Launch Symposium for the Lili Elbe Digital Archive

  • February 6, 2020 - February 7, 2020
  • 5:30 PM - 5:30 PM CST
  • Loyola Information Commons, 4th Floor
  • Anna Rubenstein, arubenstein1@luc.edu
  • Free
  • All
     Open to the public.
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    Loyola University Chicago will host a scholarly symposium for the official launch of the Lili Elbe Digital Archive (www.lilielbe.org), a digital scholarly edition and archive of the first full-length narrative of a subject to undergo what was then called genital transformation surgery in 1930. The archive is jointly produced and managed by Loyola's Center for Textual Studies and Digital Humanities (CTSDH) and the University Libraries, with local and national participants described below. The symposium will be held at Loyola on February 6 and 7, 2020 and will be hosted by CTSDH, the University Libraries, the Department of Student Diversity & Multicultural Affairs, and the Departments of English and History, among others.

    The unique Archive gathers the first four printings of the life narrative of Lili Elbe, one of the first persons to undergo a so-called surgical change in sex. It includes the German typescript, Lili Elbe Buch, with an English-language translation; the original Danish publication, Fra Mand til Kvinde (1931), with its first English-language translation; the German edition, Ein Mensch wechselt sein Geschlecht (1932); and, the British and American editions Man into Woman (1933). The Archive preserves and analyzes supplementary cultural materials from the early 20th century documenting this historical transgendered experience, providing access to the original texts and rare, previously unpublished materials written by and about Lili Elbe. It is a companion to a print edition, Man into Woman: A Comparative Scholarly Edition, to be published in Bloomsbury Academic Publishers¿ Modernist Archive series (February 2020).

    EVENT SCHEDULE:

    Day 1 (Thursday, February 6, 2020 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.): The symposium begins with a screening of the The Danish Girl¿ (2015) film, a fictionalized depiction of the life of Lili Elbe, followed by a panel discussion of the film and transgender representation in feature films.

    Day 2 (Friday, February 7, 2020 1:00 to 5:30 p.m.): a discussion of the challenges of editing Lili Elbe's life and producing the Lili Elbe Digital Archive as a resource for scholars, students, and the public.

    Reception to follow.

    All events are free and open to the public. RSVP to arubenstein1@luc.edu.