In this public lecture Professor R. Clifton Spargo will discuss testimonial writing - both personal accounts and historical fiction - as a public act that involves accountability to the self, others, and the past. While exploring topics ranging from the Holocaust to mental illness, civil rights and gender-based violence, he will connect the work of literature and the act of writing to the work of history. Spargo is the author of two scholarly works on Holocaust literature and the novel "Beautiful Fools." April 17, 7 p.m., Hale 270