‘La vida es sueño’, I will consider an alternative source that might have been used by Schouwenbergh for his Dutch translation made in Brussels in 1647. Tim Vergeer • January 23, 2020 • 1 comment
A Theatrical Whodunit How did Calderón’s popular play 'La vida es sueño' come to the Low Countries? It seems that the Flemish-Portuguese printer Paulo Craesbeeck is responsible for this. In 1647, he published an anthology of Spanish plays, including Calderón's masterpiece. Tim Vergeer • January 09, 2020
Rumor or Reality? Moscow Conceptualism as a Challenge for our Contemporary Art Canon What is Moscow Conceptualism? A late Soviet art movement that is part of our contemporary art canon or a rumor? Cultural historian Dorine Schellens sheds light on this question by looking at the interconnection between academic and artistic worlds. Dorine Schellens • December 05, 2019
“Whatever Will Be Will Be” in Spanish Plays When you are fluent in a language, you can still make mistakes. This is what happened to the Dutch playwright Theodore Rodenburgh when he adopted his life’s motto “Chi sara sara”. Tim Vergeer • November 28, 2019
Drawn to deviance: the deformed body exhibited How and why is a body we see as ‘deformed’ able to arouse strong affective and aesthetic responses? Andries Hiskes explores how, where, and when a body is presented to us matters in how we experience it through a discussion of the film The Elephant Man. Andries Hiskes • November 21, 2019
Sex in Leiden’s Student Culture since the Golden Age How different were students during the Dutch Golden Age? Not that much actually. Tim Vergeer discusses some historical and literary examples of the sexual adventures of some of Leiden’s students in the seventeenth century (and after). Tim Vergeer • November 07, 2019
