Please join us as Mark J. Schenker of
Yale College returns to Wilton Library to give four lectures on a quartet of
great novels published during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). He will
discuss these classic books in the order of their publication, focusing on both
their style and structure as works of literary art, and the social and
intellectual issues they engage. Among the latter are: the status of women: the
tensions between optimism and anxiety, and between religion and science; the
changing perceptions of children and childhood; and the centrality of the
themes of class, sex, criminality and moral earnestness.
Attendees are not expected to read or reread all or even any of the novels, but
a familiarity with them will of course make the lectures more meaningful. Here are the novels for each week:
-
June 3 - Jane Eyre (1847) - Charlotte Brontë (1816-1865)
-
June 10 - Great Expectations (1861) - Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
-
June 17 - Middlemarch (1871) - George Eliot (1819-1880)
-
June 24 - Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891) - Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
No charge for the
program. This lecture is made possible with the support of the Literary Series
in Memory of Amy Quigley. Advance registration required. Register online in
order to receive the Zoom session invitation link. Please note: you will
automatically be registered for all four sessions in the series. Please email
Michael Bellacosa at mbellacosa@wiltonlibrary.org with any questions.