On Tuesday 14 March, Professor Shane Weller gave the University’s annual Paris lecture to more than 150 invited guests in the British Ambassador’s Residence on rue du Faubourg St-Honoré.
For the lecture, entitled ‘From Dublin to Paris: Samuel Beckett and French Culture’, Professor Weller considered Samuel Beckett’s relationship with French culture, including why he decided to write in French after he emigrated from his native Dublin to Paris in 1937.
The guests for the lecture and reception included the British Ambassador to France, Lord Edward Llewellyn of Steep OBE, and University representatives: David Nightingale, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost; Professor Roger Vickerman, Dean for Europe; Professor Peter Brown, Academic Director of Kent’s Paris School of Arts and Culture; and Professor Paul Allain, Dean of the Graduate School, among others.
Also in attendance were many current students and alumni, as well as friends of the University. The Ambassador gave the welcome and introductions, and the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost concluded the evening by thanking all those present, with a special mention for the recently formed Paris-based Kent France Alumni Association.
The annual lecture is both a celebration of the Paris School of Arts and Culture and an international showcase for the research undertaken at Kent.
Located in Montparnasse, the Paris School of Arts and Culture is one of Kent’s specialist European postgraduate centres (the others are in Brussels, Rome and Athens). It offers advanced humanities degrees, taught in English, including taught programmes that are split between Canterbury and Paris.
Prof Shane Weller, Paris Lecture 2017