Thomas Leitch, “How to Succeed in Intermediality Without Really Being Lars Elleström”
This lecture is part of the IMS lecture series 'Meeting Media Minds – Critical Legacies of Lars Elleström' (MMM). The MMM is a series of open, online lectures intended to commemorate and discuss the work of Lars Elleström.
This lecture is in English
In this fourth open lecture in our Meeting Media Minds series, Thomas Leitch will give a presentation titled: How to Succeed in Intermediality Without Really Being Lars Elleström.
Abstract
Lars Elleström’s approach to intermedial studies was so ambitious and all-encompassing that some scholars inspired by his work might find his analytical precision and his prodigious grasp of, and for, new material too daunting to make effective models for their own work. This presentation seeks to encourage new research in intermedial studies along two obviously contradictory lines: scholarship that seeks to establish itself by imitating Elleström’s own approach, and scholarship that aims to establish new perspectives by following a contrary approach. Focusing on the analysis of three examples of qualified media that have so far largely escaped scrutiny by intermedial scholars, the presentation aims to demonstrate not only that following in Elleström’s footsteps and challenging his principles and protocols at every step are equally reasonable ways to undertake intermedial studies, but that Elleström’s own work incorporates and anticipates them both.
Thomas Leitch is a Professor of English and Unidel Andrew B. Kirkpatrick Chair in Writing, University of Delaware. Read more about Thomas Leitch here.