On Saturday, the Division of the Humanities hosted its 35th Humanities Day, an annual series of talks and tours showcasing the work of University professors. Comparative literature professor Françoise Meltzer delivered the keynote address, titled “In Search of Nostalgia: Ruins.”

“The Persistent Puppet: Pinocchio’s Afterlife in Literature, Cinema, and Popular Culture” with Rebecca West— Pinocchio’s emphasis on the self versus the collective rings especially true today, West argued.

“Rethinking Postwar Japanese Culture as Cold War Culture: The Remarkable Life and Times of Jiuji ‘George’ Kasai, AB’13” with Michael Bourdaghs— Bourdaghs talks about the importance of Japan to the Cold War, illustrating this by tracing the life of Jiuji “George” Kasai.

“How Writers Read” with Jennifer Scappettone, Peter O’Leary, and Vu Tra— The three Creative Writing program faculty members talked about texts that transformed their lives and how they read those texts.

“What is World Literature?” with Sascha Ebeling— Ebeling argued that we need to stop teaching students only from western-centric novels and truly embrace world literature.

“Medical Healing in Ancient Greece and Rome” with Elizabeth Asmis— Asmis talked about the revolution that came about with the rise of Hippocratic medicine.

“An Enigmatic Papyrus Document from Early Islam” with Fred M. Donner—Donner talked about an astounding document he discovered at the Oriental Institute that may be one of the oldest existing written document from the period of Early Islam.