Department of English, The Open University, and The Institute of English Studies
Wednesdays 5.30-7 pm, Institute of English Studies, Senate House, University of London
Romantic Lives
The spring seminar series of the Open University Romantic Period Seminar is organised under the theme ‘Romantic Lives’ and will be meeting at the Institute for English Studies, Senate House, on three occasions, each time on a Wednesday between 5.30 and 7. The series focuses on ways in which the lives and work of romantic writers are being imagined in and for the early twenty-first century. We will be exploring three facets of the continuing life of romantic writers: the revivification of the writer’s life and working practices in the shape of the modern writer’s house museum; the display of writers’ manuscripts and personal relics; and the art and craft of writing new literary biographies of well-known subjects. In these three seminars we will be bringing together two curators and a biographer to discuss how romantic writers are being presented to today’s audiences. The structure of the seminar is a 50 minutes talk followed by a glass of wine and questions and discussion. All are welcome. Directions and more details on the Institute of English Studies website.
Wednesday, 29th February, 5.30-7 pm, Institute for English Studies, Senate House,University of London
Geoff Pick, ‘Magic Casements – the reawakening of Keats House’
Geoff Pick is the Head of Public Engagement in the Culture, Heritage and Libraries Department of the City of London Corporation. He has worked for the City for many years and has been responsible for running Keats House since 2001. He is also the head of the Guildhall Art Gallery and manages the City’s collection of works of art.
Wednesday, 14th March, 5.30-7 pm, Institute for English Studies, Senate House,University of London
Stephen Hebron, ‘Displaying the Romantic Poets’
Stephen Hebron is a writer and exhibition curator. In 2010-12 he curated the exhibition Shelley’s Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family at the Bodleian Library, the Wordsworth Trust and the New York Public Library, and wrote the accompanying book (Bodleian Library, 2010). Other recent publications include John Keats: A Poet and His Manuscripts (British Library, 2008) and a history of Dove Cottage (Wordsworth Trust, 2009).
Wednesday, 25th April, 5.30-7 pm, Institute for English Studies, Senate House,University of London
Paula Byrne will speak on the problems and opportunities of writing a new biography of a well-known figure, with reference to her new high-profile biography of Jane Austen.