Author: martina

On Friday, 15 February, a packed Aula Magna hosted Master Haruhisa Kawamura from the Kawamura Noh Theatre in Kyoto, who travelled from Japan to take the audience on an ideal journey into the world of Noh Theatre, the oldest form of traditional Japanese theatre.

The event, organized by Prof. Stefano Aloe, a Slavic Studies professor from our department, featured the participation of Prof. Shin’ichi Murata from Sophia University in Tokyo, who delivered a lecture on the unique characteristics of Noh theatre. The event was also made possible thanks to the collaboration of director Matteo Spiazzi and Nicola Pasqualicchio, a professor of Performance Studies at the university.

Noh (能) is a traditional form of Japanese theatre that originated in the 14th century. In 2003, it became part of UNESCO’s cultural heritage. However, it is not an easily accessible or widely appreciated genre, both in Japan and abroad, due to its complex symbolism and a performance style that is vastly different from Western theatre.

Noh dramas are performed on a distinctive stage: a square platform elevated about three meters above the audience, topped with a wooden roof. The backdrop always features a painting of a typical Japanese pine tree. Noh actors, who are exclusively men, wear wooden masks to portray the main characters. Despite their faces being covered, actors train for many years so that their bodies and movements become a seamless extension of the masks they wear. The elaborate costumes and wigs, which are highly ornate, are also integral to the character. Some Noh schools have preserved their ancient wardrobes for centuries, with some costumes being historical artefacts in their own right.

On Wednesday, 17 January, recordings began for the first episode of Inclusioni, a podcast channel launched by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Verona, in collaboration with Fuori Aula Network. The podcast will serve as a platform for the department’s research, featuring interviews and short segments, with a focus on the digital world and the promotion of diversity.

The first episode, set to release in April, will be titled “The Screen Challenge”. Adriaan Van der Weel from Leiden University in the Netherlands, a professor of Book Studies and co-author of the Ljubljana Manifesto on the importance of higher-level reading, will engage in a conversation with Massimo Salgaro, a professor of German literature from the department.

Van der Weel’s research, which centres on the relationship between reading and digital technologies—particularly the differences between reading on printed paper versus screens—will be the main topic of discussion in the debut episode of the podcast.

The Digital Spritz 2024 initiative kicked off on Wednesday, 17 January, with a series of meetings focused on digital topics and Digital Humanities in the teaching and research of foreign languages and literatures. The guest for the first event was Prof. Adriaan Van der Weel from Leiden University, co-author of the Ljubljana Manifesto on the importance of higher-level reading, also known as deep reading.

His talk, titled “The Screen Challenge: Deep Reading in the Digital Age”, delved into topics related to reading on digital devices, contrasting deep reading—a slow, immersive experience rich in sensory and emotional details—with fast reading. He also explored the reading crisis and the connection between democracy and reading.

As a reminder, the next Digital Spritz will take place on Wednesday, 21 February, featuring Prof. Fabio Ciotti from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, who will present on “GPT as Model Reader: LLMs and Narrative Comprehension”.