April 9, 1997 Contact: Barbara McKenna (408/459-2495)

INAUGURAL LECTURE FOCUSES ON FRENCH QUEEN AND AUTHOR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Carla Freccero, a professor of literature and women's studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, will present an Inaugural Lecture titled "Archives in the Fiction: History and Literature in Marguerite de Navarre's Heptameron." The talk takes place at 8 P.M. on Wednesday, April 16, on Performing Arts Second Stage. The talk is free and open to the public.

The talk is based on Freccero's book-in-progress, "Marguerite de Navarre and the Politics of Maternal Sovereignty," concerning the 16th-century author and queen (and sister to the King of France, Francis I). In her talk, Freccero will discuss how the relationship between de Navarre and her daughter, Jeanne d'Albrecht, figures in de Navarre's collection of short stories entitled The Heptameron. The book was published posthumously by d'Albrecht, who became a leader of a Protestant faction in France and was the mother of King Henri IV.

Freccero's talk takes its title from a book about the relationship between history and literature published by the historian Natalie Zemon Davis, Fiction in the Archives, and argues for a way of reading between the disciplines of history and literature.

Freccero is the author of Father Figures: Genealogy and Narrative Structure in Rabelais (Cornell, 1991), and coeditor of Premodern Sexualities (Routledge, 1997). She has written numerous articles on early modern literature, feminist theory, and contemporary popular culture in the United States. Her forthcoming book, entitled "Cultural Politics and Popular Culture: An Introduction" (New York University Press), is a textbook for teaching and analyzing popular culture.

Inaugural Lectures are presented to celebrate a UCSC faculty member's promotion or appointment to the position of full professor. They are presented by UCSC Arts & Lectures and supported by the Offices of the Chancellor and Executive Vice Chancellor, the Council of Provosts, and University Affiliates. For more information, call (408) 459-2159.

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