The English Department is sponsoring a talk by Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature William V. Spanos on “Arab Spring 2011: A Symptomatic Reading of the Revolution” at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1, in the English Department conference room, LN-2401. Interpreting the Arab Spring of 2011 as an inaugural “event,” his talk will attempt to think the meaning of the revolutionaries’ refusal to accept the domesticating names that the Western colonial powers would impose on their revolutionary project.