The power of words

Anthony Burgess’s famous novel ‘A Clockwork Orange’ is written in an entirely invented language, called Nadsat. The novel has been translated into over 50 different translations and over 30 languages. But until now no one has questioned how exactly can an invented language, with no inherent organic culture of its own, be translated at all, and what happens when people attempt to do so. Benet and Jim have been leading an international research project to discover how this invented language has been handled by translators, and in the process they have discovered both how clever a linguist Burges

Simon will look at some of the arguments that are used to prevent asylum seekers from being given refuge here in the UK. These include suggesting that they aren’t really asylum seekers at all, but are just here for economic reasons, or to hurt the country. Other arguments are that they should go to other countries or stay behind to defend theirs. he'll show, with examples, that they are usually presented in ways to make the speaker look reasonable and anything but prejudicial, even though the arguments often amount to keeping out people who may be killed or harmed if they can’t seek asylum.

French prisoners of war from the Napoleonic period put on plays for local British audiences all-round the country. This session will explore why they performed, how the theatricals affected attitudes to prisoners of war in the early 19th century and how performances allowed prisoners and audiences to share values across geo-political and historical divides. Some audience participation will be required as we’ll be exploring acting techniques of the period and the role of music but no previous experience or any knowledge of French required!