2024 Programme
Saturday 20th January at 3.00pm: Peter Kemp
'Retroland'
St Hugh's Centre, Hensington Road.
Why are modern writers obsessed with the past? In his latest book Retroland (2023) Peter Kemp looks with a sharp eye at the current literary landscape in an attempt to answer this question, and examines the work of a range of writers from Salman Rushdie to Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison to Hilary Mantel. Peter Kemp has enjoyed a long and distinguished career a drama critic for The Independent, and Fiction Editor for The Sunday Times for which he continues to contribute reviews.
Saturday 24th February at 3:00pm: Carolyne Larrington
'The Norse Myths that Shape the Way We Think'
St Hugh's Centre, Hensington Road.
From Wagner, to Tolkien and C.S.Lewis and Marvel comics, Norse mythology has pervaded our culture: Thor, Asgard, and the Valkyries are as much a part of Western literature as the gods of Greece and Rome. This talk will offer a fresh look at the stories at the heart of Norse mythology, exploring their cultural impact up to the present day. Carolyne Larrington is Professor Emerita of Medieval European Literature in the University of Oxford.
Saturday 23rd March at 3.00pm: Claire Harman
'All Sorts of Lives: Katherine Mansfield and the Art of Risking Everything'
St Hugh's Centre, Hensington Road.
New Zealand- born writer Katherine Mansfield was a pioneering modernist who revolutionised the art of the short story, but whose early death prevented her being read alongside her contemporaries Virginia Woolf, T.S.Eliot, and James Joyce. Claire Harman’s centenary study, which interweaves literary commentary with biography, emphasises Mansfield’s importance as an innovator (‘the only writing I have ever been jealous of’ Woolf said). Claire Harman is Professor of Creative Writing at Durham University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Thursday 18th April at 8.00pm: Simon Mason
'Anti-heroes and Why We Love Them'
Woodstock Town Hall.
Tom Ripley, Becky Sharp, Long John Silver, Mr Toad . . . literature is full of badly-behaved characters we love to read about. In crime fiction, anti-heroes are frequently the detectives who are meant to bring wrong doers to justice, for example Sherlock Holmes and Jack Reacher. Why do we love to read about them? This talk will explore the topic of crime and punishment in the context of the readers’ habitual attraction to the flawed anti-heroes who make us both shudder and applaud. Simon Mason is an acclaimed Oxford-based writer of both adult crime and juvenile fiction. The latest book in his Oxford-based crime series Lost and Never Found will be published in April 2024.
Wednesday 22nd May at 7.30pm: Dr Sophie Duncan
'Doll Wives in Dolls’ Houses: Ibsen’s Nora and Victorian Marriage'
The Church of St Mary Magdalene, Woodstock.
When Nora Helmer walks out on her husband and children at the end of A Doll’s House the slam of the front door resonated around the globe. One of Ibsen’s most controversial works, this play both inspired and horrified Victorian audiences. Re-staged and re-written ever since including with a new ending by Ibsen himself - this talk will examine why A Doll’s House has never lost its fascination. Dr Sophie Duncan has written widely on theatre history and is a Research Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.
The evening will include readings from 'A Doll’s House' by students from the Oxford School of Drama.
Thursday 20th June at 8.00pm: Professor Abigail Williams
'Pride or Prejudice: How We Read Now'
Woodstock Town Hall.
Novels have always sparked controversy. Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Lolita, and American Psycho were all subject to fierce attacks. But something is happening now that feels different - a rolling boil of social media and news stories that are not about one novel but about the very nature of fiction. As publishers call in sensitivity readers, universities introduce content warnings, and authors face charges of cultural appropriation, Abigail Williams, Professor of English in the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Peter’s College, will look beyond the outrage to explore the power of the novel.
Thursday 19th September at 8.00pm: Elizabeth Lowry
'Looking For Joan: Experiments in Historical Fiction'
Woodstock Town Hall.
Join author Elizabeth Lowry as she talks about the past and future of historical fiction, with special reference to her forthcoming novel about Joan of Arc, The Tower. How do the obsessions and prejudices of the writer’s own time influence her (or his) approach to a difficult or controversial subject? And what, exactly, was the cause of Joan’s voices? Dr Elizabeth Lowry is the author of The Chosen, which was shortlisted for the 2023 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.
Saturday 26th October at 3.00pm: Professor Seamus Perry
'Coleridge Unfinished'
St Hugh's Centre, Hensington Road.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge is unusual among the great poets in leaving so many of his works unfinished. Kubla Khan is a fragment, Christabel never reaches its conclusion, and even The Ancient Mariner, his greatest work, was unfinished in his own eyes. What was it about incompleteness that engaged Coleridge’s genius so powerfully? This talk will tell the story of Coleridge’s writing life, considering in particular the great fragment poems and the long history of The Ancient Mariner and will also look at some of the later artists who have responded to The Ancient Mariner. Seamus Perry is a Professor of English Literature in the University of Oxford and Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.
Saturday 16th November at 3.00pm: Dr David Grylls
'Edwardian Fiction: Feminism and Terrorism'
St Hugh's Centre, Hensington Road.
The Edwardian era is sometimes seen as a tranquil period. In fact, it was racked by social conflicts, many reflected in fiction. A recurrent theme was that of turmoil beneath an apparently smooth surface. This talk will discuss two aspects of the tension: the rise of feminism and the threat of terrorism. Key texts are Bennet’s Anna of the Five Towns and Conrad’s The Secret Agent. David Grylls is a Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford and former Director of Studies in Literature for OUDCE. His publications include books on Charles Dickens, George Gissing, and Victorian parent-child relationships. He is a frequent fiction reviewer for The Sunday Times.