Prof. Mario Aquilina, from the Department of English at the University of Malta, delivered the keynote lecture at the held at Stanford University, California, from 16 to 18 October 2024.
The keynote lecture at the Levinthal Hall of the Stanford Humanities Centre explored the relation between AI and the essay, focusing on the implications for ideas about authorship, readers’ expectations, and the generic qualities of essayistic writing. The lecture also considered possibilities for human-AI collaboration in writing, with an emphasis on preserving the essay's reflective, non-algorithmic nature.
The conference, which gathered leading essay scholars and writers from North America, Europe, and the United Kingdom, was organised to celebrate the publication of The Cambridge History of the British Essay, edited by Prof. Denise Gigante and Dr Jason Childs. Contributors to this volume, including Prof. Aquilina, presented their latest research on the essay as a constantly evolving literary form.
During his time at Stanford, Prof. Aquilina also visited the renowned Stanford Literary Lab, a world-leading centre for research in computational literary studies. The visit offered the opportunity to engage with cutting-edge approaches to literature using AI and computational methods, potentially paving the way for future collaborations between the University of Malta, Stanford University, and the Stanford Literary Lab.
