The Lisbon Earthquake of 1755
University of Bristol, 28-29 October 2005
The Lisbon Earthquake of All Saints Day 1755 was an apocalyptic and seminal event in enlightenment Europe. On 1 November an earthquake struck Portugal and north-east Africa causing fissures several metres wide in streets of the city of Lisbon. Shortly thereafter a tsunami engulfed the city, with enormous waves driving up the River Tagus. What was not engulfed by the tsunami was destroyed by fire. Somewhere in the region of 60,000 to 90,000 of Lisbon's 270,000 population were killed.
The scale of the disaster for Lisbon was matched by the profundity of its effect on eighteenth century thought. In philosophy, literature, and in science existing models of the relationship between mankind, the natural world, and the divine were brought into question, and a new more naturalistic, less theological perspective brought to bear.
The workshop, marking the 250th anniversary of the earthquake, will be interdisciplinary, bringing together researchers from history, modern languages, literary studies, geology and earth sciences, and philosophy. The aim is to achieve an understanding of this event from a variety of interlocking perspectives.
The workshop will take place in Lecture Room 1, 3/5 Woodland Road (Department of English).
Registration
Accommodation
Travel
Programme
Registration
If you would like to attend, please email Alexander Kosenina or Alexander Bird.
There is no registration fee, but participants are requested to contribute to the cost of lunch, tea, cofee, etc. , c. £8.
Accommodation
We are unable to arrange accommodation but we can suggest the following hotels and B and Bs
- The Clifton Hotels (Berkeley, Rodney, Clifton, Washington)
- The Westbourne Hotel
or try the following sites
- http://visitbristol.co.uk/site/where_to_stay
- Bed and Breakfast Bristol
- The AA (put 'BS8 1TB' in the location box)
Travel
The workshop will take place in Lecture Room 1, 3/5 Woodland Road (Department of English). Map of university precinct.
Programme
Friday 28 October
1.30 pm
Alexander Kosenina and Alexander Bird (Bristol)
Welcome and Introduction
2.00-3.15
George Helffrich (Bristol)
Seismological issues and consequences of the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake
Ana Cristina Araújo (Coimbra)
Pombal and the Lisbon Earthquake: risk, disaster, war and political propaganda
3.15-3.45 Tea and coffee
3.45-5.00
Alexander Bird (Bristol)
Kant and early explanations of the earthquake
Haydn Mason (Bristol)
Voltaire's response, and Rousseau's reply
Chris Bertram (Bristol)
Rousseau and the Lisbon Earthquake
5.15 - 6.30
Constanze Baum (Berlin)
Ruins of suddenness. The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and its pictorial representation
Shelley Hales & Jo Paul
The last days of Pompeii: An historical parallel to the earthquake of Lisbon
Saturday 29 October
9.30-10.15
Chris Smyth (Cambridge)
The English reaction to the earthquake
10.15-10.45 Coffee
10.45-12.15
Hugh B. Nisbet (Cambridge)
Lessing and the Defence of Optimism in Germany
Martin Rector (Hannover)
Between penitential sermon and didactic poetry: Poetic fantasies on the catastrophe of Lisbon
12.15-13.15 Lunch
13.15-14.30
David Hill (Birmingham)
Theodicy and perspective in the eighteenth-century German novel: Wezel and Klinger
David Hook (Bristol)
The Lisbon earthquake in the correspondence of Father Irla