1927! Kaleidoscope of a Year | National Humanities Center

Public Events

1927! Kaleidoscope of a Year

April 20, 2016

Wednesday, April 20, 2016 from 3:30 to 7:30 pm at the National Humanities Center

Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh at Roosevelt Field, May 20, 1927

From The Jazz Singer to Show Boat, the Nanking Incident to the carving of Mount Rushmore, Charles Lindbergh’s first transatlantic flight to the Soviet Union’s celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution: 1927 invites reflection on the intersections and serendipitous synchronicities of one eventful year. Was the world flapping its way into Depression, or did modernist advances still offer hopes for the future? Join Fellows and friends of the National Humanities Center for a multimedia exploration of this rich cultural and artistic landscape.

This event will include a variety of short talks on cultural, political, and historical topics as well as selections of music, film, and literature that capture this vibrant moment in the modern era — between the World Wars and before the approaching worldwide depression.

Tentative Schedule
3:30 pm

Welcome and Introduction

Annegret Fauser (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Microtalks (7–8 minutes)

Culture and Politics

  • “White Terror and Jazz”: Peter J. Carroll (Northwestern University)
  • “Muscle Journalism”: Vincent DiGirolamo (Baruch College)

Discovering the Past

  • “The Discovery of the Royal Tombs of Ur”: Reinhard Bernbeck (Freie Universität, Berlin)
  • “The Oxyrinchos Papyri of 1927”: D. Mark Possanza (University of Pittsburgh)

Art and Literature

  • “The Battle of Nashville Monument”: Thomas J. Brown (University of South Carolina)
  • “Siegfried Krakauer’s ‘Die Photographie’”: Kate Flint (University of Southern California)
  • “1927 and Modern Tragedy: Dos Passos’s USA”: Bill Schwarz (Queen Mary University of London)
5:00 pm

Discussion

Martin Berger (University of California, Santa Cruz), Moderator
5:30 pm Refreshments
6:00 pm

1927 in Sight and Sound

Bill Schwarz (Queen Mary University of London), Moderator

  • “Recorded Sound I: Country Music and Jazz”: Annegret Fauser (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  • “The Jazz Singer”: Martin A. Berger (University of California, Santa Cruz)
  • “Recorded Sound II: Beethoven’s Centenary”: Annegret Fauser (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  • Reading: “Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse”: Robert Newman (President and Director, National Humanities Center)
  • Performance: “New Music in 1927: from Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s Sonata for Solo Violin”: Nicholas DiEugenio, violin (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  • “Show Boat”: Tim Carter (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
7:15 pm Discussion and Conclusion
7:30 pm Reception