You can watch this event live at Queen Square Francis Kilvert‘s Bath - the city through the eyes of a masterful Victorian diarist The Reverend Francis Kilvert (1840-79), one of the most evocative of Victorian diarists, revealed a craftman’s sensitivity when delicately depicting both nature and people. His close promimity to Bath made it the...
This event is live at 16 Queen Square (not online) The ladies of Cranford - perhaps Elizabeth Gaskell's best-loved novel - 'always dressed with chaste elegance and propriety' we are told. In this illustrated talk, fashion historian Penelope Ruddock will look at this Victorian ideal as well as some mid-nineteenth century clothes that feature in...
You can watch this event LIVE at Queen Square or online; please select the relevant tickets when booking. The nineteenth-century English essayist Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) moved with his family from Manchester to Bath in 1796, and for the next three years De Quincey was educated at Bath Grammar School, as he recounts in his...
Please note: you can watch this event live at 16 Queen Square, Bath, BA1 2HN OR online - please select the relevant tickets From 1594 Shakespeare was part of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men Theatre Company, working at The Theatre in Shoreditch. It was here that the premieres of Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream...
This event is at Queen Square only (not online). Uncovering the lives and stories of Bath’s Jewish community. Christina Hilsenrath’s research into the history of the Jewish Burial Ground in Combe Down discovers a community (1800-1941) active in the professions and commerce of the City of Bath, but also uncovers tragic stories of early deaths,...
This event is live at Queen Square only (not online). When we think about the city of Bath and the history attached to this World Heritage city, the women’s rights movement is perhaps not something that immediately springs to mind. However, the city of Bath was a locality that certainly played a significant part in...
In this talk, Robert Morrison explores the vital ways in which women shaped the social, cultural, and intellectual world of the British Regency (1811-1820). The Regency is often associated with the military triumphs of the Duke of Wellington, the poetry of Lord Byron, the paintings of J. W. M. Turner, and the scientific innovations of...
What is the origin of human conflict and how can we make peace? The Bible offers one answer in the myth of Babel: God ‘confused their tongues’ of humanity so that humans could no longer cooperate as a species and threaten the power of the divine. But is linguistic diversity really the source of human...
This lecture will offer an introduction to James Joyce’s most famous novel, Ulysses. Originally published in Paris in 1922, Ulysses was soon hailed as a twentieth-century masterpiece which challenged but also delighted readers around the globe. By looking at Joyce’s biography and aspects of the novel, the lecture will investigate why Ulysses has acquired this...
Marcel Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time, 1913-1927) is celebrated as a modernist masterpiece, but reading it poses very considerable challenges - not least in terms of length and style. This lecture provides an overview of Proust’s novel and suggests that, a century after Proust’s death in 1922, we...
This is a new group for lovers of the nineteenth century novel. Our first meeting will be a discussion of Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White. Please read the novel before coming along and bring a copy with you. Led by Veronica Trenchard
Bath’s Gothic Fiction - a day-long programme of talks on William Beckford, Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley and Angela Carter An exciting programme of talks about Bath residents who played a key role in the development of Gothic Fiction. ENTER OUR COMPETITION! Click here to answer this question: What do you think is the greatest Gothic...
For most British people, the term ‘War Poets’ is synonymous with the work of a small group of young officers whose poetry has for a century dominated our understanding of the First World War. Yet over 2,000 poets were published between 1914 and 1918, of which 500 were women. Heart-breaking, entertaining and deeply informative, this...
How and why did books get such a hold on us? How has this technology shaped us over the last two millennia? This talk discusses continuities and change across the long history of books and their readers, emphasising that it is books' physical form - their 'bookhood' - that lends them their distinctive and sometimes...
A popular mid-Victorian novel by William Makepeace Thackeray is the focus of the discussion. Vanity Fair satirises nineteenth century society and Thackeray created the memorable character, Becky Sharp, whose behaviour is both lively and manipulative. Veronica Trenchard
This lectures celebrates the 400th anniversary of one of the most important books ever, Shakespeare's First Folio. The lecture is jointly organised by the Bath Shakespeare Society and the Literature & Humanities Convenor Group of BRLSI. Why is Shakespeare's First Folio still considered to be one of the most important books ever printed, four hundred...
Have you ever wondered why books disappear, novels are reissued, and authors fall out of fashion? Join Kate Macdonald of Handheld Press for an illustrated talk unpicking the mysteries of changing literary taste in twentieth-century British fiction and hear some startling truths about the publishing industry. Dr Kate Macdonald is a former university lecturer and...
William Golding, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, remains best known for his debut novel, Lord of the Flies. The book - a literary phenomenon - has become a synonym for any kind of societal breakdown. Golding wrote many other distinguished novels but the continued relevance of Lord of the Flies in an increasingly...
The talk will focus on Monique Wittig’s work, setting her in the literary and socio-political contexts of the second half of the 20th century. Wittig was a French author, philosopher and feminist theorist and 2023 is a year that marks not only 20 years since her passing but 50 years since the publication of her...
Naturalist, broadcaster and author Stephen Moss combines detective work, natural history, folklore and first-hand observations to explore how birds got their names and our long and eventful relationship with the natural world. Through fascinating encounters with the bird kingdom and the rich cast of characters responsible for coming up with their names, in Mrs Moreau’s...
A screening of the film Hannah More, followed by a Q&A with the producer, Anthea Page and lead actor, Lily Maryon. PLEASE NOTE: 6.30pm start Who was Hannah More? A film screening at BRLSI tells the story of a Bristol-born philanthropist, poet, and playwright who became a leading figure in the Bluestocking circle, and who...
Victor Suchar Christmas Lecture 2023 Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843) is among the most celebrated works of Victorian fiction, with its compelling story of the grasping Ebenezer Scrooge and the three terrifying ghosts who transform his life. This talk will explore the lasting significance of A Christmas Carol in the context of other...
Why do Poles constantly fight for something? To understand this, one has to go back to the literature of two hundred years ago. On 15 October 2023, elections were held in Poland that restored the democracy which had been under threat for the past eight years. This latest event is part of a whole series...
An interactive workshop for readers and writers, led by Sue Boyle & Ann Cullis. Inspired by the recent Face to Face exhibition at the Museum of Bath at Work, the workshop will include visual images, performance readings and discussion to celebrate the arts of portraiture and fine writing, both for their own sakes and as...
Felix Yaniewicz (1762-1848) was a Polish-Lithuanian violin virtuoso and composer who settled in Britain and co-founded the first Edinburgh music festival. His intriguing story features a myth of royal illegitimacy, encounters with Mozart and Haydn in Vienna, escape from the French Revolution and a lost Stradivarius. His career as a charismatic performer and impresario took...
What was the political impact of one of Puccini's most popular operas? At the time he wrote Madama Butterfly, Japan was seen as an emerging power. Modern sensibilities might question the setting and the political message; thus this exquisite score and deeply tragic opera from 100 years ago, (Puccini died in 1924) must be viewed...
Time for another talk in the BRLSI 200 series! In the bicentenary of Lord Byron’s death, it is crucial that we reconsider why and how we should go back to his literary works. This talk explores Byron’s continued fascination and relevance through the lens of his distinctive ways of writing the present – that of...
This is a free Bath Arts Collective event; please click on Book Tickets for full booking details. Join us and be immersed in creativity with a mesmerising collection of works from the acclaimed Bath Spa University Master of Arts Creative Writing anthology. Ampersand is an ingenious blend of short stories, poems, memoirs and novel excerpts...