In recent weeks there has been a torrent of tributes to Seamus Heaney, many written by people who claimed friendship with Heaney. A cynical viewer might assume that such claims are simply self-promotion, and that could be true in some cases. There is, however, another possibility. Heaney had a way of entering into short, intense […]
School of English Blog
Leicester Lit & Phil
This is just a quick plug for colleagues’ contributions to this year’s Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society lecture programme. Professor Philip Shaw will be talking about ‘Suffering and Sentiment in Romantic Military Art: Charles Bell and the Battle of Waterloo’ on the 21st of October and Dr Ben Parsons will present a talk called ‘“That […]
Invite to Dickens Day
Dickens Day: Dickens and History, Sat. 12th October 2013 You are warmly invited to Dickens Day, a lively annual event for Dickens fans, students and academics. Jointly run by the University of Leicester, Birkbeck, University of London, and the Dickens Fellowship, Dickens Day is now in its 27th year. This time we will be looking at how […]
Centre for New Writing Events Sept-Dec 2013
We have planned an exciting programme of free literary events this semester at the Centre for New Writing (CNW). This includes Man Booker shortlisted writer, Amitav Ghosh on Fiction and History as well as readings, masterclasses and an open mic session for postgraduate students. Literary Leicester, the University’s annual festival will take place between 13-16 November, so book your free tickets as soon as possible (see http://www2.le.ac.uk/institution/literary-leicester/litleic2012). The CNW programme for […]
Jane Austen on the £10 note
I’ve been writing about portraits of Charlotte Bronte this summer. When the story about Jane Austen on the £10 note broke in July, Leicester Exchanges asked me to write a piece. Here it is (written just before the twitter persecution of Caroline Criado-Perez started). Jane Austen will be depicted on the £10 note from 2017. This […]
On the staff: the rocking chair years
In most professions, retirement means stopping work, taking a long holiday, and turning to charitable and leisure pursuits, or possibly to drink. Academics are different: in the old joke, they don’t die; they just lose their faculties. Certainly retirement marks a change in the rhythms of life: after forty years of term and vacation, term […]
Breaking the ice
Welcome to the School of English blog! My hope is that this becomes a way of communicating with each other, with our students, with the wider university and with the outside world about the whole range of activities that we are engaged in – research, teaching and the less glamorous stuff as well. With students […]
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