ITHACA, N.Y. -- The University Lecture Series at Cornell presents the following free public talks:

Friday, March 29, at 4 p.m. in the A.D. White House Guerlac Room: Marcia Landy, professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh and a leading authority on cinema, visual culture and politics, will deliver a talk, "The Dream of the Gesture: Todd Haynes' Films and the Body of/in Cinema." Haynes, a filmmaker, is director of "Poison," "Safe" and "Velvet Goldmine." Thursday, April 4, at 4:30 p.m. in Kaufmann Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall: Herbert Tucker, professor of English literature at the University of Virginia, will deliver a lecture, "Sweet to Tongue and Sound to Eye: The Virtual Orality of Rossetti's Goblin Marketing." Christina Rossetti's poem "Goblin Market," published in 1862, is one of the most frequently and variously interpreted works in its genre.

Landy is author of nine books on cinema and an international expert on the work of Antonio Gramsci, the Italian Marxist intellectual. She teaches courses on film genres, national cinema and politics and film. She will explore aspects of Haynes' work, which galvanized the gay community before influencing wider audiences. For more information about Landy's talk, contact Amy Villarejo, professor of theater, film and dance and of women's studies, at (607) 254-2741, or email at av45@cornell.edu .

Tucker is a leading critic of Victorian poetry who has published seminal works on Browning and Tennyson and three anthologies on Victorian literature. Tucker will relate the poem to current issues of economics, consumerism and marketing in Victorian England. For more information about Tucker's talk, contact Harry Shaw, Cornell English department chair, (607) 255-6801, or email hes3@cornell.edu .

The designation of University Lecturer is given to speakers whose subjects have wide-ranging appeal. Guest speakers are selected by a University Lecture committee composed of faculty members and students. For more information about the program, contact Diane LaLonde at (607) 255-4843.

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