‘O for a life of sensations rather than thoughts,' exclaimed John Keats in 1817. This course is dedicated to exploring ways in which writers present sensory pleasure. Concentrating chiefly - though not exclusively* - on the work of Oscar Wilde (Picture of Dorian Gray) and Patrick Suskind (Perfume), we will examine how art and the […]

The nineteenth-century fin de siècle proved a catalyst for a series of anxieties that emerged during the Victorian period. Loss of religious faith, rise of the occult, fears about the effects of an expanding metropolis and a declining Empire, apocalyptic predictions for the future and concern about technological advances all found expression in two of the […]

It is in David Copperfield and Great Expectations that Dickens creates some of the characters and scenes that have transcended the novels themselves and attained mythic status: Magwitch’s first appearance in the graveyard, Miss Havisham’s decaying wedding cake, the odious Uriah Heep, the brutal Murdstone, the moodswings of Micawber. It is also in David Copperfield that Dickens confronts […]

It is in David Copperfield and Great Expectations that Dickens creates some of the characters and scenes that have transcended the novels themselves and attained mythic status: Magwitch’s first appearance in the graveyard, Miss Havisham’s decaying wedding cake, the odious Uriah Heep, the brutal Murdstone, the moodswings of Micawber. It is also in David Copperfield that Dickens confronts […]

It is in David Copperfield and Great Expectations that Dickens creates some of the characters and scenes that have transcended the novels themselves and attained mythic status: Magwitch’s first appearance in the graveyard, Miss Havisham’s decaying wedding cake, the odious Uriah Heep, the brutal Murdstone, the moodswings of Micawber. It is also in David Copperfield that Dickens confronts […]

It is in David Copperfield and Great Expectations that Dickens creates some of the characters and scenes that have transcended the novels themselves and attained mythic status: Magwitch’s first appearance in the graveyard, Miss Havisham’s decaying wedding cake, the odious Uriah Heep, the brutal Murdstone, the moodswings of Micawber. It is also in David Copperfield that Dickens confronts […]

It is in David Copperfield and Great Expectations that Dickens creates some of the characters and scenes that have transcended the novels themselves and attained mythic status: Magwitch’s first appearance in the graveyard, Miss Havisham’s decaying wedding cake, the odious Uriah Heep, the brutal Murdstone, the moodswings of Micawber. It is also in David Copperfield that Dickens confronts […]

It is in David Copperfield and Great Expectations that Dickens creates some of the characters and scenes that have transcended the novels themselves and attained mythic status: Magwitch’s first appearance in the graveyard, Miss Havisham’s decaying wedding cake, the odious Uriah Heep, the brutal Murdstone, the moodswings of Micawber. It is also in David Copperfield that Dickens confronts […]

It is in David Copperfield and Great Expectations that Dickens creates some of the characters and scenes that have transcended the novels themselves and attained mythic status: Magwitch’s first appearance in the graveyard, Miss Havisham’s decaying wedding cake, the odious Uriah Heep, the brutal Murdstone, the moodswings of Micawber. It is also in David Copperfield that Dickens confronts his most painful childhood […]

The Victorians couldn’t get enough of Wilkie Collins’s novel, The Woman in White. It sold out within weeks and inspired a sales mania: Woman in White bonnets and cloaks became the rage and Walter a fashionable name for baby boys. It’s not hard to explain the novel’s popularity: it’s a rollicking potboiler full of dramatic […]

Awe inspiring in its density of allusion and encyclopaedic detail, Moby Dick is one of the greatest literary achievements of the nineteenth century. This course will guide you through the novel’s expansive seas, exploring its presentation of ambition and demagoguery through the infamous character of Captain Ahab; its more philosophical mediations on mysticism and fate; and […]

In this course we explore one of the great elegiac novels of the mid-twentieth century, Brideshead Revisited. Waugh's novel tells the story of Charles Rider, an outsider 'adopted' by the wealthy Flyte family, and spellbound by their glamorous lifestyle, yet also exposed to unsuspected worlds of pain, conflict and loss. We will explore the ways […]

In this course we explore one of the great elegiac novels of the mid-twentieth century. In Brideshead Revisited, an outsider is adopted by a wealthy family and is spellbound by their glamorous lifestyle, yet also exposed to unsuspected worlds of pain, conflict and loss. We will explore the ways in which Waugh works within and […]