Nebraska Lecture to explore Walt Whitman in the digital age
Released on 03/25/2009, at 2:00 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
WHEN: Thursday, Apr. 9, 2009
WHERE: Nebraska Union Auditorium, 1400 R Street
Modern technology has given 19th-century American poet Walt Whitman the broad audience he always sought.
Living in an era of rapidly changing media, Whitman found creative ways to use newspapers, photography, magazines and books to spread his ideas. During the spring Nebraska Lecture on April 9, University of Nebraska-Lincoln English professor Kenneth Price will discuss how Whitman advanced print culture in his day and Price's 21st-century efforts to digitally recreate Whitman's work.
The free public lecture, "'I pass so poorly with paper and types' -- The Making and Remaking of Walt Whitman in a Digital Age," will be at 3:30 p.m. in the Nebraska Union auditorium, 1400 R St., with a reception following. The presentation is part of The Nebraska Lectures: Chancellor's Distinguished Lecture Series.
A well-known Whitman scholar, Price is co-editor of the Walt Whitman Archive, www.whitmanarchive.org, an internationally acclaimed online resource of Whitman's published works, photographs, reviews and selected manuscripts. He will provide a brief overview of the archive and discuss his latest work to edit Whitman's Civil War writings and archive them online.
"Whitman is the poet of democracy," Price said. "He is woven into the fabric of everything it means to be an American, who we have been who we are and who we might be in the future. Digital technology allows us more complete access to the work of this central cultural spokesman and offers new tools for analyzing it."
Price joined the UNL faculty in 2000. He is the Hillegass university professor of 19th-century literature and co-director of UNL's Center for Digital Research in the Humanities.
The Nebraska Lectures, which feature distinguished UNL faculty, are designed for general audiences and provide insights about some of the university's leading research, and scholarly and creative activity. Price's lecture is sponsored by the Office of the Chancellor, the UNL Research Council, the Office of Research and the Nebraska Humanities Council.