Eighteenth-Century Studies
Dr Carmen Depasquale, Head of the Department of French attended the 26th Annual Meeting of the Northeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies which was held at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York between the 17th and 19th October 2002.  The theme of this yearís international and interdisciplinary conference was The Enlightenment and Modernity.  Jean-Jacques Rousseau featured prominently in the programme.  Other papers read by well-known specialists ranged from Law and Literature to Aesthetics and the Political Imaginary, Philanthropy, literary genres, Romanticism, Publishing in the 1760ís, Music and Opera, and Slavery.  The last-mentioned theme was the subject of the paper in French read by Dr. Depasquale, Infidèles et chrétiens: líesclavage à Malte au XVIIIe siècle.  The paper was based on research, carried out by the writer, on French texts principally from the Archives and Library sections of the National Library of Malta pertaining to the eighteenth century.  The paper was very well received and the questions put at the end of the session gave proof of the interest of the audience.