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CORVALLIS, Ore. - David S. Luft, the Horning Professor in the Humanities in Oregon State University's History Department, will give a free public lecture on the humanities on Monday, Nov. 10, at OSU.

His talk, "Themes in the Humanities: Understanding, Ethics, Language, and Culture," begins at 4 p.m. in the Memorial Union Journey Room, 2501 S.W. Jefferson Way, Corvallis. It is the first lecture in the 2008-09 Horning Lecture Series organized by the OSU Horning Endowment in the Humanities.

Luft will talk about his research interests in ways that highlight themes he hopes to explore in future conferences, symposia, and lectures for the Horning Endowment in the Humanities. He will open with remarks about the Horning Endowment and the place of the humanities in a research university, and then discuss three main themes: the relationship of the natural sciences to ethics and the humanities, the significance of translation in relation to science and modern culture, and the significance of German culture for Austrian history and contemporary Europe.

Luft joined the OSU History Department in the fall of 2008 as Thomas Hart and Mary Jones Horning Professor in the Humanities. He is the author of "Eros and Inwardness in Vienna: Weininger, Musil, Doderer" (University of Chicago Press, 2003) and "Robert Musil and the Crisis of European Culture: 1880-1942" (University of California Press, 1980).

He is working on a translation edition, "Hugo von Hofmannsthal and the Austrian Idea," and an intellectual history of German-speaking Austria since the late 18th century: "The Austrian Tradition in German Culture."

Events are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact the History Department at 541-737-8560 or visit: http://oregonstate.edu/cla/history/lectures/.