CRESCENT MOON

I am delighted to welcome you all here this morning, and I’m pleased to see that so many of you have turned out for Professor Pieixoto’s, I am sure, fascinating and worthwhile talk. We of the Gileadean Research Association believe that this period well repays further study, responsible as it ultimately was for redrawing the map of the world, especially in this hemisphere.

But before we proceed, a few announcements. The fishing expedition will go forward tomorrow as planned, and for those of you who have not brought suitable rain gear and insect repellent, these are available for a nominal charge at the Registration Desk. The Nature Walk and Outdoor Period-Costume Sing-Song have been rescheduled for the day after tomorrow, as we are assured by our own infallible Professor Johnny Running Dog of a break in the weather at that time.

Let me remind you of the other events sponsored by the Gileadean Research Association that are available to you at this convention, as part of our Twelfth Symposium. Tomorrow afternoon, Professor Gopal Chatterjee, of

the Department of Western Philosophy, University of Baroda, India, will speak on “Krishna and Kali Elements in the State Religion of the Early Gilead Period,” and there is a morning presentation on Thursday by Professor Sieglinda Van Buren from the Department of Military History at the University of San Antonio, Republic of Texas. Professor Van Buren will give what I am sure will be a fascinating illustrated lecture on “The Warsaw Tactic: Policies of Urban Core Encirclement in the Gileadean Civil Wars.” I am sure all of us will wish to attend these.

I must also remind our keynote speaker – although I am sure it is not necessary – to keep within his time period, as we wish to leave space for questions, and I expect none of us wants to miss lunch, as happened yesterday. (Laughter.)

Professor Pieixoto scarcely needs any introduction, as he is well known to all of us, if not personally, then through his extensive publications. These include “Sumptuary Laws Through the Ages: An Analysis of Documents,” and the well-known study, “Iran and Gilead: Two Late-Twentieth-Century Monotheocracies, as Seen Through Diaries.” As you all know, he is the co-editor, with Professor Knotly Wade, also of Cambridge, of the manuscript under consideration today, and was instrumental in its transcription, annotation, and publication. The title of his talk is “Problems of Authentication in Reference to The Handmaid’s Tale”.