Professor Carmen Depasquale was keynote speaker at the international conference entitled La Relation épistolaire organised by the Centre d’Études sur les Littératures Étrangères et Comparées (CELEC) of the Université Jean Monnet – Saint-Étienne on 17-18 November 2016. Her paper, entitled Les Lumières à travers la correspondance de trois chevaliers de Malte, analysed the correspondence of three French Knights of Malta in the light of the Enlightenment.
Chevalier Claude-Amable de La Tremblaye, the author of the travelogue, Sur quelques contrées de l’Europe ou Lettres du Chevalier de xxx à Madame la Comtesse de xxx argues in favour of the attainment of happiness through freedom, equality, social, political and religious tolerance and le droit des gens, philosophical ideas in vogue at the time. The correspondence of Commander Déodat Dolomieu was studied in the light of his scientific discoveries relating to mineralogy and geology. Chevalier Étienne-François Turgot was a regular correspondent with Canon Gian Francesco Agius de Soldanis. His letters relate to their common interest in different aspects of natural history mainly, botany, mineralogy and fossils. The proceedings of the conference will be published in 2017.
Professor Depasquale is visiting associate professor at the Faculty of Arts.