In the latest of our regular ‘Works Loved’ sessions, we will each bring and read from and discuss a text that proved foundational to our research.
2 July 2019 by Dorothy Butchard
Category: 2018-19
The Trouble With Wilderness (Wed 26 June, 2pm)
We continue reading William Cronon this week, with his short essay “The Trouble with Wilderness”. Cronon explores the historical “taming” of wilderness spaces.
25 June 2019 by Dorothy Butchard
Ghost towns, ecology and environment (Wed 19 July, 1pm)
William Cronon’s essay about ghost towns in “Kennecott Journey: The Paths Out of Town” explores ecology, environmental crisis and the American West. Many thanks to Will Carroll for suggesting our reading this week.
13 June 2019 by Dorothy Butchard
Flaneuse (Redux) (2pm, Wed 12 Jun)
Continuing our discussion of Lauren Elkin’s Flâneuse, this week we’ll read the book’s introduction, which explores the territorial complexities of walking in the city.
6 June 2019 by Dorothy Butchard
Flaneuse (Thu 6 June)
This week we discuss a chapter and epilogue from Lauren Elkin’s book Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London (2016). Many thanks to Liam Harrison for suggesting our reading this week.
4 June 2019 by Dorothy Butchard
Hierarchy (2pm, Wed 22 May)
We’re moving from heroes to hierarchies this week, discussing a chapter from Caroline Levine’s Forms.
21 May 2019 by Dorothy Butchard
Heroes and Epic (Wed 15 May 2019)
This week we’ll be thinking about heroes and epic, reading two texts as a starting-point: a short section from Dean Miller’s The Epic Hero and passages from Derek Walcott’s poem Omeros.
9 May 2019 by Dorothy Butchard
The Cultural Politics of Popular Fantasy: Ramzi Fawaz (Wed 8 May 2019)
To start off the summer term, we’re reading a short section from Ramzi Fawaz’s book The New Mutants (2016).
3 May 2019 by Dorothy Butchard
Works Loved: How Texts Matter To Us (27 March 2019)
Academia can often feel overwhelming, with multiple pressures competing for our time and headspace. This seminar is about remembering why we got into this business in the first place – namely, the ‘love’ (and we can discuss this term) we feel for the books, poems, and ideas that make up our discipline.
27 March 2019 by Dorothy Butchard
Milkman (Wed 20 March 2019, 2pm)
In a change from the usual format, this week our text is a novel: Milkman, by Anna Burns (2018).
19 March 2019 by Dorothy Butchard