I got back earlier today from two enjoyable days at the University of Basel for the ‘New Developments in Theory’ lecture and the ‘Space, Territory, Literature’ seminar.

The lecture was on ‘Geopolitics, Geopower, Geometrics’ and the morning of the seminar looked at my work (especially ‘Land, Terrain, Territory‘ and ‘The Geopolitics of King Lear‘); and at Foucault’s ‘Des espaces autres’/’Different Spaces’. The afternoon comprised presentations of graduate student work on theory, literature and space – ranging from Joseph Conrad’s novels; to Foucault’s work on art and literature; to British travel writing and novels about different aspects of Europe; and landscape and culture. I frequently attend events where I come away with a list of things to read, but it’s not often that more are novels than academic texts. My thanks to Ridvan Askin, Daniela Keller and their colleagues for the invitation, arrangements and hospitality.

The seminar was not recorded, but I did record the lecture and will try to post it soon.